CHENNAI MATHEMATICAL INSTITUTE

Undergraduate Programme in Mathematics and Computer Science/Physics

Common Entrance Examination
1st August 2021

Enter your Admit Card Number : U

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS
• Points: 40 for part A and 60 for part B. Carefully read the specific instructions given
for each part in the question paper.
• Part A will be used for screening. Part B will be graded only if you score a certain
minimum in part A. However your individual scores in both parts will be used while making
the final decision.
• Enter your answers to part A into the computer as instructed. Each part A question
has four statements, of which at least one is true. You have to select exactly the true
option(s) for each question. Deciding the truth/falsity of all four options correctly is worth
4 points. Getting three out of four correct is worth 1 point. There is no negative marking.
• This booklet is ONLY for part B answers and rough work. For each part B problem,
write your solution on the pages designated for that problem in pages numbered 2 to 13. For
extra space and rough work, use the blank pages numbered 14 to 26 at the end.
• Time allowed: 3 hours. You are advised to leave about 2 hours for part B.

For office use only

Points Remarks Points Remarks

Part A B1

Part B B2

Total B3

B4

B5

B6

Total

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 Part A

In each question four statements are given, of which at least one is true. Select exactly the
true option(s) for each question. Deciding the truth/falsity of all four options correctly is
worth 4 points. Getting three out of four correct is worth 1 point. There is no negative
marking. Points will be given based only on answers entered into the computer.

1. Consider the two equations numbered [1] and [2]:

log2021 a = 2022 a [1]

b
2021 = 2022 b [2]

(a) Equation [1] has a unique solution.

(b) Equation [2] has a unique solution.
(c) There exists a solution a for [1] and a solution b for [2] such that a = b.
(d) There exists a solution a for [1] and a solution b for [2] such that a+b is an integer.

2. A prime p is an integer 2 whose only positive integer factors are 1 and p.

(a) For any prime p the number p2 p is always divisible by 3.

(b) For any prime p > 3 exactly one of the numbers p 1 and p + 1 is divisible by 6.
(c) For any prime p > 3 the number p2 1 is divisible by 24.
(d) For any prime p > 3 one of the three numbers p + 1, p + 3 and p + 5 is divisible
by 8.

3. We want to construct a triangle ABC such that angle A is 20.21 , side AB has length
1 and side BC has length x where x is a positive real number. Let N (x) = the number
of pairwise noncongruent triangles with the required properties.

(a) There exists a value of x such that N (x) = 0.

(b) There exists a value of x such that N (x) = 1.
(c) There exists a value of x such that N (x) = 2.
(d) There exists a value of x such that N (x) = 3.

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4. Consider polynomials of the form f (x) = x3 + ax2 + bx + c where a, b, c are integers.
Name the three (possibly non-real) roots of f (x) to be p, q, r.

(a) If f (1) = 2021, then f (x) = (x 1)(x2 + sx + t) + 2021 where s, t must be integers.
(b) There is such a polynomial f (x) with c = 2021 and p = 2.
(c) There is such a polynomial f (x) with r = 12 .
(d) The value of p2 + q 2 + r2 does not depend on the value of c.

5. For any complex number z define P (z) = the cardinality of {z k |k is a positive integer},
i.e., the number of distinct positive integer powers of z. It may be useful to remember
that ⇡ is an irrational number.

(a) For each positive integer n there is a complex number z such that P (z) = n.
(b) There is a unique complex number z such that P (z) = 3.
(c) If |z| =
6 1, then P (z) is infinite.
(d) P (ei ) is infinite.

6. A stationary point of a function f is a real number r such that f 0 (r) = 0. A polynomial

need not have a stationary point (e.g. x3 + x has none). Consider a polynomial p(x).

(a) If p(x) is of degree 2022, then p(x) must have at least one stationary point.
(b) If the number of distinct real roots of p(x) is 2021, then p(x) must have at least
2020 stationary points.
(c) If the number of distinct real roots of p(x) is 2021, then p(x) can have at most
2020 stationary points.
(d) If r is a stationary point of p(x) AND p00 (r) = 0, then the point (r, p(r)) is neither
a local maximum nor a local minimum point on the graph of p(x).

7. Given three distinct positive constants a, b, c we want to solve the simultaneous equa-
tions
p
ax + by = 2
p
bx + cy = 3

(a) There exists a combination of values for a, b, c such that the above system has
infinitely many solutions (x, y).
(b) There exists a combination of values for a, b, c such that the above system has
exactly one solution (x, y).
(c) Suppose that for a combination of values for a, b, c, the above system has NO
solution. Then 2b < a + c.
(d) Suppose 2b < a + c. Then the above system has NO solution.

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 8. Given two distinct nonzero vectors v1 and v2 in 3 dimensions, define a sequence of
vectors by

vn+2 = vn ⇥ vn+1 (so v3 = v1 ⇥ v2 , v4 = v2 ⇥ v3 and so on).

Let S = {vn |n = 1, 2, . . .} and U = { |vvnn | |n = 1, 2, . . .}. (Note: Here ⇥ denotes the

cross product of vectors and |v| denotes the magnitude of the vector v. The vector 0
with 0 magnitude, if it occurs in S, is counted. But in that case of course the 0 vector
is not considered while listing elements of U .)

(a) There exist vectors v1 and v2 for which the cardinality of S is 2.

(b) There exist vectors v1 and v2 for which the cardinality of S is 3.
(c) There exist vectors v1 and v2 for which the cardinality of S is 4.
(d) Suppose that for some v1 and v2 , the set S is infinite. Then the set U is also
infinite.

9.
x x4 + x6
f (x) = and g(x) = .
x + sin x e x 1 x2
(a) Limit as x ! 0 of f (x) is 12 .
(b) Limit as x ! 1 of f (x) does not exist.
(c) Limit as x ! 1 of g(x) is finite.
(d) Limit as x ! 0 of g(x) is 720.

10. Let f (u) = tan 1 (u), a function

R v whose domain in the set of all real numbers and whose
⇡ ⇡
range is ( 2 , 2 ). Let g(v) = 0 f (t)dt.

(a) f (1) = ⇡4 .
(b) f (1) + f (2) + f (3) = ⇡.
(c) g is an increasing function on the entire real line.
(d) g is an odd function, i.e., g( x) = g(x) for all real x.

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 Part B

Each problem is worth 10 points. Clearly explain your entire reasoning unless in-
structed otherwise. No credit will be given without correct reasoning. Partial solutions may
get partial credit. You may solve a later part of a problem by assuming a previous part,
even if you could not do the earlier part.

B1. Solve the following two independent problems on pages 2–3 of the answer booklet.
(i) Let f be a function from domain S to codomain T . Let g be another function from
domain T to codomain U . For each of the blanks below choose a single letter corre-
sponding to one of the four options listed underneath. (It is not necessary that each
choice is used exactly once.) Write your answers on page 2 as a sequence of four letters
in correct order. Do NOT explain your answers.

If g f is one-to-one then f and g .

If g f is onto then f and g .

Option A: must be one-to-one and must be onto.

Option B: must be one-to-one but need not be onto.
Option C: need not be one-to-one but must be onto.
Option D: need not be one-to-one and need not be onto.

Recall: g f is the function defined by g f (a) = g(f (a)). The function f is said
to be one-to-one if, for any a1 and any a2 in S, f (a1 ) = f (a2 ) implies a1 = a2 . The
function f is said to be onto if, for any b in T , there is an a in S such that f (a) = b.

(ii) In the given figure ABCD is a square. Points X and Y , respectively on sides BC and
CD, are such that X lies on the circle with diameter AY . What is the area of the
square ABCD if AX = 4 and AY = 5? (Figure is schematic and not to scale.)
B X C

A D

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B2. Solve the following two independent problems on pages 4–5 of the answer booklet.

(i) A mother and her two daughters participate in a game show. At first, the mother
tosses a fair coin.

Case 1: If the result is heads, then all three win individual prizes and the game ends.

Case 2: If the result is tails, then each daughter separately throws a fair die and wins
a prize if the result of her die is 5 or 6. (Note that in case 2 there are two independent
throws involved and whether each daughter gets a prize or not is una↵ected by the
other daughter’s throw.)

(a) Suppose the first daughter did not win a prize. What is the probability that the
second daughter also did not win a prize?
(b) Suppose the first daughter won a prize. What is the probability that the second
daughter also won a prize?

(ii) Prove or disprove each of the following statements.

(a) 240 > 20!

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(b) 1 x
 ln x  x 1 for all x > 0.

B3. You are supposed to create a 7-character long password for your mobile device.

(i) How many 7-character passwords can be formed from the 10 digits and 26 letters?
(Only lowercase letters are taken throughout the problem.) Repeats are allowed, e.g.,
0001a1a is a valid password.

(ii) How many of the passwords contain at least one of the 26 letters and at least one of
the 10 digits? Write your answer in the form: (Answer to part i) (something).

(iii) How many of the passwords contain at least one of the 5 vowels, at least one of the 21
consonants and at least one of the 10 digits? Extend your method for part ii to write
a formula and explain your reasoning.

(iv) Now suppose that in addition to the lowercase letters and digits, you can also use 12
special characters. How many 7-character passwords are there that contain at least
one of the 5 vowels, at least one of the 21 consonants, at least one of the 10 digits and
at least one of the 12 special characters? Write only the final formula analogous to
your answer to part iii. Do NOT explain.

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B4. Show that there is no polynomial p(x) for which cos(✓) = p(sin ✓) for all angles ✓ in
some nonempty interval.
Hint: Note that x and |x| are di↵erent functions but their values are equal on an interval
(as x = |x| for all x 0). You may want to show as a first step that this cannot happen for
two polynomials, i.e., if polynomials f and g satisfy f (x) = g(x) for all x in some interval,
then f and g must be equal as polynomials, i.e., in each degree they must have the same
coefficient.

B5. Define a function f as follows: f (0) = 0 and, for any x > 0,

Z L ⇣ Z 1 ⌘
1 1
f (x) = lim cos(t)dt or, in simpler notation, the improper integral cos(t)dt .
L!1 1 t2 1 t2
x x

(i) Show that the definition makes sense for any x > 0 by justifying why the limit in the
definition exists, i.e., why the improper integral converges.
(ii) Find f 0 ( ⇡1 ) if it exists. Clearly indicate the basic result(s) you are using.
(iii) Using the hint or otherwise, find limh!0+ f (h) h f (0) , i.e., the right hand derivative of f
at x = 0. We can take the limit only from the right hand side because f (x) is undefined for
negative values of x.
Hint: Break f (h) into two terms by using a standard technique with an appropriate choice.
Then separately analyze the resulting two terms in the derivative.

B6. n and k are positive integers, not necessarily distinct. You are given two stacks of cards
with a number written on each card, as follows.
Stack A has n cards. On each card a number in the set {1, . . . , k} is written.
Stack B has k cards. On each card a number in the set {1, . . . , n} is written.
Numbers may repeat in either stack. From this, you play a game by constructing a sequence
t0 , t1 , t2 , . . . of integers as follows. Set t0 = 0. For j > 0, there are two cases:
If tj  0, draw the top card of stack A. Set tj+1 = tj + the number written on this card.
If tj > 0, draw the top card of stack B. Set tj+1 = tj the number written on this card.
In either case discard the taken card and continue. The game ends when you try to draw
from an empty stack. Example: Let n = 5, k = 3, stack A = 1, 3, 2, 3, 2 and stack B = 2, 5, 1.
You can check that the game ends with the sequence 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 1 (and with one
card from stack A left unused).
(i) Prove that for every j we have n + 1  tj  k.
(ii) Prove that there are at least two distinct indices i and j such that ti = tj .
(iii) Using the previous parts or otherwise, prove that there is a nonempty subset of cards
in stack A and another subset of cards in stack B such that the sum of numbers in
both the subsets is same.