Maths Magic

OBJECTIVE MATHEMATICS
For all competitive Exams

J. P. Dixit

Maths Magic : Objective Mathematics

by J. P. Dixit
Amar Ujala Publications Ltd.
Published by Amar Ujala Publications Ltd.
and printed at Microtone Printec Pvt. Ltd., B-45, Okhla
Industrial Area, Fase-I, New Delhi-110020
Second Edition : 2013
Price : ` 350/ISBN : 978-93-82948-10-0
z

Due care and diligence has been taken while publishing this
book. However, the publisher does not hold any responsibility
for any mistake that may have inadvertently crept in. The publisher does not accept responsibility for any loss arising out of
the use of this book.

All rights reserved. Neither this publication nor any part of it may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.

All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent

courts and forums in Noida only.

I
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D
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
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8.
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10.
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12.
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37.
38.

Number Series
Numbers or Number System
Decimal Fraction
Simplification
Problem Based on Numbers
Surds or Radicals
H.C.F. and L.C.M.
Square Roots and Cube Roots
Average
Profit and Loss
True Discount/Discount
Percentage
Simple Interest
Compound Interest
Alligation or Mixture
Ratio and Proportion
Partnership
Time and Work
Time and Distance
Problem on Trains
Boat and Stream
Pipes and Cistern
Area and Perimeter
Volume and Surface Areas (3-Dimensial Figures)
Problems Based on Ages
Stock and Shares
Races and Games
Clocks
Calendar
Tabulation
Bar - Graphs
Pie - Diagram
Line Graphs
Statistics
Permutations and Combinations
Probability
Trigonometry
Height and Distance

15
33
46
62
82
98
111
120
132
146
164
175
193
205
222
229
247
257
272
285
299
305
315
337
364
378
387
392
397
401
415
425
437
452
461
467
474
488

Preface

This book is intended for the aspirants of various preliminary as well as final competitive examinations conducted by different service selection commissions and boards
such as UPSC, PSC, PCS, SSC, IBPS, RRB, SBI and managements institutes.
The book contains a huge collection of questions asked in respective examinations
and these questions are solved by shortcut as well as fundamental methods. Nowadays
although short cut methods are required for solving question papers within given time but
fundamental methods are absolutely essential for learning mathematics.
I strongly believe that students learn mathematics well only when they construct their
own mathematical thinking. Information can be transmitted from books to the needful but
mathematical understanding and knowledge come from within the learner as that individual explores, discovers, and makes connections. This understanding is developed
only by clearing the basics of mathematics.
Keeping this in mind due weightage is given to the fundamental and explanatory methods.
Consequently this book does not simply provide content; rather, it facilitates
readers construction of their own knowledge of mathematics.
Here are the salient features of the book:
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The syllabus and question pattern of almost all the popular exams is covered.

Original examination questions are solved with short-cut as well as fundamental

methods according to the needs of examinees and fitting in demand of the particular
question.

Short cut methods fully explained and adequately illustrated.

To avoid unnecessary elaboration and tediousness only appropriate and notable

questions are included.

Second revised, updated and enlarged edition:

z

10 to 15 new questions from the latest examinations are added in the beginning of the
each chapter.

More tricky formulae are added wherever required.

Three new chapters on calendar, Trigonometry and Height and Distance are added.

Break-UP of Mathematics for Various Examinations

SSC-FCI

Total No. of
Question

Question of
math

Separate paper

50

Area of Priority

Trigonometry's, Algebra and Geometry basic

concepts
Number theory: Divisibility, remainders
LCM and HCF, Fractions-comparisons. Basic
Maths: Simplification (BODMAS) Surds,
indices, Roots, squares, Cubes Algebra:
Linear equation, Quadratic equations,
Polynomials, Avg and Ratios Mean, Median,
Mode Wine-Water mix ture (Allegations,
Weighted avg.) Ratio-Proportion-variations,
Partnership STD, Time speed distance,
Trains, plat forms, Boats-streams, Time and
Work,
Pipes and Cisterns Geometry:
Angles, sides, bisectors, circles etc.
Mensuration (area, volume, perimeter)
Trigonometry, Basic % (increase, decrease in
consumption, population) Data-interpretation
cases. Profit, loss, discount, marked price.
Simple and compound interest rate PCP,
Permutation, Combination,
Probability,
Coordinate
Geometry
Progression:
Arithmetic+ Geometry Logarithms.

SSC-CGL (I) (II) 200

Separate paper

50 (I)
100 (II)

RBI Grade -B

200

30

Linear equations, Average, Ratios, ProfitLoss, %, Permutation, Venn Diagrams, Area

and Volume Combination, Probability

Civil Services
(Pre) II

80

7-10

CAT

Separate paper

30

Linear Algebra, Theorems,

Geometry, Ratio & Proportion, Quadratic
equations, Prime number Permutation Combinations,
BODMAS,
HCF
and
LCM,Data Sufficiency, Data] Interpretation,
Probability
Geometry Ratios and Proportion, Ratios,
Quadratic
Probability,
Permutations
Combinations and linear equations, Algebra,
Profit-Loss,
Averages,
Percentages,
Partnership Number system: HCF, LCM,
Geometric
Progression,
Arithmetic
Progression, Arithmetic mean, Geometric
mean, Harmonic mean, Median, Mode,
Number Base System and BODMAS etc.

NDA
(I) and (II)

Separate paper

120

ALGEBRA: Concept of set, Operations

of sets, Venn Diagrams, De Morgan laws.

Complex number-basic propeties, MATRICES and DETERMINANTS : Types of matrices, Operations on Matrices, Determinant of
a matrix, Basic properties of determinants
TRIGONOMETRY: Angles and their measures in degrees and in radians,
Trigonometrical ratios. Trigonometric identities. Sum and difference formulae. Multiple
and Sub multiple angles. Etc. ANALYTICAL
GEOMETRY OF TWO AND THREE DIMENSION:Rectangular Cartesian coordinate
System. Equation of a line in various forms.
Angle between two lines. Distance of point
from a line. Equation of a circle in stan
dard and in general form. Eccentricity and
axis of a conic. Etc.DIFFERETIAL
CALCULUS: Concept of real value function.
Composite range and graph of a function.
Composite functions, One to One and inverse
INTEGRAL CALCULUS AND DIFFER
ENTIAL EQUATION: Integration as inverse of
differentiation, integration by substitution and
by parts, standard integrals involving algebraic expressions, Evaluation of definite integrals- determination of areas of plane regions
bounced by curves applications.VECTOR
ALGEBRA: Vectors in two and three dimensions, Magnitude and direction of a vectors,
Scalar Multiplication of a vector, Scalar product or dot prodct of two vectors. Vector product or cross product of two vectors. Etc. STATICTICS AND PROBABILITY: Classification
of data, Frequency distribution, Cumulative
frequency, Histogram, Pie Chart, Frequency
Polygon, Measures of Central tendecymean, median, mode. Random experiment,
Outcomes and associated sample space,
events, mutually exclusive and exhaustive
events. Impossible and certain Events. Union
and Intersection and composite events.
Complementary, Elementary and com
posite events. Elementary theorems on probability, Bayes theorem- Simple Problems.
Random variable as function on a sample
space. Etc.
CDS- (I) (II)

Separate Paper

100

ARITHMETIC: Number system-Natural numbers, Integers, Rational and real Numbers,

Fundamental
Operations
addition,
Subtraction, Multiplication, division, Square

roots, Decimal, fractions. Unitary method,

time and distance, time and work, percentages, applications to simple and compound
interest, profit and loss, ratio and proportion,
variation etc.
ALGEBRA: Concept of set, Operations of
sets, Venn Diagrams, De Morgan laws.
Complex number-basic proper
t i e s ,
H.C.F., L.C.M., theory of polynomials, solution of quadratic equations, relation between
its roots and coefficients, Simultaneous linear
equations in two unknown-analytical and
Graphical solution. Etc.
TRIGONOMETRY: sine x, cosine x, Tangent
x when 0 <x< 90 Values of sin x, cos x and
tan x, for x=0, 30,45, 60, and 90 . Simple
trigonometry identities. Use of trigonometric
tables. Simple cases of Heights and distances.
GEOMETRY: Line and angles, plane and
plane figures. Theorems on properties of
angles at a point, parallel lines, sides and
angles of a triangle, Congruency of triangles,
Similar triangles, Concurrence of medians
and altitudes, properties of diagonals of a par
allelogram, rectangle and squares, diagonals
of a parallelogram, rectangle and square,
Circle and its properties including tangents
and normal's etc.
MENSURATION: Area of squares, rectangles, parallelograms, triangle and circle.
Areas of figures which can be split up into
these figure, Surface area and Volume of
cuboids, lateral surface and volume of right
circular cones and cylinders, Surface area
and volume of spheres.
STATISTICS: Collection and tabulation of statistical data, Graphical representation, frequency polygons, histograms, bar charts, pie
charts etc. Measures of central tendency.

NUMBERS OR NUMBER
SYSTEM
BASIC FORMULAE
b)2

a2

b2

(a +
=
+ 2ab +
(a b)2 = a2 2ab + b2
a2 b2 = (a + b) (a b)
(a + b)2 (a b)2 = 4ab
(a + b)2 + (a b)2 = 2 (a2 + b2)
(a + b + c)2 = a2 + b2 + c2 + 2ab + 2bc + 2ca
a3 + b3 = (a + b) (a2 ab + b2)

a3 b3 = (a b) (a2 + ab + b2)

l
l
l
l
l
l

(a3 + b3 + c3 3abc) = (a + b + c) (a2 + b2

+ c2 ab bc ca)
l If a + b + c = 0 then a3 + b3 + c3 = 3abc.
l

Dividend = (Divisor Quotient) + Remainder.

a + b + c = 0 then a3 + b3 + c3 = 3abc.

SIMPLIFICATION
l

SURDS OR REDICALS
Law of Radicals
The law of indices which are applicable to the
surds also are :

( x)
n

(ii)
(iii)

a if a > o
|a| = a if a < o

x .n y

x
=
y

( x)

(iv)

m n

(v)

=x

xy =

x =

xm

mn

x =n

a b

Law of Surds
(vi) The conjugate surds of

BODMAS RULE : This rule depicts the

correct sequence in which the operations

are to be executed, so as to find the value
of a given expression
n B stands for = Bracket
n O stands for = Of
n D stands for = Division
n M stands for = Multiplication
n A stands for =Addition
n S stands for = Subtraction
l Brackets are of four types and they are
operate in the following order,
l Bar or line, (), {}, []
l Thus the complete order of operation will be
, (), {}, [] of , , +,
l Order of + and can be interchanged or
they can be operated simultaneously too.
Modulus of a Real Number : Modulus of
a real number a is defined as

(i)

a + b is+

a+ b = c+ d
(vii) If
Then, a c and b= d
a a

(viii)
(ix)

a a

(x) If
Then,

a...... = a

1
a..... n times = a1 n
2
a+ a+

a...... = x
x(x 1) = a

H.C.F AND L.C.M.

Method of Prime factors
Write each of the given number as Product
of Prime factors
l Find the product of the highest powers of
all the factors that occur in the given
numbers
l This product, then, is the required L.C.M. of
the given numbers
l

(2)

Important Formulae

L.C.M. and H.C.F. of fractions :

H.C.F. of Numerators
H.C.F. = L.C.M. of Denominators
L.C.M. of Numerators
L.C.M. = H.C.F. of Denominators
l L.C.M. of (a, b) H.C.F. of (a, b) = (a b)
l If a number N, when divided by x, y or z leaves
respective remainder P in each case then N is
of the form K L.C.M. of (x, y, z) + P

AVERAGE
Average of Position includes Median and Mode.
l Arithmetic Average is used of all averages.
for example: average income, average profit,
average age, average marks etc.
l It is defined as the sum of all values of items
divided by the total number of items.
l In Individual series.
Average =

Sum of observations
Number of observations

x1 + x2 + x3 ........... + xn
n
l In Discreate series

x =

Or

x1 f1 + x2 f 2 + ........... + xn f n
f1 + f 2 + ........... + f n
l Geometric Mean : Geometric Mean of x1, x2
.....xn is denoted by

Loss % =

(v)

S.P. =

(100 + Gain%)
C.P.
100

(vi)

S.P. =

(100 Loss%)
C.P.
100

(vii)

C.P. =

100
S.P.
(100 + Gain%)

100
S.P.
(100 Loss%)
(ix) If an article is sold at a gain of 35% then
S.P. = 135% of C.P.
(x) If an article is sold at a loss of 20% then
S.P. = 80% of C.P.
(xi) When a person sells two similar items,
one at a gain of say, x% and the other at
a loss of x %, then the seller always incurs a loss given by :
(viii)

C.P. =

Error

Gain % = True value Error 100 %

l

G.M. = n x1 x2 ....... xn
l Harmonic Mean : Harmonic Mean of x1, x2
.....xn is denoted by

If two articles are bought for the same price

(i.e. the cost price are equal) and one sold
at a profit of x1% and the second is sold at
a profit of x2%, then the overall percentage
of profit

x1 + x2

= 2 100 %

H.M =

PROFIT AND LOSS

Formulae :
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

Gain = S.P. C.P.

Loss = C.P. S.P.

Gain 100
Gain % =
C.P.

Common loss and Gain% x

Loss% =
=
10
10
(xii) If a trader professes to sell his goods at
C.P., but uses false weights, then

x =

1 1
1
1
+ ......... +
+
n x1 x2
xn
l Mean : Relation among AM, GM and HM
(GM)2 = (AM) (HM)

Loss 100
C.P.

(iv)

TRUE DISCOUNT/
DISCOUNT
l

Discount = (Market price Selling price)

MP SP
100
MP
l T.D. = Interest on the P. W. at a given rate
(r) and time (t)

Discount % =

T.D. =

P.W. r t
100

Important Formulae

(3)

100 T.D.
+ T. D.
r t

P.W. r t
= P. W. +
100

100
+ 1
= T.D.
r t

r t
= P. W. 1 +

100

100 + r t
= T.D.

r t

100 r t
= P. W.

100

100 S.D.
P.W. =
100 + r t

Also S. D. = P. W. + T. D.

100 T.D.
P.W. =
r t
S. D. = P. W. + T. D.

A r t
100 + r t
When the sum is put at compound interest,
T.D. =

then P.W =

S.I.T.D
Sum =
S.I. T.D.

Amount
t

1 +

100

[sum due = Amount]

S. I. T. D. = S. I. on T. D.

PERCENTAGE
Fractional Equivalents of Important Percentages
1% =

1
= 0.01
100

2% =

1
= 0.02
50

4% =

1
= 0.04
25

8% =

2
= 0.08
25

16% =

4
25

64% =

16
= 0.64
25

96% =

24
= 0.96
25

5% =

1
= 0.05
20

10% =

1
= 0.1
10

20% =

1
5

40% =

2
= 0.4
5

60% =

3
= 0.6
5

80% =

4
5

120% =

6
= 1.2
5

25% =

1
= 0.25
4

3
1
37 % =
8
2

50% =

1
= 0.5
2

2
1
16 % =
3
6

1
1
33 % =
3
3

1
1
12 % = = 0.125
8
2

100% = 1
1
5
83 % = = 0.833
3
6

1
1
8 % =
3
12

1
1
6 % =
16
4
7
1
87 % =
8
2
2
2
66 % =
3
3

1
4
133 % =
3
3

Actual increase
(i) Percentage increase = Original quantity 100
Actual decrease
(ii) Percentage decrease = Original quantity 100
(iii) If percentage increase is x% then the new value

x
= 1 + 100 initial value
(iv) If x1, x2, x3, x4........are successive percentage of
change, then

Final value = [ (1 x1 %) (1 x2 %) (1 x3 %).....]

(initial vlaue)