INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS

PRESENTS

MATHEMATICA
PRELIMS
Q-1 If 2+3=8, 3+7=27, 4+5=32, 5+8=60, 6+7=72, 7+8=??

Q-2 Consider a pentagram (see picture below). There are five disjoint triangles initially. Just count the five caps above the pentagon, do not count the larger triangles formed by using three of the five vertices, for those triangles have lines going through them. By adding just two lines, you can go from five to 10 disjoint triangles. How?

Q-3 Diophantus was a Greek mathematician who lived in the third century. He was one of the first mathematicians to use algebraic symbols.

Most of what is known about Diophantus's life comes from an algebraic riddle from around the early sixth century. The riddle states: Diophantus's youth lasted one sixth of his life. He grew a beard after one twelfth more. After one seventh more of his life, he married. 5 years later, he and his wife had a son. The son lived exactly one half as long as his father, and Diophantus died four years after his son. How many years did Diophantus live?

Q-4 Five guests, Mr. Rose, Ms. Tulip, Sir Daisy, Lord Pansy and Miss Lily, were all invited to an exclusive party at Brainteaser Mansion. However, during the long, dark night, the owner of the spectacular mansion, Mr. Death, was found dead in his office. The trouble is, every member of the party went into his office, each at a different time, with a different weapon, motive and clue that incriminated them. From their statements below, can you work out who killed him? Mr. Rose's statement: "I didn't do it. I never left a footprint because a woman did. I entered the room before the person who took in the poison. I must say though, she was in there for a quarter of an hour before someone else went in!" Ms. Tulip's statement: "Okay, I admit it! I took in the revolver, even though my motive wasn't revenge. A man entered the room after me and his motive was either rage or blackmail." Sir Daisy's statement: "All I know is, I did leave a fingerprint, but that doesn't explain why Miss Lily lost a hair, does it? Oh yes! The person who entered seventy minutes before me took in the lead pole." Lord Pansy's statement: "I entered after a woman, who did not take in rope because the last person to visit him did. I was in there for more than thirty-five minutes confronting Mr. Death with my motive, which, may I say, wasn't greed or blackmail." Miss Lily's statement: "Yes, you caught me! My motive was jealousy, but it wasn't as bad as that man's blackmail motive, who entered at five minutes past nine. I entered before another man who left the incriminating clue of the blood drop." The person who entered the room at half past ten is the real killer. Who did it?

Q-5 Two brothers share a flock of x sheep. They take the sheep to the market and sell each sheep for $x. At the end of the day they put the money from the sales on the table to divide it equally. All money is in $10 bills, except for less than ten excess $1 bills. One at a time they take out $10 bills. The brother who draws first also draws last. The second brother complains about getting one less $10 bill so the first brother offers him all the $1 bills. The second brother still received a total less than the first brother so he asks the first brother to write him a check to balance the things out. How much was the check?

Q-6 You have a 6 foot fence and at 15 foot board. The sun is shining directly overhead. You want to lean your board against the fence so that as large a shadow as possible covers your neighbor's yard. What is the maximum length of the shadow you can form? The ladder must rest against the fence and touch the ground on your side of the fence.

Q-7 ABCD is a parallelogram with sides a and b . Given angle BAC=T. Then the arithmetic mean of the squares of sides is proportional to f(r,R,T). (consider ABCD to be a cyclic parallelogram)::: [ Where f is a function of r(inradius) , R(circumradius) , T ]. What is f ?

Q-8 In a combat between Australia ,Bermuda and Canada ,Australia tries to defeat Bermuda and Canada , Bermuda and Canada try to defeat Australia. Probability of Australia ,Bermuda and Canada defeating the targets are , 1/2 , and respectively. If Australia is defeated , find the probability that Bermuda defeats Australia and Canada does not.

Q-9 In India water lilies grow extremely rapidly.In one pond a lily grew so fast that each day it covered a sutface area double that of the area it had covered the previous day.At the end of the thirtieth day,it had entirely covered the pond.How long do u think it will take for two such lilies to cover the whole pond?

Q-10 A woman sent her three daughters to the market,giving ten eggs to her eldest and cleverest daughter,thirty to her second daughter and fifty eggs to her youngest daughter. You'd better agree among yourselves, she told them, about the price you're going to ask for the eggs. Stick to the price you decide upon. But I hope that all three of you will bring home the same amount,and the total for the 90 eggs should not be less than 90 kopeks Kopek is a currency used. How do you think the girls carried out the instructions of their mother?

Q-11 Player A has n coins and player B has n+1 coins. Both players throw all of their coins simultaneously and observe the number that come up heads. Assuming all the coins are fair, what is the probability that A obtains more heads than B?

Q-12 There are 10 barrels containing gold coins. In that, 9 barrels contains 1 gram gold coins and the other barrel contains 2 gram coins. Every coin looks to be same without any difference. As the barrels weigh more, so it cannot be lifted or moved from its place. There is a weighing machine which is allowed to weigh only once. How to find which of the barrels contain 2 gram coins?

Q-13 Divide $156 (in whole $ increments) into a number of bags so that I can ask for any amount between $1 and $156, and you can give me the proper amount by giving me a certain number of these bags without opening them. What is the minimum number of bags you will require?

Q-14 John, Jenita, Maria and Julie went to a shop. Each picked a colourful ball of a different favourite colour. The colours are Yellow, Violet, Green and Red. John and Maria both do not like violet. The person who likes red is a girl. Jenita likes green, but it is not her favourite colour. Jenitas favourite colour is either green or yellow, although she can have only one favourite colour. John likes red, but it is not his favourite colour. Find what color ball each person picked.

Q-15 Lukas has a banana plantation and a camel. He wants to transport his 3000 bananas to the market, which is located after the desert. The distance between his banana plantation and the market is about 1000 kilometres. So he decided to take his camel to carry the bananas. The camel can carry at the most, 1000 bananas at a time, and it eats one banana for every kilometre it travels. What is the largest number of bananas that Lucas can deliver at the market?

Q-16 The probability of a car passing a certain intersection in a 20 minute windows is 0.9. What is the probability of a car passing the intersection in a 5 minute window? (Assuming a constant probability throughout)

Q-17 You are given two red balls, two green balls and two yellow balls. One ball from each color is heavier than the other one. All the heavier balls weigh the same and all the lighter balls weigh the same. You are only provided with a weighing balance. How many tries would it take to identify which one is heavier and which one is lighter with minimum number of weighings?

Q-18 You are blindfolded. There are 50 coins placed in front of you. 8 coins are heads up and the rest are tails, but you dont know which(naturally). How can you split them into two groups such that both groups have the same number of coins heads up?

Q-19 Find x.