Jee Advanced - Stretching Beyond

FW's JEE adv diary Episode - 1 <Stretching a bit and going beyond>
I thought today April 3 is AYJR and hence I took off only to realize that it is
postponed to tomorrow. It's true that I am not giving April Mains attempt but AYJR
is fun and did not wanted to miss it. So got some spare time now & checking out
reddit. Very sorry that it's still not possible to respond to DMs due to the sheer
volume, but based on the queries that I have in my DM's I thought I will post
generic response - in the form of my observations and stuff that I did, which may
answer some of these queries.

Disclaimer - As such I AM NOT AN AUTHORITY on JEE, and these are only my findings
and my opinions, so obviously they may be wrong and in such a case feel free to
correct me. We live & learn !.

I do not not want to narrate this in "stream of consciousness" format. They say
James Joyce's Ulysses is the greatest book but sadly I can't understand the plot as
it follows the same approach. So to spare the pain to the reader (if anyone does
read this), I will try to divide this diary into episodes and then put in my
observations on each.

The discussion is related only to JEE advanced MATHEMATICS and to save typing
efforts I will focus only on the papers from 2018-2022 (past 5 years). Whenever
time permits, I will try to cover the topics in the broad topics like - Rewarding
Alertness, Alternate ways to solve, Mis-directions, Lost in English, Should I
believe my gut? and the Extra advantage.

Credits for the content consolidation --> my teachers, my friends (V, A & C), VL
Bhaiyya on reddit & Prof Joshi

Today's topic is Extra Advantage - Stretching a bit and going beyond.

Often folks ask what extra things I did that may go beyond prescribed syllabus.
Maths Olympiad prep may help but thats not what this is about. I have mapped past
25+ odd years papers to study this, and I have even commented about these topics on
an earlier post, that you can find it Here

But in this specific post I will give 10 topics by mapping them to the past 5 years
papers only. Two things to note here --> #1 Some of these topics may have been
covered in your syllabus but for most folks these topics are either never taught or
just mentioned as a passing comment and #2 Obviously there are other ways to solve
(Maths is fun in that regards) but knowing this extra info may help you to get the
solution quickly and in a timed exam like JEEA this matters a lot. Keep in mind, I
am just giving examples and the topics, the actual solutions you can try only after
learning the concept.

BEWARE - DO NOT JUMP into these extra topics if you have not yet finished the base
syllabus

Lets roll.

1) Bit of Complex Analysis

If you know Cross ratio theorem and fractional linear transformations you have a
bit of an advantage in quickly solving the very first question in JEE 2018 paper 1
Q1.
Of course you can still solve it without knowing this theorem, but knowing it saves
you some minutes. (this message will be recurring for all items below so not
knowing it may not jeopardize you)

2) Matrices - Cayley Hamilton Theorem

the Cayley Hamilton theorem says that every square matrix is a root of its
characteristic polynomial.

Examples

JEE2019 paper 1 Q2

While Knowledge of Cayley Hamilton would have helped in some previous JEE
questions, this is probably the first time that a problem implicitly based on it
was asked. Knowing a bit about this theorem and its application would have helped.

& also

JEE 2020 paper 2, Q4

3) PnC Probability - Derangements. Knowledge of principle of inclusion and

exclusion

Examples

JEE 2018 For Q17/18 in paper 1 and also possibly Q9 in paper 2

As such this formula based question had also appeared in JEE Adv 2014 paper 1 Q14

Additionally in JEE 2019 paper 2 Q10, the arrangement problem is better solved with
this principle

4) Matrices - Eigen Values and Eigen vectors and EIGEN SPACE

Examples

JEE2019 Paper 2, Q2 (option C check)

In fact, these eigenvectors of Q can be chosen in such a way, that the

corresponding eigenvectors of R are simply the corresponding columns of P. So,
hardly any calculations are needed.) When one such eigenvector of R is in a
standardized form (for example, its first entry is 1), the other two entries are
uniquely determined.

BEWARE - even after standardization, the same matrix may have more than one
eigenvector for the same eigenvalue. There is a way to salvage the situation
without going through the computation of R. But it requires the concept of not only
an eigenvector corresponding to an eigenvalue but that of an eigenspace.

Cayley Hamilton plus Eigen values knowledge would have also helped on JEE2022 Paper
2 Q16 (This problem also uses the properties of Nilpotent matrices)

5) Number Theory - Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT)

Examples

CRT knowledge would have helped on Q14 Paper 1 of JEE 2019

Q.14 Let AP(a; d) denote the set of all terms of an infinite arithmetic progression
with first term a and common difference d > 0. If AP(1; 3) n AP(2; 5) n AP(3; 7) =
AP(a; d)

then a + d equals

This looks like an AP problem but its more related to Number Theory than
Progressions

6) Limits (Series / Sequence) - Riemann Sum

Examples

JEE 2019 Q6 paper 2

This problem is pretty straightforward when the idea of expressing it as Riemann

Sum strikes

7)The concept of Permutation matrix

A matrix whose rows & cols are permutations of those of the identity matrix is
called a permutation matrix.

Good also to know that the product of two permutation matrices is also a
permutation matrix corresponding to the permutation which is the composite of the
two permutations that correspond to the two matrices.

Examples

This knowledge would have helped in -

JEE 2019 Paper 2 Q.1 involved all the six permutation matrices.

JEE2021 Paper 1 Q11

8)Sylvester�s determinant identity

Especially when specialized to square matrices, it says that for any two square
matrices E and F of

order n, regardless of whether E and F commute, we have

|I - EF| = |I - F E|

Examples

Knowing this and using this would have helped you to solve JEE 2021 Paper 1 Q14 on
matrices.

9)Formula for the SQUARE of scalar triple product

https://math.stackexchange.com/a/880402

Example
This obscure formula would have saved some minutes on JEE 2021 paper 1 Q 19

10)Projection Formula in Trigonometry (its actually in syllabus) but rarely used.

Examples

It would have helped solve JEE 2021 Paper 2, Q2 (Option B check)

Conclusion - I restricted myself to only 5 years and got the 10 topics above and if
you have observed almost half of them are related to matrices a topic that is
considered halwa (too easy) by many. This also may imply that if any topic is easy
then try to go beyond and polish it so hard that you will not miss a single mark on
it.

FW's JEE adv diary Episode - 2 <Lost in English>

Circumlocution refers to the use of many words to express an idea that could be
conveyed by a few direct words. It can also refer to talking around a subject or
using indirect language to avoid being clear or direct. In other words, it is a
wordy or indirect way of speaking that avoids getting straight to the point.

JEE Advanced often has this issue where they make a simple concept lost in English
with word play - aka circumlocution.

So after spending 2 days at home for AYJR I will be going back to my cave from
tomorrow, so before that thought of posting this note.

Before I provide some examples from 2018-2022 JEE (only Math portion for now) for
this, I think we have to consider the possible reasons on why they do it -

1)Test the student's comprehension skills.

2)They set the paper in 2 languages and because it should be in sync it may really
be a lost in translation kind of scenario due to normalization of the original
English to match with Hindi.

3) They don't want to penalize students for not knowing the technical terms. For
e.g. they will not really call a triangle as 3-sided polygon but they may choose to
call dodecahedron as a 12-sided polygon because not many will actually know what it
is. It sounds fair in some cases, but the actual implementation of that is funny as
you can see with below examples.

So here are a few examples.

Example 1)

JEE 2018 paper 2, section 1, Q 2.

Let T be the line passing through the points P(-2, 7) and Q(2, -5). Let F1 be the
set of all pairs of circles (S1, S2) such that T is tangent to S1 at P and tangent
to S2 at Q and also such that S1 and S2 touch each other at a point, say, M. Let E1
be the set representing the locus of M as the pair varies in F1. Let the set of all
straight line segments joining a pair of distinct points of E1 and passing through
the point R(1, 1) be F2. Let E2 be the set of the mid-points of the line segments
in F2. Then, which of the following statements is(are) TRUE?
Saw this ? --> 'a straight line segment joining a pair of distinct points�.

Um, isnt that a CHORD ? Is Chord really a technical term like dodecahedron that
deserves this definition?

Note:- By the way this question is a huge beware in that they are asking if points
lie on the locus and When we write the equation of some locus, we sometimes get
some points which satisfy the equation but do not belong to the original locus
because of some degeneracy. Choice A is a very good example for this. Will explain
this later if I get time or you can research yourself and find out.

Example 2)

JEE 2021 paper 1, Q1

Consider a triangle ? whose two sides lie on the x-axis and the line x + y + 1 = 0.
If the orthocentre of ? is (1, 1), then the equation of the circle passing through
the vertices of the triangle is ?

Ok so here it doesn't look like a big para, but did you observe closely ?

here --> "circle passing through the vertices of the triangle" ?

Thats a CIRCUMCIRCLE right? and again I am sure even if a student doesn't know the
equation, they surely know what a circumcircle is? Not sure why the problem
couldn't say just that?

Note- BTW this problem can be done just with pure and coordinate geometry, but I
would suggest you to try this. We know that we need 3 points to lie on the circle
(not necessarily the vertices). Now use this knowledge along with the fact that the
reflections of the orthocentre into the sides of a triangle lie on its
circumcircle. Try it out and let me know what you think. (I personally do not
recommend this method and mentioned here just for curiosity)

FW's JEE adv diary Episode - 3 <Beauty is only skin deep>

Prof KD Joshi (Retd IIT-Bombay) very often says that the modern JEE Advanced is
designed to reward unscrupulous students. He actually puts in some convincing
examples to show how a detailed-oriented student may suffer due to this. The
unscrupulous here doesn't necessarily mean the "tukka" specialists. Of course the
exam has been gamed by coaching classes but at least it is privileged enough to not
be broken by tukka-bots. Hope that never happens !

In this episode we will see how being alert helps. How sometimes the questions are
mis-directions or counter-intuitive and going a bit deeper or thinking outside the
box helps. All examples (barring the first one) are from 2018-2022 papers.

Lets see Example 1) JEE 2011 had this Paragraph question in Paper 1

Paragraph for Q. 12 and 13

Let U1 and U2 be two urns such that U1 contains 3 white and 2 red balls and U2
contains only 1 white ball. A fair coin is tossed. If a head appears then one ball
is drawn at random and put into U2. However, if a tail appears then two balls are
drawn at random from U1 and put into U2. Now one ball is drawn at random from U2.

Q.12 The probability of the drawn ball from U2 being white is

(A) 13 / 30 (B) 23 / 30 (C) 19 / 30 (D) 11 / 30

Q.13 Given that the ball drawn from U2 is white, the probability that a head
appeared on the coin is

(A) 17/ 23 (B) 11 / 23 (C) 15 / 23 (C) 12 / 23

Whats happening here -

Look at the denominators of Q13 choices, it is 23. Now if you are alert and know
that conditional probability is a ratio, you will get a hint that the numerator of
Q12 should have a 23. Since the denominators of all choices in Q12 is 30, well your
answer for Q12 is B �> 23/30.

Just with a simple reasoning and looking at options we get this answer for Q12

Well this is not Advanced worthy right ? Rightfully so and luckily after 2011 we
don't have any such questions where we can figure out the answer just by looking at
the options. This is the NTA territory for JEE Mains and does not befit an exam
like Advanced conducted by the IIT's.

Ok, so from the last 5 years papers the question that comes closest to similar to
above will be the one as per -->

Example 2) JEE 2018 Paper 2 Section 1, the very first question Q1 -> where a
function f(x) was given whose domain was (0, infinity)

The question was a multiple correct choice type and each choice had some function
manipulation .

But options A & B could be directly ruled out as they both talked about f(0) and
f(0) is undefined due to domain restriction. This reduces your choices from 4 to 2
instantly. Well, You just got a "50-50" lifeline in JEE!!

Feeling Lucky ?

Here is Example 3) This is from JEE adv 2021 Paper 1, Q7 & 8 (based on Matrices).

They gave 3 equations in 3 variables and asked to find some determinant values.

x + 2y + 3z = a

4x + 5y + 6z = �

7x + 8y + 9z = ? - 1

Typical Guassian method works here but its too lengthy.

Alternatively by observation we find the middle equation is twice the sum of first
and third equation. Use this simple observation, find the equation which is the
equation of a plane and then find the distance of this plane from the point given
to solve Q7. The Q8 is a different question but luckily the above observation gives
the answer directly by just expanding the determinant given in Q8 and comparing it
with the equation that we obtained.
Just a bit of alertness helps right !!

Now lets look at Example 4) from last years JEE adv 2022, Q12 paper 1

Let S be the reflection of a point Q with respect to the plane given by

~r = -(t + p)�i + t�j + (1 + p)�k

where t, p are real parameters and �i, �j, �k are the unit vectors along the three
positive coordinate axes. If the position vectors of Q and S are

10�i + 15�j + 20�k and a�i + ߈j + ?�k respectively, then which of the following
is/are TRUE ?

This appears a vector problem, but you are better off and it is simple when you
realize that that it is a problem in coordinate geometry garbed as a problem in
vectors. The computations are reasonable and there are some tacit hints. For
example, the very fact that in all options a factor of 3 occurs suggests that this
is done to avoid fractions. By specifying that �i, �j, �k are unit vectors along
the three coordinate axes, they have in fact given a hint that the first step is to
cast the plane in a coordinate form.

Can we call that as a mis-direction?

And the Final Example 5) from JEE 2021 Paper 1, Q5 & 6

Q5&6) Paragraph type. Three numbers are chosen at random, one after another with
replacement,

from the set S = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 100}. Let p1 be the probability that the maximum
of chosen numbers is at least 81 and p2 be the probability that the minimum of
chosen numbers is at most 40.

Q5) asks p1 & Q2 asks P2

Counter-intuitive probably but this becomes a very trivial question by finding the
complementary probabilities of p1 & p2 aka 1-p1 & 1-p2

Example The E for 1 - p1 has the set {1,2,3,�80} and hence 1-p1 =
(80*80*80)/(100*100*100) and that�s all, as easy as that.

Ofc we can approach these problems in multiple ways, but in a timed exam like JEE,
a bit of alertness, a bit of counterintuitive thinking, going a bit beyond the skin
may help in saving a couple of seconds.

Got any more examples ? Or want to challenge anything above - pls feel free to
comment. I would love to learn if I missed anything or if any other better ways
exist !

Edit - Examples from Straight_Long_9646

Example 6) JEE Adv 2022 paper 1 q16 Noticing that p(X_i > Y_i) is same as p(X_i <
Y_i) and so, 2p(X_i>Y_i)+p(X_i=Y_i)=1 solves the question within seconds using the
given options.

Example 7) JEE Adv 2022 paper 2 q16 Notice that M^(2k)'s (k is natural no.) a_11
element is always of form 3m+1 (m is natural number), this eliminates C,D and also
there is certain fixed pattern between elements of matrix i.e. a11 -1 = a12, -a12 =
a21 , a21+1 = a22, this gives option A as answer.

If last few years patterns are to go by JEE adv is getting calculation heavy and
has more khichdi problems - combining several (at times unrelated) concepts
together just for the sake of increased complexity. They are also careful not to
give us choices that can be easily eliminated. But still you may find 1-2 problems
that can be solved orally or with minimal efforts. Some of those I have covered
above. Most of this is just based on your observation and summarisation skills.
Most reputed coaching classes material would cover this and practising that will
help.
But in order for one to achieve any expertise on this, I would say try any problem
with 2 methods - one that strikes automatically to you and one that maybe any
alternative method and perhaps counter intuitive. For example using geometry and
solving a complex number problem, or using graphs to solve a calculus question etc.
Also in episode 1 of my diary, I have covered some extra topics along with a link
to an earlier comment where I gave a list of extra topics. One of the key things is
combinatorics and doing a lot of problems in combinatorics will help build pattern
recognition skills. This may need to go beyond jee a bit and one can do that only
if their base syllabus and core practise is done. Otherwise just stick to your
coaching material plus pyqs and practise only that.

FW's JEE Adv diary Episode 4 - <An ode is a form of lyric poetry, or is it?>
Odes were originally performed to music; the word ode comes from the Greek word
oide meaning "to sing or chant."

Ah, but this is isn't about that ode ! This diary episode is for JEE advanced which
is devoid of any music and over here the ode means ODE --> Ordinary Differential
Equations.

Over the last weekend, some of my seniors from IIT-H shared their differential
equations class assignment for Semester 2 and I enjoyed solving it. Ok, that sounds
as a weird flex but my intent is to co-relate some of these first year engineering
concepts and apply to JEE advanced q's. There are 2 reasons to do so,

1)Its always good to know alternate methods to solve, just in case if you are
stuck, or to cross check your answer

2)These methods/theorems are really cool and probably much easier than what is in
the NCERT syllabus

Before I proceed a very strong note - DO NOT DO THIS IF YOUR SYLLABUS IS STILL
INCOMPLETE !!

Ok, so for ODE, there is a concept called EXACT ODE and then there is a
supplementary theorem attached to it. We use this theorem and the Exact ODE concept
to solve some JEE Advanced past year q's.

Reference book Elementary Differential Equation - William Trench (Ed 12-2013)

You can get the book here ? https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?

article=1007&context=mono

Important Theorem (Above Book reference Theorem 2.6.1)

The below slide is extracted from Prof Neeraj Kumar�s (IIT-Hyderabad) lectures from
his course Differential Equations MA1150. Thanks to my IIT-H seniors for sharing
the lecture notes.

FW's JEE Adv diary Episode 5 <Source code>

We enter the final week before Jee advanced and all of us will be in varied states
of mind - some excited, some scared and some probably clueless. But ig all of us
are looking forward to finally be free from this long journey and excited about the
future. And here I am with the 5th episode of my prep diary that is titled "source
code".

It's basic curiosity that we may all have, that one question -"Where do all these
advanced questions come from?". Not the stale "khichdi" questions of the new era,
but the decent one's of the times bygone. We might have heard of various sources -
such as foreign authors books, foreign exams, olympiads etc. And yes some of the
questions can be traced back to these sources.

But I restrict this blog to Mathematics. So is there a standard source? Well I

don't have an answer to that and I guess the answer is no, for there is no
"standard source" as such. But let me ask google "toughest mathematics exam in the
world" and the first result pops-up as "The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical
Competition, known to many as the World's Hardest Math Competition, is a
prestigious mathematics competition for undergraduate college students in the
United States and Canada." For past 3 years MIT is winning it.

For UG students in USA, surely - JEE will not lift from Putnam exam right? Eh? Will
they? Did they ever? MIT Integration bees to suna tha par Putnam se bhi aaye hai
kya ??

hmm. The answer is a resounding YES.

And incidentally the question that I am going to quote below came in JEE 2010 has
been lifted from Putnam 1968 exam

JEE 2010 question from Putnam 1968

We will come to Putnam question later. The above 2010 question is considered as one
of the most mind-boggling question that was asked in JEE.

Immediate observations

It is a Multiple correct choice question that has penalty for wrong answer

Options A & C - aren't they same? I mean at times JEE has asked to consider pi as
22/7 right?

You can get many solutions online, but do check out MindYourDecisions answer below
(a very underrated channel for such interesting questions)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFnOaaXwOJk

Now that you saw the solution, here is the 1968 Putnam version of the same question
Putnam 1968 Q1

Don't you feel the feel the Putnam version is much easier than the JEE version.
Putnam is for UG students from best USA engineering colleges. And the points 1 & 2
that I mentioned above, makes this problem even much tougher than what it really
is.

So, Can you solve this with reasoning and NOT using actual integration? I mean
using the "gut" feeling that A & C are so similar and 22/7 is not actually pi but a
very close approximation of pi, plus area under the curve for such a polynomial
function cannot be zero and ruling out C, you can just mark A. However, during the
exam, especially working on multi-correct-answer formats this decision making will
not be easy.

Aaya maza ?

Here is another one from 2016 paper 1, Q49

2016 JEE adv paper 1 Q49

This is also more or less similar to an ex-Putnam question

Putnam equivalent of 2016 JEE adv parabola question

2016 is regarded has one of the toughest JEE advanced paper and it had 4 direct
questions on parabola and one indirect parabola question above that was sourced
from Putnam.

Here is a book called "Putnam and beyond" compiled by Titu Andreescu (one of the
beloved authors for Maths olympiads) where you may find some more examples either
used by JEE advanced or by your coaching teachers for their mock tests. As we are
in the final week stay away from this book 2023 tards

https://mathematicalolympiads.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/putnam-and-beyond.pdf

I have numerous other examples from other sources such as the

1)E�tv�s-K�rsch�k Competitions

2) MIT Integration bees

3) Other countries olympiads etc

You have more examples ? Feel free to comment below

I just wanted to highlight that JEE advanced is for high-schoolers and when they
source their questions from an exam like Putnam - we can very well say that JEE
advanced is extremely difficult. So hey Google - probably you are wrong - the
toughest math exam is most likely JEE Advanced lol. /s

Yes, the above problems are solvable, but in a 3-hour high-tension exam setting,
this is a very different deal.
Cayley-Hamilton & Eigen values/vectors based knowledge would have helped in many
questions (e.g. 2005, 2010 exams)..

NT & Combinatorics is vast but knowledge of concepts like pigeon hole principle
would have helped in 2010 exam or topics like CRT Chinese remainder theorem &
modulo arithmetic ..

Just yesterday I solved one doubt on this sub using Linear recursion in
combinatorics but I think the problem was not from JEE scope.

There are many such things in NT & combinatorics that may help or save some time..

Regarding calculus from top of my head I can think of below that may help or make
life easier sometimes :-

Lagrange�s multipliers can be life savior in some trigo questions.

Plus -

Feynman's trick,

Frullani's theorem (the OPs problem)

Partial Derivatives (Can be used in conics, check my comment history where I did
one doubt on rectangular hyperbola using PD)

Stirling's formula,

Descartes rule (for max positive negative roots),

Walli�s theorem (sin, cos done in most coaching but I m talking about Wallis
product for pi),

symmetry tricks,

Glasser's master theorem,

Pade Approximates,

trapezoidal rule for twice differentiable functions,

residue theorem,

Fourier (Legendre/Chebyshev) series expansions,

Taylor series with any center of expansion,

Euler beta function,

Gamma-beta functions,

Euler integral (2001 exam),

Ramanujan's master theorem for many (sometimes extremely complicated) definite

integrals, allowing them to be evaluated in less than a line of computation,

Or FWIW even Laplace/Fourier transforms may be helpful at times..

Check Prod KD Joshi - IIT Bombay�s commentaries on some past Maths papers here.

http://www.math.iitb.ac.in/~kdjoshi/jee.html

Check this book if u like more- Inside Interesting Integrals, extremely underrated
book.

https://www.amazon.in/Interesting-Integrals-Undergraduate-Lecture-Physics/dp/
1493912763

BEWARE-Don't jump into the above methods or theorems abruptly, they might cause
confusion to you.

number theory (combinatorics especially)

Challenges and Thrills of PreCollege Mathematics � Venkatachala

Excursion in Mathematics � Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana

MIT Integration Bee's