TIL-I EXAM

MATH EXAM (time: 40 minutes)

1) The equation
a) has six real distinct solutions
b) has one (and only one) real solution
c) has two (and only two) real distinct solutions
d) can not be solved, since its degree is six
e) has three real distinct solutions

2) The real number verifies the condition

a)

b)

c) is an integer number

d)

e)

3) Arriving in Norway, an Italian tourist changes 500 euros (EUR) into Norwegian crowns (NOK); the
exchange rate is 1 EUR = 7,8 NOK. During the vacation, he spends 3.000 NOK. Back in Italy, he
changes the remaining NOK back to EUR; the exchange rate is now 10 NOK = 1,2 EUR. How much
money has the tourist left?

a) 75 EUR
b) 90 EUR
c) 120 EUR
d) 108 EUR
e) 100 EUR

4) The quantity equals:

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 a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

5) The equation

a) has two solutions: and

b) has one (and only one) solution:
c) has one (and only one) solution:
d) has no real solutions
e) has one (and only one) solution:

6) A man has two children, Aldo and Maria. The sum of the ages of the man and Aldo is 80 years
more than Maria’s age. The sum of the ages of the man and Maria is 90 years more than Aldo’s age.
How old is the man?

a) 45 years old
b) 68 years old
c) 54
d) 85 years old
e) 70 years old

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7) Let and be two real numbers different from zero. Simplifying the

expression , we get:

a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

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8)

In the figure, it is shown the graph of the function:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

9) 150 graduates are interviewed about their working situation (employed/unemployed) six months
after graduation:
Employed Unemployed
Degree in Engineering 42 14

Other degrees 44 50

Find the percentage of graduates in Engineering that are employed.

a) 86%
b) 75%
c) about 57%
d) about 43%
e) 90%
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10) The least common multiple of the monomials , , is:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

11) Which of the following equations represents a line parallel to the line passing through the
points and ?

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

12) Consider the inequalities

where is a second degree polynomial. Which of the following statements is true?

a) the inequalities A) and C) have the same set of solutions

b) the inequalities A) and B) have the same set of solutions
c) the three inequalities have the same set of solutions
d) the inequalities B) and C) have the same set of solutions
e) nothing can be said, since we do not know the polynomial

13) In the three-dimensional space, consider a point and a plane , whose distance from equals
1. The intersection of the plane and the sphere centred at and having radius 2 is:

a) the empty set

b) an ellipse with different axes
c) a point
d) a circle
e) a parabola

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14)

In the figure, the continuous curve is the graph of the function .

The dashed curve is the graph of the function , where:

a)
b)
c)
d)
e)

15) Two figures are congruent if they have the same shape and size. Only one of these statements is
correct, which one?

a) Two isosceles triangles with the same measure of the vertex angles and the same
perimeter are congruent
b) Two equiangular triangles are congruent
c) Two isosceles triangles with the same area are congruent
d) Two rhombi (rhombuses) with the same area are congruent
e) Two parallelograms with the same perimeter are congruent
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16) Given the two circles

we can say that

a) they are tangent (one point of intersection)

b) they do not intersect and the first is internal to the second
c) they intersect at two distinct points
d) they do not intersect and the second is internal to the first
e) they intersect at four distinct points

17) The prime factorization of the number is:

a)

b)

c)

d)

e)

18) The expression equals:

a) for all real

b) for all real

c) for all real

d) only for
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 e) for all real

COMPREHENSION QUIZ (time: 12 minutes)

(FOR QUESTIONS 1,2 AND 3)

Supernovae

When supernovae explode they jettison matter into space at some 9,000 to 25,000 miles (15,000 to
40,000 kilometers) per second. These blasts produce much of the material in the universe -- including
some elements, like iron, which make up our planet and even ourselves. Heavy elements are only
produced in supernovae, so all of us carry the remnants of these distant explosions within our own
bodies.

Supernovae add enriching elements to space clouds of dust and gas, further interstellar diversity, and
produce a shock wave that compresses clouds of gas to aid new star formation.

But only a select few stars become supernovae. Many stars cool in later life to end their days as white
dwarfs and, later, black dwarfs.

But massive stars, many times larger than our own sun, may create a supernova when their core's
fusion process runs out of fuel. Star fusion provides a constant outward pressure, which exists in
balance with the star's own mass-driven, inward gravitational pull. When fusion slows, outbound
pressure drops and the star's core begins to condense under gravity -- becoming ever denser and
hotter.

To outward appearances, such stars begin growing, swelling into bodies known as red super giants.
But at their cores shrinking continues, making a supernova imminent.

When a star's core contracts to a critical point a series of nuclear reactions is unleashed. This fusion
staves off core collapse for a time -- but only until the core is composed largely of iron, which can no
longer sustain star fusion.
In a microsecond, the core may reach temperatures of billions of degrees Celsius. Iron atoms
become crushed so closely together that the repulsive forces of their nuclei create a recoil of the
squeezed core -- a bounce that causes the star to explode as a supernova and give birth to an
enormous, superheated, shock wave.

Supernovae also occur in binary star systems. Smaller stars, up to eight times the mass of our own
sun, typically evolve into white dwarfs. A star condensed to this size, about that of Earth, is very
dense and thus has strong enough gravitational pull to gather material from the system's second star
if it is close enough.

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If a white dwarf takes on enough mass it reaches a level called the Chandrasekhar limit. At this point
the pressure at its center will become so great that runaway fusion occurs and the star detonates in a
thermonuclear supernova.

A supernova can light the sky up for weeks, and the massive transfer of matter and energy leaves
behind a very different star.

Typically only a tiny core of neutrons, a spinning neutron star, is left to evidence a supernova.
Neutron stars give off radio waves in a steady stream or, as pulsars, in intermittent bursts.

If a star was so massive (at least ten times the size of our sun) that it leaves behind a large core, a
new phenomenon will occur. Because such a burned-out core has no energy source to fuse, and thus
produces no outward pressure, it may become engulfed by its own gravity and turn into a cosmic
sinkhole for energy and matter -- a black hole.

1) During the process in which a star is transformed into a süpernova

A) iron atoms expand rapidly

B) a black hole usually occurs
C) an extremely hot wave is produced as a result of the explosion
D) the core gradually heats up until it reaches an extremely high temperature
E) a black dwarf usually occurs

2) Supernovae

A) produce the iron in our blood

B) absorb matter from space clouds
C) often become white dwarfs
D) compress new stars
E) are found every 25,000 miles in space

3) Supernovae from massive stars

A) have very small cores

B) can eventually give rise to black holes
C) produce a large amount of pressure
D) leave only a small amount of neutrons
E) will provide new energy and matter

(FOR QUESTIONS 3,4 AND 5)

Advantages of public transport

A new study conducted for the World Bank by Murdoch University's Institute for Science and
Technology Policy (ISTP) has demonstrated that public transport is more efficient than cars. The
study compared the proportion of money poured into transport by thirty-seven cities around the world.
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This included both the public and private costs of building, maintaining and using a transport system.

The study found that the Western Australian city of Perth is a good example of a city with minimal
public transport. As a result, 17% of its wealth went into transport costs. Some European and Asian
cities, on the other hand, spent as little as 5%. As a consequence, these more efficient cities were
able to put the money saved into attracting industry and jobs or creating a better place to live.

Professor Newman, ISTP Director describes Melbourne as two cities: "A European city surrounded by
a car-dependent one''. Melbourne's large tram network has greatly reduced car use in the inner city,
but the outer suburbs have the same car-based structure as most other Australian cities. The
increasing demand for accommodation in the inner suburbs of Melbourne suggests that people now
prefer to live there.

Newman believes there is a new, more general way of considering public transport issues. In the
past, environmental and social justice were considered before economics. Newman, however, thinks
the study demonstrates that "the auto-dependent city model is inefficient and very inadequate in both
economic and environmental terms''.

Supporters of the road networks often reject the models of cities with good public transport by saying
that these systems would not work in their particular city. One objection is climate. Some people say
their city could not make more use of public transport because it is either too hot or too cold. Newman
rejects this, pointing out that public transport has been successful in both Toronto and Singapore and,
in fact, checks have demonstrated no correlation between the use of cars and the climate.

When it comes to other physical characteristics, road lobbies are in a stronger position. For example,
Newman accepts it would be hard for a city with a lot of hills like Auckland to develop a really good
rail network. However, he points out that both Hong Kong and Zurich have managed to make a
success of their rail systems, even if they have more hills than most cities in the world.

In fact, Newman believes the main reason for choosing one sort of transport instead of another is
politics: "the more democratic the process, the more public transport is favored". He considers
Portland, Oregon, a perfect example of this. Some years ago, the central government decided to
finance the construction of a new road. However, local pressure groups called for a referendum and
the money was spent on a railway instead, which worked extremely well. In the years that have
followed, more and more rail systems have been put in, dramatically changing the nature of the city.

In the UK, travel times to work had been stable for at least six centuries, and people generally
avoided spending more than half an hour travelling to work. Trains and cars initially allowed people to
live at greater distances without taking longer to reach their destination. However, public
infrastructure did not grow with the increase in urban areas, and this caused enormous congestion
problems and much longer commuting times.

Many think that if people have more money they want to live further from the city centre where cars
are the only practical means of transport. The example of European cities contradicts that. People are
often wealthier than their American counterparts but do not use their cars as much. In Stockholm, car
use has actually fallen in recent years as the city has become larger and wealthier. New studies show
that developing cities in Asia, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, make more use of the car than wealthy
Asian cities such as Tokyo and Singapore. In cities that developed later, the World bank and Asian
Development Bank discouraged the building of public transport and people have been forced to
depend on cars -- creating the massive traffic jams that characterize those cities.

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An alternative proposal is to convert cities that have been built for cars to rail use, by creating urban
villages at hundreds of sites, mostly around railway stations.

4) The ISTP report showed that cities with well-developed public transport
A) were a good example to other cities
B) spent more money on transport
C) were less well-organized
D) spent less money on transport
E) offered people better jobs

5) The use of private transport

A) was supported in some Asian cities by banks

B) has increased recently in Stockholm
C) is more common among rich Europeans
D) has created hundreds of urban villages
E) has caused enormous traffic problems in Singapore

6) In the study Melbourne emerges as

A) a city with an efficient outer suburban tram system

B) a city where people use two opposing modes of transport
C) a European city
D) a place where people prefer to live
E) a city with a growing demand for car parks

PHYSICS EXAM (time: 26 minutes)

1) Two planets undertake uniform circular motion around a star. For the two planets, the mass, speed
and distance from the star's centre is repectively m,v,r and m',v',r'. If r' = 4r, the ratio T'/T of the
periods of revolution of the planets is

A) 1/4
B) 4
C) 8
D) 1
E) 1/2

2) In the electric field, which one of the following relations concernig "volt" unit of measure is correct?

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 A) 1 volt = 1 farad/coulomb

B)

C)

D) 1 volt = 1 ampere/ohm

E) 1 volt = 1 ohm/ampere

3) A current of 10A passes through a resistor, across which the voltage is 220V. The power
dissipated is

A) 2,2 kJ
B) 0,045 A/V
C) 2,2 kW
D) 22 V/A
E) 2,2 kWh

4) Consider two distinct equipotential surfaces in an electrostatic field (meaning that points of the
same surface have the same potential, but that the two values of the potential are different). The two
surfaces

A) have the same centres of curvature

B) are parallel to the lines of force of the field
C) always intersect at 90°
D) are always parallel
E) never intersect each other

5) An object, initially at rest, falls vertically under gravity from a height of 5 m. The time it takes to fall
(ignoring air resistance) is roughly:

A) one second
B) two seconds
C) 1/5 second
D) half a second
E) 5 seconds

6) Whilst travelling by train, a passenger is able to detect the passage of one of the wheels across the
joins of the track. The passenger counts 240 in two minutes and each piece of track is 15 metres
long. What is the speed of the train (assumed to be constant)?

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 A) 60 m/s
B) 80 m/s
C) 30 m/s
D) 15 m/s
E) 45 m/s

7) On an object two forces and are applied, with moduli and , forming an
angle . What is the modulus of the resultant force ?

A) Approximately 5.5 N
B) 7 N
C) 30 N
D) Little more than 6 N
E) There is not enough data to give an answer

8) Consider two blocks of the same material, one of mass 5kg, the other of mass 10kg. Initially, the
two blocks have equal temperature 300K. Suppose that they are then both heated to a temperature of
500K. One can assert that

A) The 5kg block has absorbed more heat

B) The heat absorbed depends on the geometrical shape of the two blocks
C) Both blocks have absorbed the same amount of heat because they are made of the same
material
D) The 10kg block has absorbed more heat
E) Both blocks have absorbed the same quantity of heat because the increase in temperature has
been the same

9) In a science fiction film, there is a scene on the Lunar surface in which an astronaut becomes
aware of the arrival of a spaceship by hearing the noise of its engines. This scene is physically
inconsistent because:

A) the temperature of the Moon is so high that the sound cannot propagate
B) the acceleration due to gravity is smaller on the Moon compared to the Earth
C) the laws of physics do not hold on the Moon
D) The moon has no atmosphere and the sound cannot propagate in the absence of a
suitable medium
E) The astronaut's space-suit, like all clothing, completely absorbs sound

10) Two capacitors have capacitances , (with ) and charges whose respective
absolute values are , . One can deduce that
A) depends on the form of the plates
B) if the capacitors are connected in series
C) if the capacitors are connected in parallel

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 D) is always greater than
E) if the capacitors are connected in parallel

11) Two canisters hold equals volumes of gas held at the same temperature and pressure. One
contains (molecular mass equal to 2) and the other (molecular mass equal to 28).
A) The molecules of and those of have the same kinetic energy
B) The number of moles of is 14 times that of the
C) The quantity in grams of the two gases is equal
D) The molecules of and those of have the same speed
E) The number of molecules is 14 times that of the

12) A car, initially at rest, moves along a line with constant acceleration equal to 10m/s2. What will be
the velocity of the car after 45m?

A) 20m/s
B) 5m/s
C) 30m/s
D) 50m/s
E) 40m/s

LOGIC EXAM (time: 12 minutes)

1) Which of these diagrams illustrates the correct relationship between:

SQUARES - RECTANGLES - PARALLELOGRAMS?

A) Figure 1
B) Figure 5
C) Figure 3
D) Figure 4
E) Figure 2

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2) In the municipality of Mouseton, the school rules stipulate that if a school has more than 300
pupils, then it must have a gym and also an infirmary. As the rules in Mouseton are always obeyed,
which of the following statements is certainly true?

A) There is a school that has a gym and doesn't have an infirmary

B) If a school doesn't have a gym then it has 300 pupils at the most
C) If a school doesn't have a gym then it doesn't have an infirmary
D) If a school has a gym then it also has an infirmary
E) If a school has an infirmary then it has more than 300 pupils

3) Five books, identified by the abbreviations An-Bo-Ch-Di-El, are in a pile in descending alphabetical
order (so book An is at the top and book El is at the bottom).
The last three books from the bottom are simultaneously removed and put at the top, maintaining
their vertical order.
If this procedure is repeated two more times, which book will end up precisely at the bottom of the
pile?

A) Book An
B) Book El
C) Book Di
D) Book Bo
E) Book Ch

4) If it is true that:
- all those enrolled in the School of Engineering are diligent
- Charlie isn't diligent, while John is diligent
- in the winter John and Charlie go to the mountains together
then it can be deduced that:

A) Charlie isn't an Engineering student

B) in the summer John and Charlie don't go to the mountains together
C) Charlie isn't an Engineering student and John is an Engineering student
D) John and Charlie don't study in the winter
E) John is an Engineering student

5) The product of 12 integer numbers is positive. From this information we can deduce that it is
necessarily true that:

A) all factors are positive

B) at least two factors are negative
C) the number of positive factors is either zero or an even number
D) 6 factors are positive and 6 factors are negative
E) 2 factors are positive and 10 factors are negative

6) Which series of + (plus) and - (minus) signs inserted in sequence before the following numbers
would give a result of +16 ?
14, 15, 13, 12, 10
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A) + + - - -
B) - + + + -
C) - - - + +
D) + + - - +
E) + - + - +

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