ISI 2023 Mock

Ramanujan School of Mathematics

April 14, 2023

1 Instructions
1.1 There are 30 problems in UGA, each having only a single option (among 4)
correct as its answer. You get 4 marks for every correct answer, 1 mark for
each unattempted question, and 0 marks for an incorrect answer.
1.2 UGB has 10 problems, fully subjective, each worth 10 marks. Attempt any
8. Show your full work for these problems.
1.3 Please attempt the examination honestly.
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2 UGA
1. f is continuous on its entire domain. Which of the following pairs of domain and range is impossible?

(A) D = [0, 1], R = [0, 1] (B) D = (0, 1), R = [0, 1] (C) D = [0, 1], R = (0, 1) (D) D = (0, 1], R = [0, 1)
2. Define f : [−1, 1] → [−3π/2, −π/2] and g : [−1, 1] → [3π, 4π] such that sin(f (x)) = cos(g(x)) = x
∀x ∈ [−1, 1] then find the maximum value of f + 2g:
7π 9π 11π 13π
(A) (B) (C) (D)
2 2 2 2
3. A rectangle with its sides parallel to the coordinate axes is inscribed in the region bounded by the graphs
of y = x2 − 4 and 2y = 4 − x2 . The maximum possible area of such a rectangle is closest to the integer:

(A) 7 (B) 8 (C) 9 (D) 10

x2 + 1
 
(2021) 1
4. f (x) = then find the value of f (2021st derivative):
x3 − x 2
 2022
2021! 2
(A) 2021! (B) 2022 (C) 2021! × (D) −20212021
2 3
5. Let p(x) be a polynomial such that p(x) − p′ (x) = xn , where n is a positive integer. Then p(0) equals:
1 1
(A) n! (B) (n − 1)! (C) (D)
n! (n − 1)!
6. OAB is a quadrant of a circle (O is the centre and A, B are the ends of the chord which subtends a right an-
gle at O). P is a variable point on the segment OB. P Q is drawn such that Q lies on the quarter circle and
QP ⊥ OB. If the radius of the circle is 1, find the maximum area of the quadrilateral OP QA (as P varies).
√ √ √
1+ 2 2+ 3 3 3 1
(A) 4 (B) 8 (C) 8 (D) 2

7. The points of non-differentiability of the function f (x) = x| sin x| are best described by:
(A) x = nπ for n = 1, 2, 3 · · ·
(B) x = nπ for n = 0, 1, 2, 3 · · ·
(C) x = nπ for n = ±1, ±2, ±3 · · ·
(D) x = nπ for n = 0, ±1, ±2, ±3 · · ·
8. If x, y ∈ R then calculate the maximum value of (5x3 + 3y 5 ) − (5y 3 + 3x5 ).

(A) 4 (B) 2 (C) −2 (D) 0

9. Consider the graph of y = xn , n natural. A(0, 0) and B(1, 1) always lie on this graph. Let P be a variable
point on the graph, f (P ) = area of ∆P AB. Let Xn be the local maxima of the function f (P ). Then find
the value of lim Xn .
n→∞
1
(A) (B) 0 (C) 1 (D) ∞
2
3x − x3
 
10. Let f (x) = 3 tan−1 x, g(x) = tan−1 2
. Find the magnitude of the area between the graphs of f
√ 1 − 3x
√
and g between x = −2 − 3 and x = 2 + 3.
π π2 π2 π
(A) (B) (C) (D)
2 4 6 4
11. You have some fixed volume π3 of ice with you, and you want to make a cone out of it, then place it on
the ground (circular face on ground). You want the cone to melt fast, so you want its exposed surface
area to be minimum. What is that area?
√ √ 3
√
(A) π 3 2 (B) 0 (C) π 2 (D) π √
3
2

2
12. For any natural number n, define p(n) to be the product of the digits in n (in base 10). For example,
p(103) = 0, p(722) = 28. Find the last two digits of:
2023
10
X
p(i)
i=1

(A) 20 (B) 45 (C) 70 (D) 95

13. If a, b, c are three real numbers satisfying a2 − b = b2 − c = c2 − a = 2 then find the sum of all possible
values of (a + b)(b + c)(c + a).

(A) 1 (B) 8 (C) 64 (D) 57

14. Find the value of the sum:        

2022 2022 2022 2022
+ + ···
0 4 8 2020

(A) 22021 (B) 22020 + 1 (C) 22020 − 1 (D) 22020

15. Find number of pairs of a, b ∈ R such that: a⌊b⌋ = 10, ⌊a⌋b = 9.

(A) 0 (B) 1 (C) More than one but finitely many (D) ∞

16. Find the sum of all real values of x such that the set {122, 107, 127, 152, 137, x} has a mean (arithmetic)
that is equal to its median.

(A) 361 (B) 147 (C) 381 (D) 249

17. f is a differentiable function, a is a fixed positive real and the following property holds:
Z na Z a
f (x)dx = n f (x)dx
0 0

∀ natural n ≤ 2023. Then the least number of real roots of f ′ (x) is:

(A) 1012 (B) 2021 (C) 2022 (D) 2023

18. Find the number of real x for which 2023{x} = |x|.

(A) 2022 (B) 2023 (C) 4046 (D) 4045

19. In a prize distribution ceremony, a total of n + 1 distinct prizes are to be given (one after the other) to n
students such that all of the students get at least one prize. How many ways can this be done?

(A) (n + 1)! (B) n(n + 1)! (C) n(n!) (D) (n + 1)(n + 1)!
20. In the sequence of positive integers, starting with 2018, 121, 16, ... each term is the square of the sum of
digits of the previous term. What is the 2023rd term of the sequence?

(A) 1 (B) 169 (C) 256 (D) 81

21. England and Australia play a 5 match test series. Each test can end in one team winning or a draw, or no
result. Assume there are no ties. A draw/no result contributes nothing to the win total of a team. Then
in how many ways can England win the series (that is, get more wins finally than Australia).

(A) 96 (B) 66 (C) 70 (D) 51

22. Consider the polynomial
10
Y k
P (x) = (x2 + 2k ) = (x + 1)(x2 + 2)(x4 + 4) · · · (x1024 + 1024).
k=0

The coefficient of x2023 is equal to 2a . What is a?

(A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 7 (D) 10

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23. For 135◦ < x < 180◦ , points P = (cos x, cos2 x), Q = (cot x, cot2 x), R = (sin x, sin2 x) and S =
(tan x, tan2 x) are the vertices of a trapezoid. What is sin(2x)?
√ √ √
(A) 2 − 2 2 (B) 3 3 − 6 (C) 3 2 − 5 (D) 1

24. Let P (x) = x3 + x2 − r2 x − 2023 be a polynomial with roots r, s, t. What is |P (1)|?

(A) 4042 (B) 4043 (C) 4044 (D) 4045

→
− →
− −→ − −−→ → →
− −−→ →
−
25. We are given vectors →
−a and b such that |→
−
a | = | b | = 1. Let OA = →
a , OB = −
a × b , OC = (→
−
a × b )× →
−
a.
−−→ 1 →
− →
−
If M is the centroid of triangle ABC and |OM | = √6 , find the angle between vectors a and b .

(A) 30◦ (B) 45◦ (C) 60◦ (D) 90◦

(A) 11 (B) 12 (C) 13 (D) 14
26. At ISI Kolkata, the biological sciences division consists of the departments of Ecology, Genetics and
Anthropology. There are two male and two female professors in each department. A committee of six
professors is to contain three men and three women and must also contain two professors from each of the
three departments. Find the number of possible comittees that can be formed given these restrictions.

(A) 64 (B) 70 (C) 24 (D) 88

27. All the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 are written in a 3 × 3 array of squares, one number in each square,
in such a way that if two numbers are consecutive then they occupy squares that share an edge. The
numbers in the four corners add up to 18. What is the number in the center?
(A) 5 (B) 6 (C) 7 (D) 8
28. A mathematician has three children named Abir, Bappa, Chirantan (ages a, b, c ∈ N respectively). It is
known that 7 = a < b < c. The mathematician has a polynomial with integer coefficients p and he finds
out that:
p(a) = 77, p(b) = 85, p(c) = 0
How old is Chirantan?
(A) 9 (B) 11 (C) 14 (D) 18

29. Find the area of the Argand plane enclosed by the curve |z|2 + |z 2 − 2i| = 16.
√
(A) 9π (B) 7π (C) 3 7π (D) 8π
30. The logo of the toto company Shizuka is made up by cutting out two congruent quadrilateral “strips”
from a piece of paper shaped like a regular hexagon, as shown in the figure below. Note that each of the
five remaining sections have the same width a as the cut out strips as well. What is the approximate
percentage of area cut out from the hexagon?

Figure 1: Shizuka Logo

(A) 10% (B) 20% (C) 30% (D) 40%

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3 UGB
1. Let n ∈ N. Let X = {1, 2, · · · , n2 }. Let A ⊆ X with |A| = n. (Here, |A| means the number of elements
of the set A). Prove that the set difference X − A contains an arithmetic progression with n terms.
2. Find all m, n ∈ N such that:
(a) 3m + 3n is a perfect square
(b) 3m + 3n + 1 is a perfect square
3. Define f : R3 → N ∪ {0} as: f (a, b, c) is the number of real solutions to the equation:

|||x| − a| − b| = c

Find the minimum and maximum values of f over all a, b, c. Further, prove that all integers between these
two values lie in the range of f .
4. Consider the matrix:  
a b c
A= c a b 
b c a
Find all (a, b, c) ∈ Z3 such that det(A) = 1.
1
5. Define Tn = (an + bn ) n where a, b are fixed real numbers.

(a) If a, b ≥ 0 prove that lim Tn exists and find its value in terms of a and b.
n→∞
(b) Prove that this limit may not exist if we allow a, b to be negative.
(c) Find reals a, b such that at least one of them is negative, and the above limit exists.
(d) Given that for some a, b ∈ R, the limit exists. Can you find its value in terms of a and b?

6. Find all f : R → R such that:

f (f (x) + y) = 2x + f (f (y) − x)
holds ∀x, y ∈ R. Verify your solutions.
7. A classroom consists of n pairs of best friends who need to form n groups of two for an upcoming project.
However, to promote synergy in the classroom, the teacher forbids any student to work with his best
friend. Let dn be the number of ways the students can pair up, following this condition.

(a) Find the values of d2 , d3 .

(b) Prove that dn = 2(n − 1)(dn−1 + dn−2 ).
(c) Using the Principle of Inclusion-Exclusion, try to prove (without using the above recursion) that
d5 = 544. (Hint: Consider the sets Ai = the set of pairings where the ith best friend pair are
together. So we are looking for |Ac1 ∩ Ac2 ∩ . . . ∩ Ac5 |).

8. Ananyo is teaching Rolle’s Theorem to his students and he wants a nice cubic polynomial as an example.
That is, a cubic p(x) such that p(x) has 3 distinct integer roots, and p′ (x) has integer roots as well. Prove
or disprove that there are infinitely many such nice monic cubic polynomials.
9. Purushottam is a big fan of the film Inception pand wants
p to 3D print a version of its famous spinning top.
He starts with the plane region {(x, y) ∈ R2 : |x| + |y| = 1}. He then rotates the entire region about
the y axis to get the desired solid (that is, the envelope of all points ever part of the region throughout
its rotation). Find its volume.
10. With the help of integrals or otherwise, prove that:
 
n+1
X n+1
X i+j n X n
X i + j  = π + ln 2
lim  2 2
− 2 2
n→∞
i=1 j=1
i +j i=1 j=1
i +j 2