Non-CS Group

1. Let A be an n ⇥ n matrix with entries aij = ±1 for all 1  i, j 

n. Prove that 2n 1
divides the determinant of A. [10]

2. For a graph, a proper vertex colouring assigns a colour to each

vertex such that no two adjacent vertices have the same colour.
A vertex colouring is optimal if it is proper and uses the minimum
number of colours.
Consider a graph G with an optimal vertex colouring. Show that
in G, for each colour, there exists a vertex of that colour which
has vertices of every other colour adjacent to it. [10]

3. A pair of prime numbers p and q are said to be twins if q = p+2.

Consider the following language

L := {1n | there exists twin primes p and q with q p n} .

Prove that L is regular irrespective of whether there are infinite

or finite number of twin primes. [10]

4. W1 and W2 are non-zero, non-trivial, distinct subspaces of a

vector space V (of dimension n) over C.

(a) Prove that there exists a non-zero element ↵ 2 V which is

in neither of the subspaces W1 and W2 .
(b) Prove that there is a basis {b1 , . . . , bn } of V , such that
bi 2
/ W1 [ W2 for i = 1, . . . , n. [4 + 6]

5. A person A rolls a fair die until the outcome is 6. After that,

B rolls the die as many times as A had rolled it. Compute the
probability that B will get exactly one 6. [10]

8
6. Find all values of a 2 C for which the equation

x4 + ax2 + a2 x 1=0

has all roots of the same absolute value. [10]

7. An oil-exploration company is considering 10 possible drilling

sites S1 , S2 , . . . , S10 . The drilling costs associated with these
sites are C1 , C2 , . . . , C10 respectively. Due to land topography,
there are some additional constraints as follows.

• Drilling at sites S1 and S7 would prevent the company from

drilling at site S8 .
• Drilling at site S3 or S4 prevents the company from drilling at
site S5 .
• Out of the drilling sites S5 , S6 , S7 , S8 , only two sites may be
drilled.

Your job is to help the company select 5 out of 10 sites for drilling
such that the above constraints are satisfied and the total drilling
cost is minimised. Formulate the problem as an Integer Linear
Program (ILP). [10]

8. Consider the sequence an , defined as

✓ ◆
1 4
an+1 = an + .
2 an
Prove that limn!1 an exists. Compute the value of the limit.
[6 + 4]

9. Consider the set of points {(x, y, z) | x, y, z 2 {0, 1, . . . , n}}.

Determine how many of these points lie on the Euclidean plane
that contains the points (n, 0, 0), (0, n, 0) and (0, 0, n). [10]

9
10. Given a permutation of {1, 2, . . . , n}, we define the symmetric
binary matrix A as follows:
(
1 if (i j)( (i) (j)) < 0,
Aij =
0 otherwise.

Is every binary symmetric n ⇥ n matrix of the form A for some

permutation of {1, 2, . . . , n}? Justify your answer. [10]

10
 Non-CS Group (Mathematics)

Note: Answer all questions from Part-A and any eight ques-
tions from Part-B.
Part-A
NC1. Suppose a crime has been committed and there are three sus-
pects: Professor Plum, Mrs. Peacock, and Mr. Green. Given
that:

• At least one of the above three suspects is guilty.

• Not all of them are guilty.
• If Mrs. Peacock is guilty, then so is Professor Plum.
• If Mr. Green is innocent, then so is Professor Plum.

Prove or disprove each of the following statements:

(i) Mr. Green is guilty.

(ii) Mrs. Peacock is innocent.

[3+3 = 6]

NC2. A room has four walls. In how many different ways can you
color the four walls, using colors from the set {Red, Green, Blue,
Yellow}, such that no two adjacent walls have the same color?
[7]

NC3. Consider a round-robin football tournament among n ≥ 3

teams, where every team plays a match with every other team
exactly once. For any team, each match results in a win, draw
or loss. In the tournament, each team loses at least one match.
Prove or disprove the following statement:

There must be two teams with the same number of wins

at the end of the tournament.

[7]

6
 Part-B

NC4. Consider an n × n grid as follows:

S = {(i, j) ∈ Z × Z | 1 ≤ i, j ≤ n} .

A triangle with its vertices on the grid points of S is nice if

• the area of the triangle is 3, and

• at least one of its edges is parallel to either x-axis or y-axis.

Find the number of nice triangles. [10]

NC5. (i) Let f : [0, 1] → [0, 1] be a strictly decreasing continuous

function with f (0) = 1 and f (1) = 0. Show that
� 1 � 1
f (x)dx = f −1 (y)dy .
0 0

(ii) Let f be a differentiable function on [−2, 2] such that

f (−2) = 1, f (2) = 5 and |f ′ (x)| ≤ 1 for all x ∈ [−2, 2].
Find the value of f (0).
[6+4 = 10]

NC6. (i) Consider a simple, undirected, connected graph G =

(V, E) whose every vertex has degree at least 2. Show
that G contains a cycle.
(ii) A simple, undirected, connected graph is 2-edge connected
if at least 2 edges need to be removed to make G discon-
nected.
(a) Show an example of a tree with 11 vertices that can
be converted to a 2-edge connected graph by adding
an edge.
(b) Show an example of a tree with 11 vertices that can
be converted to a 2-edge connected graph by adding
five edges.

[5+(2+3) = 10]

7
 NC7. Let a0 , a1 , . . . , an be real numbers with property that
a1 a2 an
a0 + + + ··· + = 0.
2 3 n+1
Prove that the equation

a0 + a1 x + · · · + an xn = 0

has a solution in (0, 1). [10]

NC8. Find the largest positive real number δ such that, for real num-
bers x and y
√
|x − y| < δ implies | cos x − cos y| < 2.

[10]

NC9. Let f (x) be a nonconstant polynomial with real coefficients. If

there exists a complex root α of f (x) with multiplicity greater
than 1, show that the polynomial f (f (x)) also has a complex
root with multiplicity greater than 1. [10]

NC10. A particular Covid-19 vaccine produces a side effect (fever) with

probability p ∈ [0, 1]. A clinic vaccinates 500 people each day
and records the number of people having side effects on 5 ran-
domly chosen days.

(i) What is the probability that the number of people

who developed side effects on the 5 observed days are
10, 15, 0, 20, 25?
(ii) Find the value of p that maximizes the probability ob-
tained in part (i).
(iii) Based on the value of p obtained in part (ii), what is the
expected number of people who will develop side effects
on each day?

[4+4+2 = 10]

8
NC11. Let A, A1 , A2 , . . . , Am be n × n matrices with real entries such
that m
�
A= At .
t=1

(i) Show that

m
�
rank(A) ≤ rank(At ).
t=1

(ii) An n×n matix B with real entries is defined as a two-block

matrix if there exist two disjoint submatrices C and D in
B such that
• All entries of C are the same, and all entries of D are
the same.
• All other entries of B not in C and D are 0.
If the matrices At are two-block matrices for all t ∈
{1, . . . , m} then show that m ≥ rank(A)/2.

[3+7 = 10]

NC12. Let GL2 (Z/mZ) denote the following set of matrices

�� � �
a11 a12 �
�
� aij ∈ Z/mZ and a11 a22 − a12 a21 ∈ (Z/mZ)
∗
a21 a22
with matrix multiplication as group operation. Note that
(Z/mZ) denotes the multiplicative group of units in Z/mZ.
∗

(i) Show that

� the map
� ψ : Z/mZ → GL2 (Z/mZ) given by
1 a
ψ(a) = is an injective group homomorphism.
0 1
(ii) Show that there exists a 2 × 2 matrix M such that M is of
order 2 in GL2 (Z/8Z) and M is of order 5 in GL2 (Z/15Z).

[3+7 = 10]

NC13. Find the perimeter of the region bounded by x2 + y 2 − 144 ≤ 0

√
and x2 + y 2 − (24 2)x + 144 ≤ 0. [10]

9
 Non-CS Group (Mathematics)

NC1. Consider a standard balance with two pans where weights can only
be placed on the left pan, and the object to be weighed on the right
pan. Find the minimum number of weights required to weigh any
object whose weight in grams could be any integer ranging from 1 to
127. Give precise argument in favor of your answer.
[10]

NC2. Consider three real numbers a b c > 0. If (ax bx cx )(x 2) > 0

for any rational number x 6= 2, show that

(i) a, b and c can be the lengths of the three sides of a triangle

ABC;

(ii) ABC is a right-angled triangle.

[3+7]

NC3. Consider a two-player game between Alice and Bob, in which the
players take turns to roll a fair six-faced die. Alice rolls the die first.
Then Bob rolls the die and he wins if he gets the same outcome as
Alice. Otherwise, Alice rolls the die again and she wins if she gets
the same outcome as Bob. The game continues in this way, and it
terminates as soon as one player gets the same outcome as obtained
by the opponent in the previous roll of the die. The player who
succeeds in doing so first is the winner.

(i) Find the probability that the game does not terminate after the
first three rolls (two by Alice and one by Bob) of the die.

(ii) What is the probability that Alice will win the game?
[3+7]

7
NC4. In the figure below, there are three circles touching each other exter-
nally and also touching the line below. Let r1 , r2 and r3 be the radii
of the three circles as shown in the figure. If r1 = 25 and r3 = 9, then
find r2 .

[10]

NC5. Let G be a group generated by a and b such that ord(a) = n, ord(b) =

2 and ab = ba 1 , where n is a positive integer, b 2
/ hai and ord(x)
denotes the order of the element x.

(i) Prove that for any positive integer k, abk = ba k .

(ii) Let H be a cyclic subgroup of hai. Show that H is a normal
subgroup of G.
[5+5]

NC6. Let p be an odd prime and let n = (p 1)(p + 1).

(i) Show that p divides n2n + 1.

(ii) Show that there are infinitely many integers m such that p di-
vides m2m + 1.
[6+4]

NC7. Let G be a cubic graph, that is, every vertex has degree exactly 3.

(i) Prove that the number of vertices of G cannot be 101.

(ii) Prove that if G contains 100 vertices, then it contains a bipartite
subgraph that has at least 75 edges.
[3+7]

8
NC8. (i) Calculate the number of di↵erent ways you can divide 2n ele-
ments of the set S = {1, 2, . . . , 2n} to form n disjoint subsets,
each containing a pair of elements.
(ii) Calculate the number of di↵erent ways in which the above di-
vision can be done if each subset is required to contain an even
number and an odd number.
[6+4]

NC9. Consider a 4 ⇥ 4 positive semi-definite matrix A with all diagonal

elements equal to 1 and all o↵-diagonal elements equal to ⇢.

(i) If ⇢ < 0, show that the largest eigenvalue of A cannot exceed

4/3.
(ii) Give an eigenvector of A other than (1, 1, 1, 1)> .
[7+3]
⇣ ⌘
NC10. Let a > 0 and x1 > 0. Define xn+1 = 1
2
xn + a
xn
for all n 2 N.
Show that
p
(i) xn > a for all n 2;
p
(ii) the sequence {xn : n 1} converges to a.
[3+7]

9
 Group B
Non Computer Science
NC1. Let {an } be a decreasing sequence such that ∞
P
n=1 an is convergent.
Prove that the sequence {nan } goes to zero as n → ∞.

NC2. Consider an n×n matrix A = In −ααT , where In is the identity matrix

of order n and α is an n × 1 column vector such that αT α = 1. Prove
that A2 = A.

NC3. Let A and B be two invertible real matrices of order n. Show that
det (xA + (1 − x)B) = 0 has finitely many solutions for x.

NC4. Show that for every θ ∈ (0, π2 ), there exists a unique real number xθ
such that
3
(sin θ)xθ + (cos θ)xθ = .
2

NC5. Suppose f and g are continuous real valued functions on [a, b] and are
differentiable on (a, b). Assume that g 0 (x) 6= 0 for any x ∈ (a, b). Prove
that there exists ξ ∈ (a, b) such that
f 0 (ξ) f (b) − f (a)
0
= .
g (ξ) g(b) − g(a)

NC6. Consider the function f : R2 → R defined by

xy
f (0, 0) = 0, f (x, y) = 2 , (x, y) 6= (0, 0).
x + y2
Prove that the directional derivative of f at (0, 0) exists in all direc-
tions. Is f continuous at (0, 0)? Justify your answer.

NC7. Solve the differential equation

dy
x2 (x2 − 1) + x(x2 + 1)y = x2 − 1.
dx

7
 NC8. Let f be a real valued function on R. If for all real x,

f (x) + 3f (1 − x) = 5

holds, then show that f is a constant function.

NC9. Let f : [0, 1] → [0, ∞) be a continuous function. Let

a = inf0≤x≤1 f (x) and b = sup0≤x≤1 f (x).

For every positive integer m, define

Z 1
cm = [ (f (x))m dx]1/m .
0

Prove that cm ∈ [a, b], for all m ≥ 1, limm→∞ cm exists and find its
value.

NC10. Let f1 : [0, 4] → [0, 4] be defined by f1 (x) = 3 − (x/2). Define fn (x) =

f1 (fn−1 (x)) for n ≥ 2.

• Prove that limn→∞ fn (0) exists.

• Find the set of all x such that limn→∞ fn (x) exists and also find
the corresponding limits.

NC11. Let m be a fixed integer greater than 2. Prove that all simple graphs
having n (n
≥ 3) vertices and with m edges are connected if and only
if m > n−1
2 .

NC12. Suppose the collection {A1 , · · · , Ak } forms a group under matrix mul-
tiplication, where each Ai is an n × n real matrix. Let A = ki=1 Ai .
P

• Show that A2 = kA.

• If the trace of A is zero, then show that A is the zero matrix.

NC13. Let A be an n × n integer matrix whose entries are all even. Show that
the determinant of A is divisible by 2n . Hence or otherwise, show that
if B is an n × n matrix whose entries are ±1, then the determinant of
B is divisible by 2n−1 .

8
NC14. Let  
1 2 1 −1
A= 2 0 t 0 .
 
0 −4 5 2
If rank( A) = 2, calculate t.

NC15. Let n, r, s be positive integers, each greater than 2. Prove that nr − 1

divides ns − 1 if and only if r divides s.

NC16. Let Ω = {1, 2, 3, . . . , 100}. In how many ways

a1 < a2 < a3 < a4 < a5 , ai ∈ Ω
can be chosen from Ω such that ai+1 − ai ≥ 2 for each i ?

NC17. Show that 5 | x | +x(x − 2) ≥ 0 for every real number x.

NC18. Let N = 1! + 2! + · · · + 2020!. Find the remainder obtained when N is

divided by 8.

NC19. Let G be a finite group and H the only subgroup of G of order |H|.
Prove that H is normal in G.

NC20 Let H and K be subgroups of a group G of finite indices (i.e., [G : H] <

∞ and [G : K] < ∞). Prove that H ∩ K is also of finite index ( i.e.,
[G : H ∩ K] < ∞).

NC21. Consider all the permutations of the numbers 1, 2, . . . , 9. Find the num-
ber of permutations which satisfy all of the following:
• the sum of the numbers lying between 1 and 2 (including 1 and
2) is 12,
• the sum of the numbers lying between 2 and 3 (including 2 and
3) is 23,
• the sum of the numbers lying between 3 and 4 (including 3 and
4) is 34,
• the sum of the numbers lying between 4 and 5 (including 4 and
5) is 45.

NC22. If α, β, γ are the roots of the equation x3 + 6x + 1 = 0, then prove

that
α β β γ γ α
+ + + + + = −3.
β α γ β α γ

9
NC23. Let X ∼ Bin (n, p), and Y ∼ P oisson (λ). Let

T = X1 + X2 + · · · + XY ,

with Xi ’s i. i. d. Bin (n, p) (and independent to Y ), and

S = Y1 + Y2 + · · · + YX ,

with Yi ’s i. i. d. P oisson (λ) (and independent to X). Compare

Expectations of T and S and Variances of T and S.

10