Category B

Sample Questions
Set 1
Objective
2021

This paper should only be considered as a sample paper. Neither the

distribution nor the exact format might be repeated in the actual paper. The
intent of this paper is to help the examinee practice relevant question patterns.

1. A collection of non-empty subsets of the set {1, 2, ..., n} is called a

simplex if whenever a subset S is included in the collection, any non
empty subset T of S is also included in the collection. Only one of the
following collections of subsets of {1, 2, ..., n} is a simplex. Which one
is it?

(A) The collection of all subsets X with the property that 1 ∈ X.

(B) The collection of all subsets having exactly 4 elements.
(C) The collection of all non empty subsets which do not contain any
even number.
(D) The collection of all non empty subsets except for the subset {1}.

1
2. Given any five points in the square I 2 = {(x, y) : 0 ≤ x ≤ 1, 0 ≤ y ≤ 1},
only one of the following statements is true. Which one is it?

(A) The five points lie on a circle.

(B) At least one square can be formed using four of the five points.
(C) At least three of the five points are collinear.
(D) There are at least two points such that the distance between them
does not exceed √12 .

3. Let 1, ω, ω 2 be the cube roots of unity. The least possible degree of

a polynomial with real coefficients having 2ω, 2 + 3ω, 2 + 3ω 2 and
2 − ω − ω 2 as roots is

(A) 4
(B) 5
(C) 6
(D) 8

4. Let a, b, c ∈ R such that a2 + b2 + c2 = 1. Then which one of the

following is true?

(A) (ab + bc + ac) is constant

(B) −0.5 ≤ (ab + bc + ac) ≤ 1
(C) −0.25 ≤ (ab + bc + ac) ≤ 1
(D) −1 ≤ (ab + bc + ac) ≤ 0.5

2
 n n
cos−1 (αi ) = 0, then find
P P
5. If αi .
i=1 i=1

n
(A) 2
(B) n
(C) nπ
nπ
(D) 2

n
6n
P
6. The value of lim 2 2 is
n→∞ r=1 9n −r

(A) 0
(B) log 23
(C) log 23
(D) log 2

 
 z1 +z2  z1
7. Suppose z1 , z2 ∈ C satisfies z1 =
6 2, z2 =
6 0 and  z1 −z2  = 1. Then z2
is

(A) Real and negative

(B) Real and positive
(C) Purely Imaginary
(D) None of the above

3
 8. Let f be a positive differentiable function defined on (0, ∞). Then

f (x + n1 )
lim
n→∞ (f (x))n

(A) equals 1
f 0 (x)
(B) equals f (x)
f 0 (x)
(C) equals e f (x)
(D) May not exist for some f

9. Let set A = {1, 2, ..., 22}. B ⊆ A and B has exactly 11 elements, find
the sum of elements of all possible subsets B.

(A) 252 21


11
21


(B) 230 10
(C) 253 21


9

(D) 253 21


10

10. Let ABC be a triangle and let ω be its circumcircle. The internal
bisectors of angles A, B and C intersect ω at A1 , B1 , and C1 respec-
tively, and the internal bisectors of angles A1 , B1 , and C1 of the triangle
A1 B1 C1 intersect ω at A2 , B2 , and C2 , respectively. If the smallest an-
gle of triangle ABC is 40◦ , what is the magnitude of the smallest angle
of triangle A2 B2 C2 in degrees?

(A) 40◦
(B) 45◦
(C) 50◦
(D) 55◦

4
 √
11. For every positive integer n, let hni denote the integer closest to n.
Let Ak = {n > 0 : hni = k}. The number of elements in A49 is

12. The digit at the unit place of (1! − 2! + 3! − · · · + 7!)(1−2!+3!−···+7!) is

13. The number of real solutions of the equation: x7 − x − 1 = 0 is

14. Find the number of ordered pairs of real numbers x and y such that
x2 + 2y 2 + 21 ≤ x(2y + 1)

15. If x > y are positive integers such that 3x + 11y leaves a remainder 2
when divided by 7 and 9x + 5y leaves a remainder 3 when divided by
7, then the remainder when x − y is divided by 7, equals

16. If abc = 1, then

1 1 1
+ + ≤k
a+b+1 b+c+1 c+a+1
Find the least integral value of k.

17. The larger diagonal of a parallelogram of area 8 unit2 must have length
(in units) with measure at least