11

5. J98 Q1
A bag contains 28 marbles which are coloured either red, white, blue or green. There are 4
more red marbles than white ones, 3 more white marbles than blue ones and 2 more blue
marbles than green ones. Find the number of white marbles.

6. J98 Q15
It is given that a, b are two positive numbers satisfying
a( a b) 3 b( a 5 b) .

3a 2 ab 2b
Find the value of .
a ab b

7. J99 Q4
Let x denote the absolute value of a number x defined by
x if x 0
x
–x x < 0.
The number of solutions of the equation x 1 2 2 is

(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 2 (D) 3 (E) 4

8. J99 Q24
When I am as old as my father is now, my son will be seven years older than I am now. At
present, the sum of the ages of my father, my son and myself is 100. How old am I?

9. J00 Q16
A student has taken n examinations and 1 more examination is upcoming. If he scores 100 in
the upcoming examination, his overall average (of the n + 1 examinations) will be 90; and if
he scores 60 in the upcoming examination, his overall average will be 85. Find the number n.

(A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8 (E) 9

 12

3.5 Functions (Absolute Function)

Know and use the properties of absolute function

The absolute value of function (e.g. square root of a square)

The absolute value (or modulus) of x means the numerical value of x, not considering its sign,
and is denoted by x .

x if x 0
x
x if x 0

3.6 Roots

Use the formulae for the product and sum of roots

Use the condition for a quadratic equation to have two real roots, two equal roots and
no real roots
Determine the existence of integral/rational roots for quadratic equations through
computation of the discriminant

Sum of roots and Product of roots

If and are two roots of the quadratic equation ax 2 bx c 0 , then

b
+ =
a
c
=
a

1. J99 Q29
Let a and b the two real roots of the quadratic equation

x2 (k 1) x k2 3k 4 0

where k is some real number. What is the largest possible value of a 2 b2 ?

2. J00 Q24
Suppose the equation

x2 ( 4 a) x a 1 0

has two solutions which differ by 5. Find all possible values of a.

 13

3.7 Indices

Apply the laws of indices

Perform operations with indices
Determine the nth root of a number
Solve indicial equations, solve equations of the form a x b

1. J95 Q1
2 40
The simplest expression for is
4 20
20
1
(A) 1 (B) 4 (C) (D) 2 20 (E) 218
2

2. J95 Q7
What is the value of x which satisfies

21995 21995 21995 21995 21995 21995 21995 21995 = 2 x ?

(A) 1996 (B) 1997 (C) 1998 (D) 1999 (E) 2000

3. J96 Q9
Suppose 19961996 19961996 19961996 = 1996 x , what is the value of x?

1996 terms

(A) 1996 (B) 1997 (C) 1998 (D) 1999 (E) 2000

4. J96 Q10
7
Solve the equation ( x 1) ( x 1) ( x 1) 2 2.

(A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 8 (D) 12 (E) 15

5. J97 Q1
Given that 19981998 19981997 = 1998x 1997 , find the value of x.

(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) 1996 (D) 1997 (E) 1998

 14

6. J97 Q11
ab
If a 41357, b 5357 and c 2 2357 , find the sum of all the digits in .
c

(A) 1 (B) 10 (C) 15 (D) 357 (E) None of the above

7. J00 Q2
5
The fifth root of 5 5 is

5 5 4 55
(A) 55 (B) 5 (5 1)
(C) 54 (D) 55 (E) 5

8. J00 Q19
How many integer solutions does the following equation have?

x 2000
x2 x 1 1.

(A) 1 (B) 3 (C) 3 (D) 4 (E) 5

3.8 Standard Form

Use the standard form A 10 n where n is a positive of negative integer, and 1 A 10

Deduce the number of digits of a number from its standard form (or its variations e.g.
standard form minus one (J04 Q29)) (Questions like this typically require students to
extract 2a and 5a from a given number, this allows the number to be expressed in the
standard form (J02 Q7, J98 Q2)
Write algebraic expressions (e.g. abcd) as as linear combinations of 10 0 ,101 ,10 2 ,

1. J95 Q2
If 8.047 3 521.077119823 , what is 0.80473 equal to?

(A) 0.521077119823 (B) 52.1077119823 (C) 521077.119823

(D) 0.00521077119823 (E) 0.052107119823

2. J96 Q7
The square of the number 12345678 is an m-digit number. What is the value of m?

(A) 13 (B) 14 (C) 15 (D) 16 (E) 17

 15

3. J98 Q2
What is the number of digits in the number 46 58 ?

3.9 Applications of algebra in arithmetic computation

Simplify arithmetic computation by

pairing terms in numerical expressions (e.g. pairing 1st and last term, pairing
adjacent terms)
using the method of difference (such a method typically involves the
knowledge and use of partial fractions)
using a suitable algebraic form to model the question
factorizing (repeatedly e.g. J99 Q15, J98 Q3) complex numerical expressions
using a suitable substitution
using the technique – cancellation of numerators and denominators (by first
writing numerical expressions into suitable fractional forms)
using estimation and approximation
expressing numbers as linear combinations of 10 0 ,101 ,10 2 ,
expressing each numbers as a difference of two numbers Classic
case: (J02 20 – 9 + 99 + 999 + … = 10 – 1 + 100 – 1 + 1000 – 1 +…)
extrapolating the result of simple arithmetical calculation to cases involving
large numbers (e.g. J04 Q8 – What is the sum of all the digits in the number
10 2004 2004 ?)

1. J95 Q22
246912
Evaluate 2
.
123457 123456 123458

2. J96 Q14
(1987654)(1987654) (1897645)(1897645)
Evaluate .
180018

3. J96 Q25
Evaluate (1 12 )(1 1
3
)(1 1
4
) (1 1
n
) (1 1
).
101

4. J96 Q28
What is the unit digit for the sum 13 23 33 43 53 63 193 ?

5. J97 Q4
Which of the following is the closest value to
(487,000)(12,027,300) (9,621,001)(487,000)
?
(19,367)(0.05)

(A) 10,000,000 (B) 100,000,000 (C) 1,000,000,000

 16

(D) 10,000,000,000 (E) 100,000,000,000

6. J97 Q12
The difference between the sum of the last 1997 even natural numbers less than 4000 and the
sum of the last 1997 odd numbers less than 4000 is

(A) 1996 (B) 1997 (C) 1998 (D) 3994 (E) 3996

7. J98 Q3
Find the value of
10002 (2522 2482 ) (2524 2484 )
.
2528 2488

8. J98 Q8
Find the value of 12 22 32 42 19972 19982 .

9. J98 Q10
Find the value of
1998 19971997 1997 19981997 .

10. J99 Q21

What is the product of
1 1 1
1001 1 (1 ) 1 2000 ?
10012 10022 20002

11. J00 Q1
Let x be the sum of the following 2000 numbers:

4, 44, , 444 44 .
2000 digits

Then the last four digits (thousands, hundreds, tens, units) of x are

(A) 0220 (B) 0716 (C) 1884 (D) 2880 (E) 5160

12. J00 Q4
1 1 1 1
Find the value of the product (1 2
)(1 2 ) (1 2
)(1 ).
2 3 1999 20002

2001 1001 101 21 11

(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
4000 2000 201 40 20
 17

13. J00 Q7
Let S n 1 2 3 4 ( 1) n 1 n . Find the value of S2000 S2001.

(A) –1 (B) 0 (C) 1 (D) 2 (E) 3

14. J00 Q14

Evaluate
2 3 99 1 2 3 98 1 2 3 99 2 3 98
( )( ) ( )( ).
3 4 100 2 3 4 99 2 3 4 100 3 4 99

15. J00 Q28

Evaluate 111 11 222 22 .

2000 digits 1000 digits

(Hint: Your answer should be an integer.)

3.10 Sequences and Series

Continue/complete given number/alphabetical sequences

Apply the first principles of arithmetic progressions (pairing of terms i.e. first and last
etc)
Recognise arithmetic progressions
Use the formula for the nth term to solve problems involving arithmetic progressions
Use the formula for the sum of the first n terms to solve problems involving
arithmetic progressions
Use the result Tn Sn Sn 1
Recognise geometric progressions
Use the formulae for the sum of the first n terms to solve problems involving
geometric progressions
Determine the largest (smallest) term of a sequence by comparing the nth and (n+1)th
term
Use the method of differences to obtain the sum of a finite series e.g. by expressing
the term in partial fractions

Arithmetic Progression (AP)

The nth term of an AP (with common difference d) is given by

an a1 (n 1) d

The sum of the first n terms of an AP (with common difference d) is given by

n
n n
a1 a1 a 2 an (a1 a n ) (2a1 (n 1)d )
i 1 2 2
 18

If x, y and z are three consecutive terms of an AP, then

x z
z y y z or 2 y x z or y (arithmetic mean)
2
Geometric Progression (GP)

The nth term of a GP (with common ratio r) is given by

an a1r n 1

The sum of the first n terms of a GP (with common difference r) is given by

n
a1 (r n 1) a1 (1 r n )
a1 a1 a 2 an
i 1 (r 1) 1 r

If x, y and z are three consecutive terms of a GP, then

z y
or y 2 xz or y xz (geometric mean)
y x

Some important formulae

n(n 1)
The sum of first n natural numbers: 1 2 3 4 n
2
n(1 2n 1)
The sum of first n odd numbers: 1 3 5 7 (2n 1) n2
2
The factorization of x n 1 : x n 1 ( x 1)( x n 1
x n 2
x 2
x 1)
(e.g. x 2 1 ( x 1)( x 1) )

1. J96 Q17
The value of 11 22 33 1100 is .

2. J97 Q17
1
1 1
1 2 1
1 3 3 1
1 4 6 4 1
etc.

Pascal’s triangle is an array of positive integers (see above), in which the first row is 1, the
second row is two 1’s, each row begins and ends with 1, and the kth integer in any row when
it is not 1, is the sum of the kth and (k–1)th numbers in the immediately proceeding row. Find
the ratio of the number of integers in the first n rows which are not 1’s and the number of 1’s.

n2 n n2 n n 2 2n n2 3n 2
(A) (B) (C) (D)
2n 1 4n 2 2n 1 4n 2
(E) None of the above.

3. J97 Q18
 19

The integers greater than one are arranged in five columns as follows:

A B C D E
2 3 4 5
9 8 7 6
10 11 12 13
17 16 15 14

In which columns will the number 1000 fall?

(A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D (E) E

4. J97 Q21
In a game, a basket and 16 potatoes are placed in line at equal interval of 3 m. (Note that the
basket is placed at one end of the line). How long will a competitor take to bring the potatoes
one by one into the basket, if he starts from the basket and run at an average speed of 6 m a
second?

5. J98 Q24
The sequence {a1 , a2 , a3 , } is defined by a1 2, and an 1 an 2n for n 1,2,3, . Find
the value a100 .

6. J99 Q1
The next letter in the following sequence

B, C, D, G, J, O, ____
is

(A) P (B) Q (C) R (D) S (E) T

7. J99 Q11
The number 1001997 is expressed as a sum of 999 consecutive odd positive integers. The
largest possible such odd integer is

(A) 1997 (B) 1999 (C) 2001 (D) 2003 (E) 2005

8. J99 Q25
Let n! denote the product n (n 1) (n 2) 2 1 . For what value of the positive integer
n
100
n is / n! largest?
3
 20

9. J00 Q5
Consider the following array of numbers:

A B C D E
2 5 8
23 20 17 14 11
26 29 32
47 44 41 38 35

In which column does the number 2000 appear?

(A) A (B) B (C) C (D) D (E) E.

10. J00 Q6
Find the sum of all positive integers which are less than or equal to 200 and not divisible by 3
or 5.

(A) 9367 (B) 9637 (C) 10732 (D) 12307 (E) 17302.

11. J00 Q10

For which positive integer k does the expression k 2 have the largest value?
1.001k

(A) 1998 (B) 1999 (C) 2000 (D) 2001 (E) 2002