QMA 2023

199 + 299 + · · · + n99

1. lim equals to
n→∞ n100
9 1 1 1
(A) 100
(B) 100
(C) 99
(D) 101

1 1 1 1
2. If a
+ c
+ a−b
+ c−b
= 0, and b 6= a + c, then which one of the
following is true?

(A) a, b, c are in GP (B) a, b, c are in AP

(C) a, b, c are in HP (D) None of these

3. If a, b, c are distinct positive rational numbers and they are in

AP, then the roots of the equation ax2 + bx + c = 0 are

(A) imaginary (B) rational and equal

(C) irrational (D) rational and unequal

4. If ab = 2a + 3b, a > 0, b > 0, then the minimum value of ab is

1
(A) 18 (B) 36 (C) 24 (D) 4

Z 0
x
5. The value of ex+e dx is
−∞

(A) 0 (B) e − 1 (C) e (D) 1

6. If |a| < 1 and |b| < 1, then the sum of the series

1 + (1 + a)b + (1 + a + a2 )b2 + · · ·

is
1 1
(A) (B)
(1 − a)(1 − b) (1 − a)(1 − ab)
1 1
(C) (D)
(1 − b)(1 − ab) (1 − a)(1 − b)(1 − ab)

1
 7. Suppose P is the set of different terms obtained in the expansion
of (a + b + · · · + z)2 , Q is the set of different terms obtained in
the expansion of (a + b + 2)2 and S is the set of elements in
P \Q. Then the cardinality of S is

(A) 348 (B) 354 (C) 351 (D) 345

8. Let
x−4


 + a, for x < 4
 |x − 4|


f (x) = a + b, for x = 4

 x−4
+ b, for x > 4.


|x − 4|


Then f (x) is continuous at x = 4, when

(A) a = 0 and b = 0 (B) a = 1 and b = 1

(C) a = −1 and b = 1 (D) a = 1 and b = −1

9. Consider the following matrix

 
1 logx y logx z
M = logy x 1 logy z 
 

logz x logz y 1

The determinant of M is
1
(A) −1 (B) 1 (C) 0 (D) 2

10. If log2 (5.2x + 1), log4 (21−x + 1) and 1 are in AP, then x equals
to

(A) log2 5 (B) 1 − log2 5

(C) log5 2 (D) None of these

2
11. Let f (x) be a quadratic polynomial such that f (−2) + f (3) = 0.
If one of the roots of f (x) = 0 is −1, then the sum of the roots
of f (x) = 0 is equal to

11 7 13 14
(A) 3
(B) 3
(C) 3
(D) 3

12. Let f (x) be a continuous function in [0, π]. If f (π) = 2 and

Rπ 00


0
f (x) + f (x) sin x dx = 5, then f (0) equals

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

13. Let x and y be distinct integers, where 1 ≤ x ≤ 25 and

1 ≤ y ≤ 25. Then the probability that x + y is divisible by 5 is

125 120 125 120

(A) 625
(B) 625
(C) 600
(D) 600

14. If Z = log2 log2 log4 256 + log√2 2, then Z is equal to

(A) 2 (B) 3 (C) 5 (D) 7

15. A bag contains 4 red and 6 black balls. A ball is drawn

at random from the bag, its colour is observed and this
ball along with two additional balls of the same colour is
returned to the bag. If another ball is drawn at random from
the bag, then what is the probability that this drawn ball is red?

1 3 3 2
(A) 5
(B) 4
(C) 10
(D) 5

16. A fair coin is tossed 100 times. The probability of getting odd
number of tails is

1 1 1 1
(A) 100
(B) 50
(C) 2
(D) 4

3
 9x
     
1 2 1995
17. Let f (x) = x , then f +f +· · ·+f
9 +3 1996 1996 1996
equals

(A) 996.5 (B) 997.5 (C) 998.5 (D) 999.5

18. Two six-faced dice are tossed. What is the probability that the
total score is a prime number?
1 5 4 7
(A) (B) (C) (D)
3 12 9 18

19. If the area bounded by y = kx2 and x = ky 2 , k > 0, is 1, then

the value of k is
1 1 2
(A) 1 (B) √ (C) (D)
3 3 3

20. Consider the equation −x2 + αx − β = 0, α > 0, β > 0. For

what values of α and β, this equation has distinct roots?

(A) 5 and 4 (B) 1 and 1

(C) 3 and 4 (D) 6 and 10

21. The last digit in 7300 is

(A) 1 (B) 3 (C) 7 (D) 9

2 4 6
22. The value of + + + · · · is equal to
3! 5! 7!
1
(A) e−1 (B) e−2 (C) 1 − (D) e
e

4
23. Consider the following system of equations
     
−5 −6 3 x 4
−3 6 p y  = −1 .
     

11 −6 −5 z −1

For what value of p, this system of equations does not have a

unique solution?

(A) 1 (B) 0 (C) −1 (D) 2

" #
0 p
24. Consider a matrix P = , p ∈ R and I is a 2 × 2 identity
0 0
matrix, then I + P + P 2 + · · · + P 21 equals
" # " #
0 p 1 p
(A) (B)
0 0 0 1
" # " #
0 p21 1 p20
(C) (D)
0 0 0 1

25. A hydraulic cylinder manufacturing company has decided to

outsource the surface hardening process of piston rods to one of
the five shortlisted heat treatment companies. Each company
has been given 100 piston rods for surface hardening, and any
rod with unsatisfactory surface hardness will be rejected. The
number of rejected rods is less than 10 for each company. If the
median rejection is 5 and the mode is 6, what is the maximum
number of piston rods that could be rejected for a single heat
treatment company?

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

5
26. A random variable X follows a Poisson distribution with
parameter λ > 0. The probability that X takes the value 2 is
equal to the probability that X takes the value 3. The value of
λ is

(A) 1.5 (B) 2 (C) 3 (D) 6

27. Starting with n = 1, a formula

(n − 1)(n − 2)c
Un = a + (n − 1)b +
2
generates the sequence 4, 11, 24, 43, . . . Assuming it has 101
terms, the median of the data generated is

(A) 7704 (B) 7410 (C) 7854 (D) 8004

28. If the expression 9 tan(θ + 30) + 6 tan(θ − 30) can be written as

17
15 tan θ + p tan2 θ + 1−q tan2 θ
, then p and q are

(A) 12 and 13 (B) 5 and 12

(C) 6 and 13 (D) 5 and 13

√ √
10
29. The sum of the rational terms in the expansion of 2+ 53
is

(A) 32 (B) 41 (C) 18 (D) 82

30. A bag contains 9 red, 4 white and 3 blue marbles. One marble
is picked up at random. Find the probability that the marble
will be red or blue.

7 4 3 13
(A) 16
(B) 5
(C) 4
(D) 16

6
 QMB 2023

1. (a) If a, b and c are positive numbers such that a < b < c, then
show that
a2 a2 + b 2 + c 2 c2
< < .
c a+b+c a
(b) Consider the numbers 0, 1, 2, · · · , n included in a list with
frequencies 1, n1 , n2 , . . . , nn , respectively. Find the mean

of the numbers in the list.

(c) A man decided to visit four places, P1 , P2 , P3 and P4 in a

random order. Find the probability that he visits P1 before
P2 , and P2 before P3 .

[7 + 4 + 4 = 15]

R e2
2. (a) Evaluate e−1
| logxe x | dx.

(b) Calculate the sum of first 50 terms of

3 5 7
+ + + ···
12 12 + 22 12 + 22 + 32

[7 + 8 = 15]

3. (a) Let a biased coin upon being tossed has probability of turn-
2
ing on head 5
and probability of turning on tail 35 . The coin
is tossed five times. Determine the probability of turning
up exactly three heads, all of them consecutive.
Rx
(b) Show that f (x) = a |t| dt is differentiable at all x > a.

[7 + 8 = 15]

4. (a) The numbers 1, 2, 3, . . . , 100 are written down on each of the

cards A, B and C. One number is selected at random from
each of the cards. Find the probability that the numbers
so selected can be the measures (in cm) of three sides of a
right-angled triangle.

1
 (b) Find the area of the region bounded by the following lines
3x − y − 3 = 0, 2x + y − 12 = 0 and x − 2y − 1 = 0.
[8 + 7 = 15]
∞ ∞
X 1 π2 X 1 π2
5. (a) If = , then show that = .
n=1
n2 6 n=1
(2n − 1)2 8

(b) Consider the following functions f (x) = x2 + x12 and g(x) =

√
x − x1 ; x ∈ R − {−1, 0, 1}. Show that fg(x)
(x)
≥ 2 2.
[8 + 7 = 15]

6. (a) Shannon Foods is a business that produces and supplies

chicken nuggets to selected restaurants in the city. The
company has a fixed cost of 500 dollars per day, and its
variable cost consists of a material cost of 5 dollars per
packet produced, and a labour cost of 0.1 times the square
of the number of nugget packets produced per day. The
company sells each packet for 205 dollars. What is the
optimal number of chicken nugget packets that Shannon
Foods should produce per day to maximize its profit?
" #
1 −2
(b) Consider the square matrix A = . Find the coeffi-
p 2
cient of p3 in determinant of 5A3 .
[9 + 6 = 15]

7. (a) If x ∈ R, find the real values of a for which x2 −2ax−2a2 +1

is always positive.
(b) There are three persons aged 60, 65 and 70 years. The
probabilities of their living 5 more years are 0.8, 0.6 and
0.3 respectively. Find the probability that at least two of
the three persons will remain alive 5 years hence.
[6 + 9 = 15]

2
8. (a) If the numbers appeared on two throws of a fair six-faced die
are α and β, then find the probability that x2 + αx + β > 0,
for all x ∈ R.
(b) Four seeds are planted with each one having 80% chance
of germinating. Find the probability that at least one seed
will germinate.
(c) Show that 72n − 48n − 1, where n is positive integer, is
divisible by 2304.
[6 + 4 + 5 = 15]