FOM (Part A) Problems
Student to identify and write the purpose of each Problem
1 Find the time between 3’O clock and 4’O when the hour hand and minute hand coincide
2 Factorise 𝑎3 + 𝑏3 + 𝑐 3 − 3𝑎𝑏𝑐
𝑎 𝑎
3 Evaluate ∑ (𝑎−𝑏)(𝑎−𝑐) , ∑ (𝑥−𝑎)(𝑎−𝑏)(𝑎−𝑐) (HKEA173, 256)
4 Do problem 2 using determinants and prove the two core properties of determinants
5 Define parallelogram. How many diagonals does a parallelogram have? Which point can
be reasonably called the centre of a parallelogram? If the diagonals of a parallelogram are
drawn, how many line-segments can be spotted? How many angles can be spotted? How
many triangles can be spotted? How many pairs of these triangles are congruent?
6 Define trapezium and isosceles trapezium. By joining the diagonals of an isosceles triangle,
how many pairs of congruent triangles can be made? Is rectangle an isosceles trapezium?
How many pairs of congruent triangles are formed when the diagonals of a kite are drawn?
Into how many non-congruent triangles a rhombus is “partitioned” by the diagonals?
7 Equilateral triangles are drawn on sides of a triangle. Show that the lines joining the
outward vertices of equilateral triangle to the opposite vertices of triangles are all equal
8 Find the following sums :
(i) 27 + 28 + 29 + ⋯ upto 75 terms
(ii) 27 − 28 + 29 − 30 + ⋯ upto 75 terms
(iii) 1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + ⋯ upto 145 terms
(iv) 2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + ⋯ upto 𝑘 terms
(v) 12 + 32 + 52 + 72 + ⋯ upto 50 terms
(vi) 113 + 123 + 133 + 143 + ⋯ upto 25 terms
(vii) 312 − 322 + 332 − 342 + ⋯ upto 100 terms
1 1 1 1
(viii) + 72 + 90 + 110 + ⋯ upto 30 terms
56
1 1 1 1
(ix) + 54 + 108 + 180 + ⋯ upto 25 terms
18
1 1 1 1
(x) + + + ⋯+ … upto 50 terms
1.2.3 2.3.4 3.4.5 98.99.100
1 1 1 1
(xi) + 1+2+3 + 1+2+3+4 + ⋯ + 1+2+3+⋯+2012+2022
1+2
(xii) 5 + 11 + 17 + 23 + ⋯ upto 30 terms
(xiii) 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 … upto 25 terms
1 1 1 1 1
(xiv) + 5 + 7 + ⋯ + 49 + 51 (Mostly from Xu)
3
9 𝐴 = {𝑥, 𝑦, 𝑧} and 𝐵 = {𝑝, 𝑞 }. Form injection from 𝐴 to 𝐵 and 𝐵 to 𝐴. Form surjection
from 𝐴 to 𝐵 and 𝐵 to 𝐴. Form bijection from 𝐴 to 𝐵 and 𝐵 to 𝐴. Can we do anything so
that all these 6 mappings exist? Can we form an injection from the set of all natural
numbers and the set of all even positive numbers and vice-versa?
10 Compare the following pairs of numbers :
(i) 2300 , 3200
(ii) 240 , 328
(iii) 544 , 453
(iv) 2100 + 3100 , 4100
(v) 792 , 891
(vi) 1234567.1234569, 1234568.1234568
(vii) 1.011000 , 1000
1234567 1234568
(viii) ,
7654321 7654322
100
(ix) 100 50
, 50 . 15050 (Fomin)
9 Show that ∑ 𝑎2 ≥ ∑ 𝑎𝑏. Show that AM of 3 numbers is greater than their GM
10 Show that for two positive numbers, 𝑄𝑀 ≥ 𝐴𝑀 ≥ 𝐺𝑀 ≥ 𝐻𝑀
11 For every natural number 𝑛 > 1, show that 2𝑛 > 𝑛 and 𝑛𝑛+1 > (𝑛 + 1)𝑛
12 Prove the Nesbitt Inequality and Rearrangement Inequality
13 Number Base problem from Grand Test
14 Define the following 9 terms formally : Equivalent statements, Polygon, One Variable
Polygon, Bijection, Difactorisation, 9𝑃5 , Partition, Number line, Cluster point
15 Show that median is at same distance from the other vertices of a triangle. Hence show that
the areas of triangles with bases on median or median-extended and vertex as other vertices
of triangle are proportional to the bases (HW)
16 ABC is a triangle C is mid-point of BD. E is any point on AC. Parallelogram ECDF is
completed. Show that the area of AEBF is same as that of parallelogram (HW)
17 D,E,F are points on BC,AC,AB respectively such that BD=2CD, AE=3CE, AF=4BF. If
area of ABC is 500 square units, what is the area of DEF? (HW)
𝐴𝐷 𝐴𝐶 2
18 In triangle ABC, D is on AB and 𝐴𝐶 = 𝐴𝐵 = 3. M is the mid-point of CD and AM
𝐶𝐸
extended meets BC at E. Find (HW)
𝐵𝐸
19 Which polygon is the only necessarily-convex polygon? Find the sums of interior and
exterior angles of a 𝑛 − convex polygon? Find the internal angle of a regular polygon. How
many diagonals does a polygon have?
20 What are similar polygons? How do we know if two triangles are similar or not? Prove
Thales theorem and Intercepts theorem and Mid-point theorem and Angle Bisector
theorems
21 Altitude is dropped from right vertex of right triangle. How many pairs of similar triangles
can be spotted in the figure. Show that altitude is the geometric mean of the lengths into
which the altitude splits the hypotenuse. Prove Pythagoras theorem from these triangles
(peng)
22 Two cyclists started from A towards B in straight path at the same instant with constant but
different speeds. After reaching B they turn back instantly and travel towards A and so on.
Their first meeting took place at a point which is 𝑎 units from B and their second meeting
took place at a point from A which is 𝑘 𝑡ℎ part of the track length AB. Find the track length
(Lidsky)
23 If lengths 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 form a triangle, does the lengths √𝑎, √𝑏, √𝑐 also form a triangle? Is the
converse also true? If lengths 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 form a triangle, does the lengths 𝑎2 , 𝑏2 , 𝑐 2 also form a
triangle? (Manfrino)
24 Extract Stewart’s theorem from Pythagoras theorem
25 𝑥 + [𝑦] + {𝑧} is 13.2, [𝑥 ] + {𝑦} + 𝑧 is 14.3 , {𝑥 } + 𝑦 + [𝑧] is 15.1. Find 𝑥 (XB)
26 Solve |𝑥 − 2| + |𝑥 − 3| =1 (XA)
27 Find the minimum value of the expression |𝑥 − 𝑎| + |𝑥 − 𝑏| + |𝑥 − 𝑐 | if 𝑎 < 𝑏 < 𝑐
(XA)
28 Difactorise 5880. Prime factorise 5880. How many distinct prime factors does 5880 have?
How many not-necessarily-distinct prime factors does 5880 have? How many positive
factors does 5880 have? How many integral divisors does 5880 have? How many non-
trivial factors does 5880 have? What are the largest and smallest non-trivial factors of 5880?
29 Find all the common factors and common multiples of 10164 and 5. 33 . 11.13 . What are
the GCD and LCM of these two numbers? Can you imagine a general procedure to find
the GCD and LCM of any two integers? What is the relationship between two natural
numbers and their LCM and GCD? Define, if you wish, GCD and LCM of two numbers,
formally. What is the intuitive meaning of “𝛼 divides 𝛽" ? Give 10 consequences of the
sentence “𝑚|𝑝". Give 5 implications of the fact “𝑎 divides both 𝑥 and 𝑦” . Give 5
consequences of the fact “𝛾 is the GCD of 𝑟, 𝑠”
30 State these 9 central lemmas in divisibility : 3 P lemmas, 3 Common Divisors lemmas, 2
GCD lemmas, Guaranteed co-primes lemmas
31 Find the remainder when 1001.1002 + 1003 is divided by 990. What are the possible
remainders when a natural number is divided by 8? What are the possible remainders
when a perfect square is divisible by 8? What are the possible remainders when a perfect
cube is divisible by 8?
32 Show that primes are infinite. Show that there is no rational number whose square is 2.
Prove the Bezout’s theorem for 2 not both zeroes integers
33 If 2000 students are distributed into 30 schools, what is the minimum of the maximum
number of students in any school? What is the minimum number of people required to
form a group so that the group has a pair born on the same date?
34 If all the sides and diagonals of a convex hexagon are painted either red or blue, show that
there is a triangle of same colour
35 How many 5-digit palindromes are there? How many matches are played in tennis knock
out tournament of 128 players? In a party there are 9 boys and each boy dances with
exactly 4 girls and each girl dances with exactly 3 boys? How many girls are there in the
party?
36 A company manufactures cubes whose faces are painted red or blue? How many kinds of
cubes is the company making? If in a shop there are 4 kinds of cups and 3 kinds of saucers
and 5 kinds of spoons, how many combinations of tea spoon-tea cup-saucer can be made?
If in a class 25 like math and 16 like biology and 9 like both math and biology and 3 like
neither math nor biology, then how many students are there in the class? In an apartment
there are separate parkings for each of the 4 cars. In how many ways can the cars be parked
so that all are wrongly parked?
37 ̅̅̅̅ which divides it internally and externally in the same ratio
Locate points on segment 𝐴𝐵
3:4. What are these four points together called?
38 𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅, 𝑆 form a harmonic range and 𝑄 divides 𝑃𝑅 in the ratio 𝑘: 1. What is the ratio in
which 𝑅 divides 𝑄𝑆 ?
39 State and prove the theorems of Ceva and Menelaus
40 Draw the graphs of 𝑦 = 𝑥, 𝑦 = 2𝑥, 𝑦 = −2𝑥 + 3, 𝑦 = 𝑎𝑥 + 𝑏
1 2
41 Draw the graphs of 𝑦 = 3𝑥 2 , 𝑦 = (𝑥 − 4)2 , 𝑦 = −5(𝑥 + 2)2 , 𝑦 = 7 (𝑥 − 2) + 11,
𝑦 = 𝑝𝑥 2 + 𝑞𝑥 + 𝑟
42 Find 𝑥 that makes 2𝑥 + 3 positive, negative and zero
43 Solve 3𝑥 + 4𝑦 ⋛ 0
44 Solve the following systems of linear equations :
(a) 𝑥 + 𝑦 = 3 and 𝑥 − 𝑦 = 5
(b) 𝑥 + 𝑦 = 3 and 𝑥 − 𝑦 = 5 and 2𝑥 − 𝑦 = 4
(c) 2𝑥 + 3𝑦 − 7𝑧 = 1, 𝑥 − 𝑦 − 𝑧 = 0, 3𝑥 + 3𝑦 + 2𝑧 = 5
(d) 2𝑥 + 3𝑦 − 7𝑧 = 1, 𝑥 − 𝑦 − 𝑧 = 0
(e) 2𝑥 + 3𝑦 − 7𝑧 = 1, 𝑥 − 𝑦 − 𝑧 = 0, 6𝑥 + 9𝑦 = 3 + 21𝑧
(f) 2𝑥 + 3𝑦 − 7𝑧 = 1, 𝑥 − 𝑦 − 𝑧 = 0, 𝑥 + 1 = 𝑦 + 𝑧
45 𝑎𝑥 2 + 𝑏𝑥 + 𝑐 ≡ 𝑎(𝑥 − 𝛼 )(𝑥 − 𝛽 ) ≡ 𝑎(𝑥 − 𝑝)2 + 𝑞 . Find 𝛼, 𝛽, 𝑝, 𝑞
46 Find 𝑝 that makes (2𝑝 + 3)(5 − 𝑝) negative
47 Find the quadratic expression whose zeroes are the squares of the zeroes of 𝑝𝑥 2 + 𝑞𝑥 + 𝑟
48 Find the NSCs that the zeroes of 𝑝𝑥 2 + 𝑞𝑥 + 𝑟, 𝑝 > 0, lies between −2 and 3 (Vavilov)
(𝑥+3)(3𝑥−2)5 (𝑥−√2)
49 Solve (7−𝑥)3(5𝑥+8)2
<0
50 Define linear equation in 𝑛 variables. Give a example of such an equation and write it’s
solution. How many parameters does the solution have? Select a “consistent system of
linear equations with a unique solution” (in any number of variables) and solve it by the 3
matrix methods
51 AB(8 cm) and BC(6 cm) are parallel chords of a circle of radius 5 cm. Find the chord
lengths AC and AD (XuC)
52 Area between two concentric circles is 16𝜋 square units. Find the length of the chord of the
larger circle which is tangent to the inner circle (HW)
53 𝑃, 𝑄, 𝑅 on circle with centre 𝑂. 𝑃𝑂 and 𝑄𝑅 meet at 𝑆. 𝑃𝑆𝑄 is 12°. What is ∠𝑃𝑂𝑄?(XuC)
54 𝑀𝑁 is tangent at 𝐶 to the circumcircle of 𝐴𝐵𝐶. 𝐵𝐷 ∥ 𝑀𝑁. 𝐴𝐶, 𝐵𝐷 meet at E. 𝐴𝐵 is 6 and
𝐵𝐶 is 4. Find 𝐴𝐸 (XuC)
55 Given a line and a circle in a plane, how many possibilities exist between them? Given two
circles in a plane, how many possibilities exist between them? If tangents are drawn to a
circle from a point, what is the figure formed by this point, centre of circle and the tangent
touchpoints?
56 Construct the common tangents for two circles, if they exist, and find their lengths
57 How many 4 lettered English words can be made in which all the letters are different? If six
speakers should give a speech, in how many orders can their speech be arranged? How
many committees of 5 persons can be made from a group of 14? If 25 teams play each
other in the first round of cricket tournament, how many matches are played in the first
round?
58 A polynomial leaves a remainder 2 when divided by 𝑥 + 3 and leaves a remainder of -1
when divided by 2𝑥 − 1. What is the remainder when the polynomial is divided by
(𝑥 + 3)(2𝑥 − 1)
59 Solve 56𝑥 = 65𝑦 in R and N and Z
Solve 8𝑥 + 6𝑦 = 15 in R and Z
Solve 5𝑥 − 3𝑦 = 4 in N and Z
60 How do we decide if a quadrangle is cyclic or not?
61 Orthic triangle is drawn for an acute triangle. Locate all the cyclic quadrilaterals
62 Show that in a triangle every triad of 4 kinds of special lines are concurrent
63 Show that in any triangle, any side length is twice the product of circumradius and sine of
the angle opposite to the side (This fact has a popular name)
64 Find the distance of the vertices of the triangle from the touchpoints of the incircle
(Exposes wave labeling)
65 Find the distance of the vertices of the triangle from the touchpoints of the excircles (GR)
66 Find the area of a triangle in terms of 𝑟, the inradius
67 Medians divide every triangle into 6 equal parts (GR)
68 The orthocenter of an acute triangle is the incentre of it’s orthic triangle (GR)
69 𝑃 is an interior point of △ 𝐴𝐵𝐶. Lengths 𝑃𝐴, 𝑃𝐵, 𝑃𝐶, 𝐴𝐵, 𝐴𝐶, 𝐵𝐶 are known. Find the side
lengths of the pedal triangle of 𝑃 (GR)
1
1 1 1 −
2
1
−
1
1 2 1 −2 1 2
70 Evaluate 40 + 41 + 42 + 4−2 + 4 + 4 2 2 + (4) + (4) + ((4) ) ,
−2 𝛾
log 0.75 log 2 √ √0.125 , (𝑎𝛼 )−𝛽 log𝑎 𝑠𝑁 (Dorofeev)
3 5
71 Compare : log 2 3 and log 3 11 , log 2 𝑎 and log 3 𝑎 , √0.01 and√0.001 (Dorofeev)
1 1 1
72 Twenty numbers 1, 2 , 3 … . 20 are there on a classboard. A student erases any two numbers
𝑎 and 𝑏 and writes 𝑎 + 𝑏 + 𝑎𝑏. After performing this step for 19 times, only one number
is remaining on the board. What is that number? (Exposes invariance principle)
73 Prove Ptolemy’s theorem
74 Show that 𝐺, 𝐻, 𝑆 are collinear
75 Draw the graphs : 𝑦 = |𝑥 |, [𝑥], {𝑥 }, 𝑎 𝑥 , log 𝑎 𝑥 , sin 𝑥 , cot 𝑥 , sec 𝑥 , cos −1 𝑥, cosec −1 𝑥
76 Draw the graph of 𝑦 = −10(2)3𝑥−1 + 7
77 Give polar, algebraic, trigonometric and exponential forms of the complex number (2, −3)
78 Prove that 𝑛𝑡ℎ degree single variable polynomial splits into exactly 𝑛 linear polynomials
1
79 Solve log( 1
)
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑥 = 2 , 𝑥 2 2𝑥+1 + 𝑥 |𝑥−3|+3 = 𝑥 2 2|𝑥−3|+4 + 2𝑥−1 (Dorofeev)
8𝑐𝑜𝑠2 𝑥
80 Horses are put at opposite corners of 3 × 3 chess board. Making horse moves, can we
bring the horses to the other opposite corners?
81 Given a plane and a point not on it. Construct the unique line thru the given point and
perpendicular to the given plane
82 Use vector concept to show that diagonals in a parallelogram bisect each other and
medians in a triangle are concurrent and the triangle inequality
83 Prove that every sequence with distinct terms has a strictly monotonic subsequence