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General Mathematics
Examination 2
Question and Answer Book
VCE Examination – Monday 3 November 2025


• Reading time is 15 minutes: 2.00 pm to 2.15 pm

• Writing time is 1 hour 30 minutes: 2.15 pm to 3.45 pm
Approved materials
• One bound reference that may be annotated
• One approved CAS calculator or CAS software, and one scientific calculator
Materials supplied
• Question and Answer Book of 28 pages
• Formula Sheet
Students are not permitted to bring mobile phones and/or any unauthorised electronic devices
into the examination room.


Contents  pages
18 questions (60 marks)  2–27

© VCAA 2025
Page 2 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Instructions
• Answer all questions in the spaces provided.
• Write your responses in English.
• In all questions where a numerical answer is required, you should only round your answer when
instructed to do so.
• Unless otherwise indicated, the diagrams in this book are not drawn to scale.

Data analysis

Question 1 (5 marks)
Table 1, below, shows the prices in dollars, price, for a sample of 20 homes sold in an inner Melbourne
suburb during 2017.
The type of home sold is either an apartment or a house.
Table 1

Price ($) Type

350 000 apartment

Do not write in this area.

490 000 apartment
500 000 apartment
620 000 apartment
720 000 apartment
830 000 apartment
875 000 apartment
995 000 apartment
1 100 000 apartment
1 520 000 apartment
800 000 house
840 000 house
920 000 house
920 000 house
1 010 000 house
1 263 000 house
1 398 000 house
1 460 000 house
1 540 000 house
1 540 000 house
Data: Adapted from <[Link]/datasets/
anthonypino/melbourne-housing-market>
 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 3 of 28

a. Find the median, in dollars, of the variable price. 1 mark

b. State whether the variable type is numerical, nominal or ordinal. 1 mark

c. i. Complete the table below by finding the standard deviation, to the nearest whole
number, for the sale price of apartments in the sample. 1 mark

Table 2

Type of home Standard deviation of

sale price ($)

house 300 911

apartment
Do not write in this area.

ii. Using the information in Table 2, comment on the relative spread in the
distribution of the sale prices of houses compared with apartments in this sample.  1 mark

d. Table 3, below, shows the percentage of houses and apartments with prices in the
given ranges. Some information is missing.
Use the data from Table 1 to complete Table 3. 1 mark

Table 3

Price range Type of home

($)
House (%) Apartment (%)

less than 600 000

from 600 000 to 1 000 000 40

more than 1 000 000

Total 100 100

Page 4 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 2 (2 marks)
A boxplot for the sale prices of a sample of 203 homes is shown.

300 000 500 000 700 000 900 000 1 100 000 1 300 000 1 500 000
sale price ($)

a. Calculate the range of the sale price data in the boxplot. 1 mark

b. Calculate the upper fence for the sale price data in the boxplot.  1 mark

Do not write in this area.




 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 5 of 28

Question 3 (2 marks)
The sale prices for homes in another suburb are normally distributed with a mean of $1 400 000.
A home in this suburb that sold for $952 000 has a standardised score of z = –1.60
Using the 68–95–99.7% rule, calculate the percentage of homes sold in this suburb with a sale price
between $560 000 and $1 680 000.


Do not write in this area.
Page 6 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 4 (8 marks)
The scatterplot below shows the sale price of a home, in dollars, against the distance
of the home from the city centre of Melbourne, in kilometres, distance from city centre.
The sample consists of three‑bedroom homes sold between 2016 and 2018.

2 500 000

2 000 000

1 500 000
sale price ($)
1 000 000

500 000

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
distance from city centre (km)
Data: Adapted from <[Link]/datasets/anthonypino/melbourne-housing-market>

The equation of the least squares line for the data in the scatterplot is
sale price = 1 765 353 – 35 054 × distance from city centre

Do not write in this area.

The coefficient of determination is 0.0806
a. Identify the explanatory variable in the least squares equation. 1 mark

b. Calculate the value of the correlation coefficient r. Round your answer to three
decimal places.  1 mark

c. Use the equation of the least squares line to predict the sale price for a three-bedroom
home, located in the city centre of Melbourne, sold between 2016 and 2018. 1 mark

d. Jocelyn wants to sell her three-bedroom home located two kilometres from the city
centre of Melbourne.
Would the predicted sale price be an example of interpolation or extrapolation?
Briefly explain your answer. 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 7 of 28

e. Describe the linear association between sale price and distance from city centre in
terms of its strength and direction. Answer in the table below. 2 marks

strength

direction

f. A residual plot associated with the least squares line is shown below.
It is missing one point.

1 200 000
1 000 000
800 000
600 000
400 000
200 000
residual
0
Do not write in this area.

–200 000
–400 000
–600 000
–800 000
–1 000 000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
distance from city centre (km)

The residual associated with the home that is furthest from the city centre of
Melbourne is missing from the residual plot. The home is 15.5 km from the city centre
and sold for $1 250 000.
i. Show that the value of the missing residual is 27 984. 1 mark

ii. Plot the residual from part i by placing an X on the residual plot above.  1 mark
Page 8 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 5 (3 marks)
The table below shows sale price and the number of days on the market before sale, days,
for a sample of 10 apartments sold in a particular suburb.

Sale price ($) Days

950 000 15

925 000 18

900 000 23

900 000 24

905 000 26

750 000 28

680 000 31

800 000 35

Do not write in this area.

590 000 46

600 000 65

a. Use the data in the table above to find the equation of the least squares line.
Write your answers in the boxes below, rounding both values to four significant figures. 2 marks

sale price = + × days

b. For this data, Pearson’s correlation coefficient is r = –0.866, rounded to three

decimal places.
Explain the meaning of the coefficient of determination, as a whole percentage,
in the context given in this question. 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 9 of 28

Question 6 (4 marks)
The time series plot below shows the number of homes sold in a town each month over
a four‑year period.
Month 1 is January 2016 and month 48 is December 2019.

50
45
40
35
30
number of sales 25
20
15
10
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50
month
Do not write in this area.

a. Excluding any possible outliers, identify two qualitative features of the time series plot. 2 marks

b. The total number of sales in each of the four years is given in the table below.

Year Total number of sales

2016 361

2017 354

2018 358

2019 357

A seasonal index can be calculated for each month based on the four-year period.
Calculate this seasonal index for September, the ninth month in the calendar year.
Round your answer to three decimal places. 2 marks


Page 10 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Recursion and financial modelling

Question 7 (4 marks)
Declan is a filmmaker and content creator.
He has taken out a reducing balance loan to fund a new production.
Interest is calculated monthly and Declan makes monthly repayments.
Three rows of the amortisation table for Declan’s loan are shown below.

Payment Payment Interest Principal Balance

number ($) ($) reduction ($)
($)

0 0.00 0.00 0.00 850 000.00

1 15 730.88 2975.00 12 755.88 837 244.12

2 15 730.88 2930.35 12 800.53 824 443.59

Do not write in this area.

a. What amount, in dollars, did Declan borrow? 1 mark

b. Why is the interest associated with payment 2 lower than the interest associated with
payment 1? 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 11 of 28

c. The interest rate on Declan’s loan is 4.2% per annum, compounding monthly.
Using the values in the table, complete the table below.
Round all values to the nearest cent. 1 mark

Payment Payment Interest Principal Balance

number ($) ($) reduction ($)
($)

0 0.00 0.00 0.00 850 000.00

1 15 730.88 2975.00 12 755.88 837 244.12

2 15 730.88 2930.35 12 800.53 824 443.59

3 15 730.88

d. The last payment required to fully repay the loan is $15 730.71, correct to the nearest cent.
How many payments of $15 730.88 did Declan make before this final payment? 1 mark
Do not write in this area.


Page 12 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 8 (3 marks)
Declan depreciates the value of his lighting equipment using flat rate depreciation.
The graph below shows the value, in dollars, of the lighting equipment, Vn, after n years.

Vn

40 000

32 000

24 000

16 000

8000

0 n
0 1 2 3 4

a. The value of the lighting equipment could be modelled by either a recurrence relation

Do not write in this area.

or a rule.
i. Write a recurrence relation in terms of V0, Vn + 1 and Vn. 1 mark

ii. Write a rule for Vn in terms of n. 1 mark

b. What is the annual flat rate depreciation percentage applied to the lighting equipment? 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 13 of 28

Question 9 (3 marks)
Declan takes out a new loan of $50 000 to promote his new film.
Interest on this loan compounds weekly and Declan makes weekly repayments of $75.
a. With these weekly repayments of $75, suppose the balance of Declan’s loan does not
change over time.
Determine the weekly interest rate. 1 mark

b. With these weekly repayments of $75, suppose the balance of Declan’s loan now
reduces over time.
The balance of the loan, in dollars, after n weeks, Ln, can be determined using a
recurrence relation of the form

L0 = 50 000, Ln + 1 = RLn – 75
Do not write in this area.

Assume there are exactly 52 weeks in a year.

After one year, Declan owes $49 565.34
Determine
i. the per annum interest rate, compounding weekly, as a percentage, rounded to two
decimal places.  1 mark

ii. the value of R rounded to four decimal places.  1 mark


Page 14 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 10 (2 marks)
Using profits from his recent film, Declan invests $650 000 into a 10-year annuity.
The annuity earns interest at 6.4% per annum, compounding quarterly.
Declan receives a regular quarterly payment from the annuity.
Halfway through the 10-year annuity, Declan writes a recurrence relation to represent the
quarter-to-quarter balance for the remainder of the annuity.
Let Dn be the balance of Declan’s annuity n quarters after the halfway point of the annuity.

Complete the recurrence relation below in terms of D0, Dn + 1 and Dn that can model this balance.

D0 = , Dn + 1 = 1.016 × Dn +

(Answer in the boxes above.)

Do not write in this area.

 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 15 of 28

Matrices

Question 11 (3 marks)
An early learning centre contains three rooms, Nursery (N), Toddler (T) and Pre-kinder (P).
The Nursery and Toddler rooms each have capacity for eight children and the Pre-kinder
room has capacity for 20 children, as shown in matrix C below.

 8 N
C =  8  T
 20  P

Matrix E shows enrolment numbers for each room for one week, Monday to Friday.

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

6 8 8 8 5 N
E 7 8 7 8 6 T
18 18 17 15 13 P

a. State the order of matrix E.

Do not write in this area.

Write your answer in the boxes provided. 1 mark

b. The following matrix multiplication has been completed to determine a new matrix, W.

[1 1 1] × E = W

What information does matrix W provide regarding enrolments at the

early learning centre?  1 mark

c. It has been decided that the capacity of the Nursery room will be increased by 25%
and the capacity of the Toddler room will be increased by 50%. The capacity of the
Pre-kinder room will be reduced by 10%.
The new capacities for the three rooms (Cnew) can be determined from the matrix product

Cnew = FC

where F is a diagonal matrix.

Write down the matrix F. 1 mark

F=
Page 16 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 12 (2 marks)
The early learning centre contains three rooms, Nursery (N), Toddler (T) and Pre-kinder (P).
From one year to the next, children can move between rooms, stay in the same room,
or may leave (L) the centre. The following transition matrix, M, shows the expected
proportion of children who will move between categories or stay in the same category
from one year to the next.

this year
N T P L
0.25 0 0 0 N
0.625 0.25 0 0 T
M next year
0 0.625 0.1 0 P
0.125 0.125 0.9 1 L

a. The number of children expected to be in each of the four categories, from one year
to the next, can be calculated using the matrix recurrence relation

Sn + 1 = MSn

Do not write in this area.

where Sn represents the expected number of children in each of the four categories at
the start of year n.
The state matrix S2024, shown below, gives the number of children in each category at
the start of 2024.

 4 N
15  T
S2024 = 
15  P
 
 27  L
Find S2023. 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 17 of 28

b. From the start of 2025, new children commenced in the early learning centre at the
start of each year.
A new matrix recurrence relation for determining the expected number of children in
each of the four categories from one year to the next is

Sn + 1 = MSn + B

where
12  N
5T
B= 
10  P
 
0 L

gives the number of new children enrolled in each room of the early learning centre
at the start of each year.
Given the state matrix

 4 N
15  T
Do not write in this area.

S2024 = 
15  P
 
 27  L

find the expected total number of children to be enrolled in the early learning centre
at the start of 2026. Round your answer to the nearest whole number. 1 mark


Page 18 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 13 (4 marks)
The early learning centre also offers a 10-week activity program for four-year-old children.
There are 27 children enrolled in the program. They participate in three different activities
over the 10 weeks. The activities are cooking (C), gardening (G) and music (M).
The transition matrix K, shown below, gives the expected proportion of children in the
program who will change activities from one week to the next.

this week
C G M
 0 0.76 0.36  C

K = 0.55 0 0.64  G next week
0.45 0.24 0  M

a. What do the values on the leading diagonal in matrix K indicate?  1 mark

Do not write in this area.

b. In Week 1 of the program, all 27 children participate in cooking (C).
i. Calculate the expected percentage of children who will participate in cooking
in Week 10 of the program. Round your answer to one decimal place. 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 19 of 28

ii. Find the expected number of children who will participate in gardening (G) in
Week 3 of the program and then move across to music (M) in Week 4 of
the program. Round your answer to the nearest whole number. 2 marks


Do not write in this area.
Page 20 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 14 (3 marks)
The early learning centre runs seven different activities during its 40-day holiday program.
The activities are cooking (C), drama (D), gardening (G), lunch (L), music (M), reading (R)
and sport (S).
The timetabled order of the activities for day one of the holiday program is shown below.

9 am 10 am 11 am 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 3 pm

C D G L M R S

The timetabled order of the activities for day one is also shown in matrix X below.

C 
D
 
G 
 
X =L
M 
 

Do not write in this area.

R
S
 

Matrix P, shown below, is a permutation matrix used to determine the timetabled order of
activities from one day to the next.

0 0 0 0 0 1 0
0
 0 0 0 0 0 1 
0 0 1 0 0 0 0
 
P = 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0 1 0 0
 
0 1 0 0 0 0 0

1 0 0 0 0 0 0 

A column matrix containing the timetabled order of activities on one day is multiplied by
matrix P to determine the timetabled order of activities for the next day.
a. State the activities that are always held at the same time on each day of the program. 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 21 of 28

b. Determine the timetabled order of the seven activities on day three of the program. 1 mark

c. P 4 is an identity matrix.
Explain what this means for the timetabled order of the activities over the 40‑day
holiday program. 1 mark


Do not write in this area.
Page 22 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Networks and decision mathematics

Question 15 (4 marks)
Frances lives in a housing estate.
On the graph below the vertices represent her favourite locations, and the edges represent
the roads between them.

coffee shop supermarket

gym

pet shop home

a. Calculate the sum of the degrees of all the vertices in this graph. 1 mark

Do not write in this area.



b. Euler’s formula, v + f = e + 2, holds for this graph.

Complete the formula by writing the appropriate numbers in the boxes below. 1 mark

+ = +2

v f e
 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 23 of 28

c. Frances is at the gym. She would like to visit each of the other locations once and end
at her home.
What is the mathematical term used to describe this route?  1 mark

d. Using edges from the original graph, construct a spanning tree below.  1 mark

coffee shop supermarket

gym

pet shop home

Do not write in this area.
Page 24 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 16 (2 marks)
The map below shows the passages connecting five areas in the gym: entry (E), recovery (R),
weights (W), change room (C) and swimming (S).

change room
swimming

entry

weights
recovery

A network can be constructed from this map.

An adjacency matrix for this network is shown below.
Some values in the matrix are given as x, y and z.

Do not write in this area.

E R W C S
E 0 x 2 2 0
R x 1 y 2 0
W 2 y 1 z 0
C 2 2 z 0 1
S 0 0 0 1 0

In this matrix, the ‘2’ in row E, column C indicates that there are two ways of moving from the entry
to the change room without passing through another area or backtracking.
Write the values of x, y and z in the boxes below.

x=   y =   z =
 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 25 of 28

Question 17 (2 marks)
The gym is hosting a competition in which competitors will complete activities at eight
different stations.
On the network below, the vertices represent the stations. The edges represent the
walkways between the stations and the numbers show the distance, in metres, between them.

B
12 C

8 14
H
28 22

11 A 19

7 D
G 31

E
23
Do not write in this area.

The gym owner would like to make sure that all the walkways are clear before the
competition starts.
The gym owner would like to begin and end the inspection of the walkways at station A.
a. Explain, with reference to the degrees of the vertices, why the gym owner’s intended
route must involve some repeated edges. 1 mark

b. What is the minimum distance, in metres, that the gym owner will cover when
completing the inspection? 1 mark


Page 26 of 28 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Question 18 (4 marks)
Frances is constructing a home gym. This project requires 12 activities, A to L, to be completed.
The activity network below shows each activity and its completion time in days.

C, 7 G, 6

A, 5 J, 1

D, 7 L, 5
start H, 7 finish

B, 4 K, 4
E, 3 I, 4

F, 6

a. This network contains two critical paths.

Do not write in this area.

State the activities that are common to both critical paths. 1 mark

b. Determine the latest start time, in days, for activity E. 1 mark

c. Which activity has the longest float time? 1 mark


 2025 VCE General Mathematics Examination 2  Page 27 of 28

d. The table below shows five activities that can have their completion time reduced.
It shows the maximum reduction time (days) and the additional cost per day, for each
of the five activities.

Activity Maximum reduction time Additional cost per day

(days) ($)

A 2 500

F 4 150

G 4 150

H 2 300

K 1 100

Frances would like to construct the home gym in three days less than was previously
possible.
What is the minimum additional amount Frances will need to pay? 1 mark
Do not write in this area.

End of Question and Answer Book

© Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2025
General Mathematics
Examination 2
2025 Formula Sheet

You may keep this Formula Sheet.

© VCAA 2025
Page 2 of 4 Formula Sheet VCE General Mathematics Examination 2

Data analysis

x−x
standardised score z=
sx

lower and upper fence

lower Q1 − 1.5 × IQR   upper Q3 + 1.5 × IQR
in a boxplot

sy
least squares line of best fit y = a + bx,  where b=r   and  a = y − bx
sx

residual value residual value = actual value – predicted value

actual figure
seasonal index seasonal index =
deseasonalised figure

Recursion and financial modelling

first-order linear recurrence

u0 = a,  un + 1 = Run + d
relation

effective rate of interest for a  n 

r 
compound interest loan or reffective =  1 +  − 1 × 100%
investment  100n  
VCE General Mathematics Examination 2 Formula Sheet Page 3 of 4

Matrices

a b  a b
determinant of a 2 × 2 matrix A=  ,  det A = = ad − bc
c d  c d

1  d −b 
inverse of a 2 × 2 matrix A−1 = ,  where det A ≠ 0
det A  −c a 

recurrence relation S0 = initial state,   Sn + 1 = T Sn + B

Leslie matrix recurrence relation S0 = initial state,   Sn + 1 = L Sn

Networks and decision mathematics

Euler’s formula v+f=e+2

End of Formula Sheet

© Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority 2025