All the numbers are decimal, unless specified otherwise.

All the dimensions of length and distances are in cm, unless otherwise specified.
All the problems are given with enough data required to solve them uniquely. If you feel you still
need to have some assumptions in solving any problem, please assume without loss of generality
and mention them in your solution.

1.

a. T-shirts shown below have got a number on one side and an alphabet on the other.
Minimum how many T-shirts will you turn around to verify whether the rule X given about
them is true or not? What are the T-shirts that you will turn around?
Rule X : If a T-shirt has a prime number on one side, it has got a vowel on the other
side. (2)

31

T-shirt 1

T-shirt 2

T-shirt 3

32
T-shirt 4

b. Your friend in Bangalore needs to receive a very valuable item from you (you are in a
different city, say Pune). You can only send the item in a locked box. You have many
locks with their keys and a box that can be locked with more than one lock. Your friend
doesnt have any key that opens any of the locks you have and you even can not send a
key in an unlocked box (it may be stolen in transit). How do you ensure that you send the
item to your friend securely? (3)
c. Find A in the sequence: A, B, C, D,.., if B = 132110, C = 1113122110,
D = 311311222110. (4)
2.

a. Find the maximum value of the product a1.a2.a3..an if a1+a2+a3++an = 2009.

Each ai is a positive integer. (5)
b. Consider the table of numbers below. Find the elements of the last column. (4)
1
3
5
4

3.

5
8
8
1

11
12
1
7

16
2
11
14

3
13
17
20

17
20
24
5

23
28
8
19

32
13
23
26

a. Consider the sum S = 1.1! + 2.2! + 3.3! + . + 99.99!. The decimal number S ends
with some digit x (0x9) repeated n times (i.e., S = ..xx....x). Find the values of x
and n. (4)
b. How many ways you can place ten buttons on a 10x10 square grid so that both of the
following two conditions are satisfied.
i) There should be exactly one button on any row or any column.
ii) The arrangement should be symmetric about the diagonal from bottom-left to
top-right.
One possible configuration that satisfies both the above conditions is shown below where
a button is placed at each alphabet. (5)

G
I
D
J
E
F
H
C
A
B
4.

a. Some cables of a cable-stayed bridge are shown below. What is the total number of
quadrilaterals formed by them? (For example, abcd and aefd are two different
quadrilaterals.) (4)

e
a

2008

b. S is the number formed by 2009 1s in a row (i.e., S = 10

Find whether S is a prime or not. (3)

2007

+ 10

+ +10 + 10 ).

c. Ten million numbers in the set S = {1,2,3,..,10 } are replaced with their singledigit sums. For example, 5446555 is replaced by 7. Which will be more in S, number of
1s or number of 2s? (2)
5.

a. The decimal numbers 1,2,,10 are represented in certain number system (base q )
as 1, 110, 111, 100, 101, 11010,11011, 11000, 11001, 11110 respectively. What is the
equivalent of decimal number 12 in base q ? (2)

b. How many ways you can fill a box measuring 10x10x25 placed on a table with ten
identical solid blocks measuring 5x5x10? (7)
6.

a. A business unit head one day obtained accordance from her higher officials to let her
sixteen employees work from either of the two offices, say, X and Y. She had devised a
plan that her employees (labeled here for the sake of convenience by A,B,C,P) will
follow to switch the office X or Y to work from, on any given day. The plan is described
below.
A

G H

M N

O P

End of any day, exactly four employees in any row or column chosen randomly in the
table shown above can choose to switch their offices to work from, the next day onwards.
Or, none of them may choose to switch at all. No switching can be done during the day.
For example, assuming that all the sixteen employees are working from X on a day dn, on
the next day dn+1, B,F,J,N can be working from Y while the remaining can work from X.
As yet another example, if on a given day dn, B and C are working from Y and all others
are working from X, if the row in which B and C are marked chooses to switch the offices
on the next day dn+1, A and D will work from Y while all others work from X on day dn+1.
The business unit head had started off with the initial condition that A, G and N will work
from Y while all others work from X on the first day d0.
i) Is it possible that after some days, J,K,L and M are working from Y while all others are
working from X?
ii) Is it possible that after some days, A,B,C,D,E,F and G are working from Y while all
others are working from X? (4)
b. In a game show on television, there are three numbers, each from 1 to 8, chosen
randomly by a computer and the contestant doesnt know these numbers. You are the
contestant and required to guess what numbers the computer has chosen. You will win if
your guess and computers choice match in any two positions. E.g., if the computers
choice is 5-1-3 and your guess is 3-5-1, you have to guess again. If the computers
choice is 6-9-6 and your guess is 6-6-6, you won. What is the minimum number of
guesses of three numbers that you must try for a guaranteed winning? (5)
7.

a. There are three persons, each having some integral number of gold coins. A monk has
told them if they transfer gold coins within themselves so that at the end of their transfer
efforts if just any two of them have gold coins but the third has no gold coins, then they
will be awarded double the sum of the gold coins they have. The monk also gave the
following conditions:
i) A person can transfer gold coins to another person only if after the transfer the latter
has double the gold coins as compared to that before the transfer.
E.g., if initially the three (say, A,B,C) have 50,20,10 gold coins, the transfers allowed are :
A transfer of 20 from A to B or a transfer of 10 from B to C or a transfer of 10 from A to C.
ii) Any number of valid transfers can be made. No use of half, one-thirds and other
fractional parts of a gold coin.

Is it possible that they can always transfer all the gold coins to just two of them, satisfying
the above conditions? How? (7)
b. Two poles of heights a and b are at a distance d apart on ground. A rope is tied from
top of one pole, pegged into ground at a point P between the poles and tied to the top of
the other pole. What is the location of P which results in the minimum length of the rope?
Neglect the insignificant amounts of the rope to tie and peg. (2)
8.

a. Two persons A and B play a game of coins and plank. They have 100 coins, each of
radius 2 and same other physical properties. They have to place some of these coins on
a square plank of side 10 in the game. Each person alternatively places a coin on the
plank. Whoever fails to place a coin without touching a coin already placed will loose the
game. Who will have better chances of winning, the first player (who places the first coin
on the plank) or the second? Can you devise a strategy for him/her? (6)
b. Let six digit numbers a1a2a3a4a5a6 be formed so that a1,a3,a5 are all even or all odd
and a2,a4,a6 are all even or all odd but not a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6 are all even or all odd.
th
Further, each ai is not zero. What is the 2009 number in the sequence formed by
arranging such six digit numbers in the ascending order? (3)

9.

a. Three persons X, Y, and Z are sharp and clever in deducing from the premises and so
are good at logic. They are all aware of this fact. There are four green and four orange
instant tattoos available. You have pasted two tattoos on each of their foreheads while
they are blindfolded. You have removed the blindfolds and asked each one of them have
you deduced what colored tattoos I have pasted on your forehead? Each said no. You
have asked X again and X replied Yes. How did X deduce his colors now? (3)
b. A clean blackboard in a classroom has been marked into vertical halves. There are five
different integers each of which is written twice on the first half. The teacher asks a
student to choose four of these randomly, erase them and write them in the second half.
If there are any two equal numbers on the second half, student has to erase them and
choose again two numbers randomly from the first half, erase them there and write them
in the second half. This process continues until the first half is empty or there are four
different integers on the second half. Find the probability of the latter. (6)

10.

a. A super special ant can smell a sugar cube anywhere within a distance of 103 (ten
times square root of 3). It has got information that there may be one sugar cube in a
triangular region of each side 40. What is the minimum distance traversed by the ant if it
starts at any vertex of the triangle to inspect the whole of the triangular region? (6)
b. Can you describe the simplest possible shape of an object, whose front view (fig.a)
and side view (fig.b) are given below? Try to sketch it (the sketch doesnt need to be
perfect). (3)

Fig.a

Fig.b