Functions & inequalities

01. How many solutions of the form  x, y  where x, y are integers, does the system of

inequalities x2 – y  –1 and x2  y  5 have?

(A) 3 (B) 4 (C) 7 (D) 11 (E) 5

02. If f ( x) 
x 1
x 1

then f f  f  x    
1
(B)  f  x    1
 f  x 
2
(A) f   (C) f x 2 (D)  (E)
 x f ( x)

03. Let the function g  a, b   f  a   f (b) . For which function f below will

g  a  b, a  b   g  a, a   g  b, b  ?

1 x
(A) x 1 (B) x2 (C) (D) 1 x (E)
x 4

04. How many integer pairs  x, y  satisfy the equation x2  y 2  50 ?

(A) 8 (B) 10 (C) 12 (D) 16 (E) 4

05. How many integer pairs  x, y  satisfy the inequality x2  y 2  50 ?

(A) 140 (B) 149 (C) 96 (D) 81 (E) 147

06. How many integer pairs  x, y  satisfy the inequality x  y  10 ?

(A) 99 (B) 120 (C) 55 (D) 100 (E) 181

07. A function f is defined as f  x   if x is an integer and f  x   6 x for all other
1
x
values. What is the value of f  f  f 3 
2
?

1 2 3
(A) (B) (C) (D) 4 (E) 9
4 3 2

08. Is X  Y ?

(1) AX  AY

(2) A 2 X  A 2 Y

09. Which of the following functions are identical?

  x3
2
I. f  x   x II. g  x   x III. h  x   x IV. k  x  
x2

(A) All (B) f , g (C) f , k (D) f , g , h (E) None

10. A function f satisfies the relation f  n  1  f  n   2n  1 where n is any natural

number. If f  4   50 then f 1 

(A) 56 (B) 47 (C) 63 (D) 41 (E) 39

11. If  x  indicates the greatest integer less than or equal to x , and x takes values
from the first 1000 natural numbers, then for how many distinct values of x does
 x   x   x  31x
 2    3    5   30 ?

(A) 30 (B) 33 (C) 25 (D) 47 (E) NOTA

12. For all numbers x and y , the operation x # y results in  x  2  y  1 . What is

the value of 2 # 3 #  1 # 1  ?

(A) 0 (B) 16 (C) 28 (D) –24 (E) –44

13. If  x denotes the least integer greater than or equal to x , which of the following
indicates all possible values of x if  x2   4 ?
(A) 2  x  1, and 1  x  2

(B)  5  x  2, and 2  x  5

(C) 2  x  1, and 1  x  2

(D) 2  x   3, and 3 x2

(E)  5  x  2, and 2  x  5

14. If a, b are real numbers such that a  b , then which of the following MUST be
true?

I. a  b II. a  b III. a 2  b2 IV. a3  b3

(A) III only (B) I, III (C) II, IV (D) I, II, III (E) None

15. If the operation p @ q is defined for all integers p, q as p @ q   p  1 q  1 ,

which of the following MUST be true?

I. p @ q  q @ p II. p @  q @ r    p @ q  @ r

2

1 1 
III. p @ 0  p IV. p @   p  
p  p 

(A) I, II (B) II, IV (C) I, II, III (D) I, II, IV (E) I, III, IV
16. Is P  Q ?

P 8
(1) 
Q 7

(2) P 2  Q 2

17. If the integers x, y satisfy 3x  14  55 and 6 y  22  125 , what is the greatest

possible value of 4 x  5 y ?

(A) 177 (B) 173 (C) 214 (D) 172 (E) 164

18. If m2  225 and n  m  10 , what is the difference between the greatest and the
smallest possible integer value of  3m  2n  ?

(A) 190 (B) 188 (C) 150 (D) 148 (E) 40

19. If a, b, c and g are non-zero integers so that 3 ≥ c ≥ – 9 , 5 ≥ a ≥ –2 , 10 ≥ b ≥ –1

ag
and 4 ≥ g ≥ 1, then which of the following is the smallest possible value of ?
bc
20 15
(A) –90 (B) –20 (C) –10 (D)  (E)
3 4

20. If x, y, z are real numbers such that 5  x  7 , 3  y  10 and 10 z never drops


below 1000, then the minimum possible integer value of 4 x 2  9 y 2  5 z 2  is

(A) 145 (B) 262 (C) 227 (D) 127 (E) 253

21. Is N  0 ?

(1) M  N

(2)  N  M
22. The function f is defined for all non-negative x as
2
 1
f  x   x  
 x

Which of the following always holds true for f ?

I. f   x   f  x 
1
II. f    f  x
 x
III. f  x f  x  2   
IV. f x  f  x 
2

2

(A) I, II (B) II only (C) I, III (D) I, II, IV (E) I, II, III

23. If 0  p, q  1 , then which of the following is possible?

p
I. 1 II. p 2  p III. p 2  q 2 1 IV. p  q  p  q
q

(A) I only (B) II, IV (C) I, II (D) I, III (E) III, IV

x6
then the value(s) of x for which f  x   f  x  is/ are
1
24. If f ( x) 
x2
(A) –3, 2 (B) –5, 1 (C) 4 only (D) 2, 4 (E) –4, 8

25. If x, y, z are positive integers, is z between x and y ?

(1) 2 x  z  2 y

(2) x  2 z  y

26. Is X 2  X ?

1
(1) X  2
X

1
(2) X   2
X
27. Is X  Y ?

(1) X 2  Y 2

(2) X Y

28. If r  s  2t , is r  t ?
(1) t  s

(2) r s

29. Is a 2b  ab2 ?

(1) a  b  ab

(2) 0  a  b

30. x  ?

(1) x  3x  2

(2) 4 x  3  x

31. Is pq  100 ?

(1) p  25

(2) q4

32. Is pq  100 ?

(1) p  25

(2) q  4
 125  x
33. If the function f is defined as f ( x)  , then f (5 x)  f  
x 5

 f  x     f  x    (E) f 125 x 
2 3
(A) (B) f x 2 (C) (D) f x 3

34. Total number of integer solutions of the equation x  1  2  3  10 are

(A) 27 (B) 15 (C) 29 (D) 31 (E) 11

35. If A  0 , is X  Y ?

(1) X  A  Y  A

(2) A  0

36. If a, b, c, d are real numbers so that abc  0 and bcd  0 , which of the following
expressions MUST be negative?

I. abcd II. a3bcd 4 III. a 2b3c 2d 3 IV. a 3d

(A) All (B) None (C) I, III (D) I, II, III (E) II, IV

abc
37. If a, b, c, d , e, f are real numbers so that  0 , is afc  bde ?
def

(1) a f

(2) bcd e0

38. If the function f satisfies f 1  2 f  2   3 f  3  ...  nf  n   n  n  1 f  n  for n  1

and f 1  1 , then f 100  

1 1
(A) 200 (B) 5050 (C) (D) 100 (E)
200 100
39. If x  0 , is x  x ?

(1) x 2
 1 x 2  4   0

(2) x 2  3x  2  0

40. If x  0 , is x  x ?

1
(1) 1
x2
1
(2) 1
x3

41. If x, y, z  0 and x  y  z , which of the following can be true?

I. 3
x yz II. z y3x III. 3
z yx

(A) I, II, III (B) II, IV (C) I, II (D) I, III (E) III, IV

x 1 1 x
42. If f  x  and g  x   , for what values of x is f  g  x    g  f  x   ?
x 1 1 x
(A) 1  x  0, and 0  x  1
(B) x  1, and x  1
(C) 1  x  1

(D)   x  1,  1  x  0, 0  x  1 and 1  x  

(E)   x  1,  1  x  1 and 1  x  

x2 1
43. If f  x   , what is f   in terms of f  x  ?
x 1
4
 x

1 1
(A) f  x  (B)  f  x  (C) (D)  (E) 2 f  x 
f  x f  x
 1
44. A function f is defined for the real variables x, y as f  x, y   . If
x  y2
2

f 1, a   0.5 and f  b, 0   0.25 , then f  a, b  

(A) 1 (B) 0.4 (C) 0.2 (D) 0.5 (E) 0.25

45. A function f is defined for the real variable x as f  x   x  x  , where  x  denotes

the greatest integer less than or equal to x . As x varies from 1 to 100, inclusive, how
many distinct integer values does f  x  take?

(A) 5050 (B) 2500 (C) 2520 (D) 4951 (E) 2550

1 1
46. If x, y are positive real numbers such that x   y  , is x  y ?
x y

(1) y
2
y

(2) x
2
x

47. A function f is defined for all integers x, y such that f  x  y   f  x  f  y  . If

f  4   3 , then f  8 

1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) 24 (D) (E) 36
3 6 9

48. Is xy  1 ?

(1) x  y  2

(2) x  y  2
2 2

49. The least possible value of x  1  x  2  x  3  .....  x  99  x  100 is

(A) 5050 (B) 2500 (C) 2520 (D) 4950 (E) 2550
50. Is X  Y ?

(1) X Y

(2) X 2  Y

51. Is PQ  1 ?

(1) PQ  1

(2) P  1

52. For all real values of x , function f satisfies f  x   f  x  1  f  x  1 . What is the

minimum value of a for which f  x   f  x  a  ?

(A) 3 (B) 1 (C) 6 (D) 2 (E) 4

53. If  x  indicates the greatest integer less than or equal to x , which of the following

equals  1    2    3   ...   100  ?

       

(A) 615 (B) 625 (C) 455 (D) 385 (E) 780

a b
54. If a, b are non-zero real numbers, is  ?
b a

(1) ab

(2) ab

55. Is x  y  10 ?

(1) x 2  y 2  25

(2) x 2  y 2  100
56. The minimum value of x  3  3 x  5  5 x  7  7 x  9  9 x  11 is attained at x 

(A) 3 (B) 5 (C) 7 (D) 9 (E) 11

1
57. If x and y are real numbers such that x 2  16  9 and y   4.25 , then the
y
x
maximum possible value of is
y

(A) 20 (B) 5 (C) 6.25 (D) 12.5 (E) 25

58. If both X, Y are less than 1 unit away from the origin, is X  X 2  Y  Y 2 ?

(1) X  Y  X  Y

(2) X is closer to the origin than Y .

 1 2 1
59. If the function f satisfies f  x    x  2 for all permissible x , then f  3 
 x x

(A) 5 (B) 1 (C) 3 (D) 11 (E) 7

60. If a  b and c  b , is abc  a ?

(1) ab  0

(2) ac  0

61. If p, q, r are positive numbers, is pqr?

(1) 2 p  q  3r

(2) 3q  2r  7 p
62. Consider the value P, given by

P   x  10  x  12  x  14  ..... x  98  x  100 

For how many integer values of x is P < 0?

(A) 25 (B) 45 (C) 23 (D) 54 (E) Infinite

63. Two dice are rolled together and the sum obtained is inserted in the function
f  x   x 4  29 x 2  100 . What is the probability that f  x   0 ?

1 5 1 1 1
(A) (B) (C) (D) (E)
6 36 3 18 12

64. For how many integer values of x is x 2

 2 x  x 2  10 x  24   200 ?

(A) 2 (B) 5 (C) 7 (D) 9 (E) Infinite

65. On the XY plane, what is the area bounded by all points ( x, y ) that satisfy the
equation  x 2    y 2   1 ?

(A) 4 (B) 8 (C) 2 (D) 2 2 (E) 8  

2 1
 ANSWER KEY

01. E

02. D

03. E

04. C

05. B

06. E

07. A

08. B

09. E

10. D

11. B

12. D

13. D

14. B

15. D

16. E

17. B

18. D

19. B

20. D

21. C

22. E

23. D

24. A
25. C

26. B

27. B

28. D

29. B

30. A

31. C

32. E

33. A

34. C

35. E

36. E

37. B

38. C

39. E

40. C

41. A

42. D

43. B

44. C

45. D

46. E

47. D

48. D

49. B

50. C
51. E

52. C

53. B

54. E

55. A

56. D

57. A

58. C

59. E

60. C

61. C

62. C

63. B

64. D

65. E