Quantitative Ability

PERMUTATIONS AND
COMBINATIONS
 1. There are 5 trains between Chennai and Hyderabad and
4 trains between Hyderabad and Mumbai. In how many ways
can one travel from Chennai to Mumbai via Hyderabad?
(1) 5 (2) 20 (3) 9 (4) 4

SOLUTION:

The total number of ways = 5 X 4 = 20 .

Correct Choice (2)

2. How many numbers can be formed using all of the
digits1, 2 and 3 exactly once?

(1) 6 (2) 27 (3) 33 (4) 39

SOLUTION:

The given digits 1,2 and 3 are different digits.

Therefore, Required number of numbers = 3p3

=3! =6
Correct Choice (1)
3. How many palindromes having five characters can be formed
with the elements of A where A = {@, #, &, $, %, *}

(1) 120 (2) 216 (3) 720 (4) 100

SOLUTION:

Since the palindrome has 5 characters, if we fix the first

three places , the last two are automatically fixed.
Hence the number of ways are 6X6X6= 216

Correct Choice (2).

4. In how many ways can a committee of 4 men and 5
women be formed from 6 men and 8 women where
Ramkumar should be present and Sheela should not be
present?
(1) 210 (2) 2002 (3) 840 (4) 18

SOLUTION:

Assuming Ramkumar to be a man and Sheela to be a

woman, we first select Ramkumar and exclude Sheela.
Then, from 5 men and 7 women, we have to select 3
men and 5 women and the total such selections
amount to 5C3 X 7C5 = 210

Correct Choice(1)
5. In how many ways can Ram post five letters into three
letterboxes?

(1) 125 (2) 81 (3) 243 (4) 100 (5) None of these

SOLUTION:

5 letters can be posted in 3 letterboxes in 35 = 243 ways.

However none of the answers match.

Correct Choice(5)
6. Fifteen points lie on a plane such that 5 of them are
collinear. How many line segments can be drawn using
these points?

(1) 96 (2) 105 (3) 95 (4) 450

SOLUTION:

It takes two points to define a line uniquely.

Hence the number of lines = 15C2 5C2 + 1 = 96

Correct choice (1)

7. Murali has a four-digit code for his safe. He forgets the
code but remembers that it contains all the digits 0,1,2,3.
What is the maximum number of combinations possible?
(1) 24 (2) 216 (3) 12 (4) 18

Solution:

Since all the digits must be present the total number

of combinations = 4p4
= 4!=24

Correct choice (1)

8. How many words can be formed using the letters of the
word BLACK such that the word always starts with B and
ends with L?

(1) 123 (2) 24 (3) 6 (4) 27

Solution:

We put B in the first place and L in the last place .

The middle three digits can be arranged in 3! ways
i.e. 6 ways .
Correct choice (3)
9. In how many ways can the letters ABCD be arranged
such that A always comes before B?

(1) 24 (2) 16 (3) 12 (4) 6

Solution:

We treat A and B as the same letter so that it does not

affect the ordering ( A comes before B)in any way.
Hence , the total number of ways = 4!/2!= 12.

Correct choice (3).

10. In how many ways can seven people be seated around
a circular table such that two of them are always together?

(1) 7! (2) 6!2! (3) 5!2! (4) 6! / 2

Solution:

We club the two people as one unit.

So, we get 6 units to be placed around the round table.
Hence, the total number of ways is 5! X 2!

Correct choice (3).

11. How many 5-digit even numbers can Varsha form by
using each of the digits 1, 3, 6, 8 and 9 only once?

(1) 24 (2) 120 (3) 48 (4) 60

SOLUTION:
Number of 5 digit even numbers using the digits 1, 3, 6, 8,
and 9 only once can be formed by keeping 6 and 8 as the
units digit.
The other digits can be arranged in 4!= 24 possible ways.
Hence, the total number of ways = 24X2= 48

Correct choice (3).

12. In how many ways can the letters of the word ORBIT
be rearranged such that the vowels occupy even places?

(1) 12 (2) 6 (3) 120 (4) 144

SOLUTION:

The word ORBIT has 5 different letters.

The vowel O and I occupy even places.
There are 2 even places among 5 places and 2 vowels
can be arranged in 2! = 2 ways.
The other 3 letters can be arranged in remaining 3
places i.e, 3! = 6 ways.
Therefore required number of ways = 62 =12.

Correct choice (1)

13. Raghu lists down all possible arrangements of the
word SENT in alphabetical order. How many words will
precede the word SENT?

(1) 13 (2) 24 (3) 6 (4) 12

SOLUTION:

Words beginning with E will be 3! = 6 in number.

Then words beginning with N will be 3!= 6 in number
and these will be followed by SENT.
Hence 12 word precede SENT

Correct Choice (4).

14. Find the number of three digit numbers that contain the
digit 8.

(1) 130 (2) 90 (3) 252 (4) 222

SOLUTION:

From 100 to 199, 8 occurs 19 times.

The same is true for all cases like 200 to 299, 300 to 399,
400 to 499, 500 to 599 , 600 to 699, 700 to 799, 900 to
999, the exceptional case being 800 to 899, where we find
100 numbers.
Hence, total number of cases = 100+ 19 X 8 = 252

Correct Choice (3).

15) 3 couples attend a party. They are to be seated in a
straight row such that no two people of the same gender sit
next to each other. In how many ways is this possible?
(1) 360 (2) 720 (3) 72 (4) 36

SOLUTION:

Let the gentlemen be seated and two ladies be seated in the

gaps between the gentlemen and one lady on any one of the
two spaces on either side of the gentlemen.
i.e. the arrangements are denoted as L,G,L,G,LG or
G,L,G,L,G,L .
Hence the total number of arrangements is 3!X3!X2= 72 ways

Correct Choice (3).

Probability
1. In a leap year, what is the probability of having
53 Sundays?
(1) 3/7 (2) 1/7 (3) 2/7 (4) None of these

Solution:
If the year begins with a Saturday or Sunday then
the leap year will have 53 Sundays

Hence, the required probability is 2/7.

Correct choice (3)

2. Prabhu and Vishnu attend an interview. The odds
in favour of Prabhu getting selected are 5:4. The
odds against Vishnu getting selected are 3:2. What
is the probability that both Prabhu and Vishnu are
selected in the interview?

(2) 1/9 (2) 1/3 (3) 5/6 (4) 2/9

Solution

Probability that Prabhu and Vishnu are selected for the

course are 5/9 and 2/5 respectively.
Hence,probability that both are selected is (5/9) (2/5)
= 2/9

Correct choice (4)

3. Nandini draws a card from a pack of playing
cards. What is the probability that it is a
numbered, black card?

(1) 46/52 (2) 32/52 (3) 6/52 (4) 18/52

Solution:

There are 9X2 = 18 numbered black cards.

Hence, the required probability=18/52.

Correct choice (4)

4. What is the probability that any number of
the form 7n + 7m is even, where m and n are
natural numbers?

(1) 1 (2) 0.5 (3) 0.25 (4) 0.75

Solution:
7n + 7m are always even for all natural numbers m, n .

Hence the required probability is 1 .

Correct choice (1).

5. A room has 4 bulb holders. An
electrician has 10 bulbs out of which 3 are
defective. What is the probability that the
room is lit when the bulbs are placed in the
holders & switched on?

(1) 0 (2) 4/7 (3) 3/7 (4) 1

Solution:

The room will be lit if any one of the bulbs work.

Since there are 10 bulbs with 3 defective bulbs, and there
are 4 holders , the room will be lit even if the other three are
defective.

Correct choice (4).

6.There are ten coins of which five are regular
coins and the remaining are peculiar as they have
heads on both sides. If a coin is tossed at random,
what is the probability that it is a head?

(1) 0.35 (2) 0.5 (3) 0.25 (4) 0.75

Solution:

The required probability =

Correct choice (4)

7. A basket contains a flower, either red or white
with equal probability of . A red flower is then
placed in the basket and a flower is picked up at
random. What is the probability that the flower
picked is red?
(1) 0.35 (2) 0.5 (3) 0.25 (4) 0.75
Solution:
The required probability is obtained by considering the
two possible cases,
(a) both flowers are red
(b) one flower is red. Hence the required probability=

Correct choice (4)

8. In how many ways can five distinct
letters be placed in 5 distinct envelopes
such that exactly one letter is placed inside
a wrong envelope?

(1) 0 (2) 24 (3) 23 (4) None of these

Solution:
It is impossible to place exactly one letter in a wrong envelope.

Correct choice (1)

9. When two dice are thrown, what is the
probability that the number on the first die is
more than the number on the second die?

(1) 5/12 (2) 1/2 (3) 1/3 (4) 1/4

Solution:
The favourable cases are { (6,5), (6,4), (6,3), (6,2),
(6,1), (5,4), (5,3),(5,2), (5,1), (4,3), (4,2), (4,1),
(3,2),(3,1), (2,1) }
So, number of events is 15.
The total number of samples = 36.
Hence, the required probability = 15/36=5/12

Correct choice (1)

10. Balaji picks a number between 1 and 100.
What is the probability that the number is
divisible by either 3 or 4 but not by both?
(1) 1/3 (2) 1/2 (3) 41/98 (4) 29/50 (5)None of
these

Solution:
Number of favourable cases= no of multiples of 3 +
number of multiples of 4 number of multiples of 12
= 33 + 24 12 = 45.
Hence the required probability = 45/98.
( Here calculations were done exclusive of 1 and 100 ).

Correct choice (5)