List of top Questions asked in XAT

Answer questions on the basis of the following conversation between two friends, Paradox (P) and Herodox (H) 
P: The human body is but the tomb of the soul and the visible world of matter is appearance that must be overcome if we are to know reality. The former is an integral part of “being”, that which can neither come into existence nor cease to exist for it always is. Being is unmoved and undistributed. Motion and disturbance belong to the realm of “becoming”, the changing world of unreality rather than of “being” in which true reality resides. Further, motion & change by belonging to the realm of “becoming” by having no separate existence of their own are logically inconsistent with reality and hence, unworthy of serious study.
H: All things are in a state of perpetual ux. Permanence, and by extension, the concept of “being” is only an illusion. This change and continual transformation, through an often disorderly process of con ict and survival of the ttest, is the underlying principle at work in the universe. It is from this principle that all things come into existence, and forms the basis for the morals and governance patterns that attempt to preserve the social thread of societies. By extension, the study of human activity through the lens of an idealized state of “being” and as a basis for formulating moral codes of conduct is inappropriate at best.

Answer questions on the basis of the information below. 
Five reviews of the recently published novel, Caught in a Blizzard, are reproduced below. The reviews and the reviewers are identi ed as indicated by the numbers.
a: This novel can change your life - for the good, as it has changed mine. It has made me re ect critically about my life.
b: The novel has become a popular piece of literature, more among the youth than among the older population. 
c: The author uses the plot in her novel to present her philosophy about life in a positive light, rather than relying on the merits of the philosophy per se. 
d: The author is known to be a writer of great power. The intricate and captivating plots in her novels shows that she has a subtle and ingenious mind. 
e: People have been jolted out of their beliefs about love and other different aspects of life after reading this novel.

The CEO of ABC Telecom Ltd. (ABC) is in a quandary since he received the telephone call in the morning from his counterpart at LMN Telecom Ltd. (LMN). Both companies were engaged in a bitter experience a couple of years ago when they had attempted to merge with the intention of creating a behemoth telecom company, possibly the largest in the world. The merger had fallen through due to opportunistic behavior on the part of Mr. Das, then CEO of LMN. During the time the merger talks were taking place, Mr. Das had also approached a few other suitors for LMN in an attempt to force ABC to pay a higher price. Further, there were reports of attempts by management of LMN to scuttle the deal. Back then, ABC had also faced stiff opposition to the deal from one of its large shareholders.
Since then, a lot has changed for both companies. The bleak economic conditions due to recession had led to a drastic fall in the market value of both companies, with ABC comparatively losing much more in terms of market value. Raising money has become more di cult for both companies, especially for LMN. On the brighter side for ABC, the opposing shareholder had recently sold off his stake to another investor who earlier had supported the original merger deal with LMN a couple of years ago.

Chetan Textile Mills (CTM) has initiated various employee welfare schemes for its employees since the day the mill began its operations. Due to its various welfare initiatives and socially responsible business practices, the organisation has developed an impeccable reputation. Majority of the regular workers in Chetan Mills had membership of Chetan Mills Mazdoor Sangh (CMMS), a non political trade union. CMMS had the welfare of its member as its guiding principle. Both CTM and CMMS addressed various worker related issues on a proactive basis. As a result no industrial dispute had been reported from the organization in the recent past. 
These days majority of the employers deploy large number of contract labourers in their production processes. In an open economy survival of an organization depends on its competitiveness. In order to become competitive, an organization must be able to reduce cost and have exibility in employment of resources. Engaging workers through contractors (contract labourer) reduces the overall labour cost by almost 50%. Indian labour legislations make reduction of regular workers almost impossible, but organisations can overcome this limitation by employing contract labourers. Contract labourers neither get the same bene t as regular employees nor do they have any job security. According to various recent surveys, government owned public sector units and other departments are the biggest employers of contract labourers in the country. Contractors, as middle - men, often exploit the contract labourers, and these government organizations have failed to stop the exploitation.
Over time CTM started engaging a large number of contract labourers. At present, more than 35% of CM’s workers (total 5,000 in number) are contract labourers. CMMS leadership was wary about the slow erosion of its support base as regular workers slowly got replaced by contract workers and feared the day when regular workers would become a minority in the mill. So far, CMMS has refused to take contract labourers as members. Recently, based on rumours, CTM management started to investigate the alleged exploitation of contract labourers by certain contractors. Some contractors felt that such investigations may expose them and reduce their pro t margin. They instigated contract labourers to demand for better wages. Some of the contract labourers engaged in material handling and cleaning work started provoking CTM management by adopting violent tactics.
Today’s news - paper reports that police and CTM security guards red two or three rounds in air to quell the mob. The trouble started while a security guard allegedly slapped one of the contract labourers following a heated argument. Angry labourers set re to several vehicles parked inside the premises, and to the police jeeps.

Alex Company has its o ce at the third oor of a multi - storied building in Mumbai. There are 5 rooms to be allotted to 5 managers (designated M1 to M5), each of whom will occupy one room. Each room has its own advantages and disadvantages. Some have the sea view, while others are closer to either the lift or the dining room, while some are more spacious. Each of the ve managers was asked to rank the room preferences amongst the rooms 301, 302, 303, 304 and 305. Their preferences were recorded as follows: 
Table:

PreferenceM1M2M3M4M5
1st302302303302301
2nd303304301305302
3rd304305304304305
4th 301305303 
5th  302  

Every Saturday, the members of Raja Harish Chandra Club meet in the evening. All the member of the club are honest and never lie. Last Saturday, the following conversation was heard at one of the table with ve members sitting around it.
Satya Sadhan: In this club not all members are friends with each other. 
Satyabrata: None of the pair of friends in this club has any common friend.
Satyajit: Every pair of member who are not friends has exactly two common friends in this club.
Satya Pramod: There are fewer than 22 people in this club.

In the country of Gagan, air travellers can buy their tickets either directly from the airlines or from three websites that are licensed to offer ticketing services online. In Gagan, most of the commercial transactions are done electronically, and all citizens have an account with its national bank, CeeCee. As a result, the three websites have become popular, and each transaction through these websites carries a surcharge of Gs. 250 (Gs. refers to Guppes, the currency of Gagan). Given below are four post new - year (January 2, 2011, to February 28, 2011) offers from three competing websites: 
Cozy _ travel Offer: Make a con rmed booking for any service ( ight ticket, hotel or rail tickets) through Cozy_travel.com from December 5, 2010 to February 8, 2011 and become eligible for two free air tickets (offer is limited to the base fare). Free tickets have to be booked through online request from January 1, 2011 to February 28, 2011. The request for free tickets should be submitted at least twenty-one days in advance. Free tickets are non-amendable (except the passenger's name) and cannot be cancelled. Free ticket cannot be exchanged for cash or kind with anybody. Cozy_travel will try its best to secure the free ticket as per the request. However, ticket con rmation is subject to airline schedule and set availability in airlines selected and nalized by Cozy_travel from speci c available airlines.
Cool_yatra Offer: Book any air ticket of any airline on Cool_yatra.com on or after December 21, 2010 and get your next ticket free. Under this offer, only the base fare of the free ticket will be refunded by Cool_Yatra.com. The customer will have to bear the rest of the charges (other fees and surcharges). The value of the base fare will be refunded to the passenger on/after March 1 or fteen days after completion of travel on the free ticket (whichever is later). The free ticket can be booked only on Gaga Air ights. The free ticket must be booked within fteen days of booking the original ticket, and the travel date of the free ticket must be fteen days after the booking date of the free ticket. There must be a seven-day gap between the travel date of the main/original ticket and the free ticket. The travel date of the free ticket should be on or before February 28, 2011. The free ticket cannot be transferred. On cancellation of the original ticket(s), you no longer remain eligible for the free ticket(s).
Easy_travel Cash Back Offer: Easy travel offers 25% cash back on all air ticket bookings between December 5, 2010 and February 28, 2011 using CeeCee net banking service or its debit/credit card. The cashback amount will be credited back to the customer's account within twenty-one days of making the transaction. Maximum cashback during the period is Gs. 400 per person per ticket, and the total amount that can be claimed by the customer is Gs. 2,400.
Ek Ke Sath Ek Offer from Easy_travel: Book an AirSpice ticket with Easy_travel using any credit/debit card, and get another ticket absolutely free. The free tickets will be issued on AirSpice on its entire network. The offer is valid for sale from January 11, 2011 to January 31, 2011. The free ticket must be booked at least fteen days prior to the date of travel and needs to be completed within the offer period. The promotion code for the free ticket will get activated only seven days after booking the main ticket. Easy_travel will charge a handling fee of Gs. 1000/- per person for any amendments made on the main ticket. Cancellations of tickets purchased under this offer are not permitted. The free ticket obtained under this offer can not be exchanged for cash and cannot be re-routed

On a certain day six passengers from Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Hyderabad boarded the New Delhi bound Rajdhani Express from TataNagar. The following facts are known about these six passengers:
1.The persons from Kochi and Chennai are less than 36 years of age. Person Z, the youngest among all is a doctor.
2.The oldest person is from Kolkata and his/her profession is same as that of the person who got down at Mughal Sarai.
3.The person from Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai got down at four different stations. The eldest among these four got down at Koderma and the youngest at Kanpur. The person who got down at New Delhi is older than the person who got down at Mughal Sarai.
4. The engineer from Bangalore is older than the engineer from Chennai.
5. While arranging the teachers in increasing order of age it was observed that the middle person is as old as the engineer from Chennai.
6.Person Y who got down at Mughal Sarai is less than 34 year old.
7.The teacher from Kochi is four year older than the 31 year old doctor who is not from Mumbai.
8.In the past, three of the travellers have served in the Indian Army

Mrs. Sharma has a house which she wants to convert to a hostel and rent it out to students of a nearby women’s college. The house is a two story building and each door has eight rooms. When one looks from the outside, three rooms are found facing North, three found facing East, three found facing West and three found facing South. Expecting a certain number of students, Mrs. Sharma wanted to follow certain rules while giving the sixteen rooms on rent: 
All sixteen rooms must be occupied.
No room can be occupied by more than three students.
Six rooms facing north is called north wing. Similarly six rooms facing east, west and south are called as east wing, west wing and south wing. Each corner room would be in more than one wing. Each of the wings must have exactly 11 students. The rst oor must have twice as many students as the ground oor.
However Mrs. Sharma found that three fewer students have come to rent the rooms. Still. Mrs.Sharma could manage to allocate the rooms according to the rules

The following graphs give annual data of Assets, Sales (as percentage of Assets) and Spending on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) (as percentage of Sales), of a company for the period 2004 - 2009. 

Five years ago Maxam Glass Co. had estimated its staff requirements in the ve levels in their organization as: Level - 1: 55; Level - 2: 65; Level - 3: 225 ; Level - 4: 255 & Level - 5: 300. Over the years the company had recruited people based on ad-hoc requirements, in the process also selecting ex-defence service men and ex policemen. The following graph shows actual staff strength at various levels as on date. 

Based on the following information
Income - Tax Rates for Financial Year 2009 - 10
Individual & HUF below age of 65 yearsWomen below age of 65 yearsTax Rates 
Income up to Rs. 1,60,000/-Income up to Rs. 1,90,000/-Nil 
Rs. 1,60,001 to Rs. 3,00,000/-Rs. 1,90,001 to Rs. 3,00,000/-10% 
Rs. 3,00,001 to Rs. 5,00,000/-Rs. 3,00,001 to Rs. 5,00,000/-20% 
Above Rs. 5,00,001Above Rs. 5,00,00130% 

Total income tax payable is obtained by adding two additional surcharges on calculated income tax.
Education Cess : An additional surcharge called ‘Education Cess’ is levied at the rate of 2% on the amount of income tax.
Secondary and Higher Education Cess : An additional surcharge called ‘Secondary and Higher Education Cess` is levied at the rate of 1% on the amount of income tax.
A man standing on a boat south of a lighthouse observes his shadow to be 24 meters long, as measured at sea level. On sailing 300 meters eastwards, he finds his shadow as 30 meters long, measured in a similar manner. The height of the man is 6 meters above sea level. The height of the lighthouse above sea level is:

From a group of 545 contenders, a party has to select a leader. Even after holding a series of meetings, the politicians and the general body failed to reach a consensus. It was then proposed that all 545 contenders be given a number from 1 to 545. Then they will be asked to stand on a podium in a circular arrangement, and counting would start from the contender numbered 1. The counting would be done in a clockwise fashion. The rule is that every alternate contender would be asked to step down as the counting continued, with the circle getting smaller and smaller, till only one person remains standing. Therefore the rst person to be eliminated would be the contender numbered 2. 

What is the maximum possible value of \((21 \sin x + 72 \cos x)\)?
The domain of the function \( f(x) = \log_7(\log_3(\log_5(20x - x^2 - 91))) \) is:
If \(x = (9 + 4\sqrt{5})^{48} = [x] + f\), where \([x]\) is the integral part of \(x\) and \(f\) is a fraction, then \(x(1-f)\) equals:
Wind turbine maker Leone Energy posted a net loss of Rs. 250 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010 as against a net profit of Rs. 350 crore in the same quarter a year ago. In the financial year 2009–10, the company clocked a gross income of Rs. 6,517 crore, as against Rs. 9,778 crore in the previous year. Leone Energy clocked a loss of Rs. 1,100 crore in 2009–10, as against a net profit of Rs. 2,300 crore in 2008–09. The sales revenue stood at Rs. 22,400 crore for the year, approximately 21% less than Rs. 28,350 crore last year. For the financial year ending March 31, 2010, Leone Energy’s sales volume (in terms of capacity of projects executed) was 4,560 MW from 2,935 MW a year ago.
The CEO of Leone Energy in his message to shareholders suggested that the poor performance of the company was the result of adverse economic conditions during the year ended March 31, 2010. You are a shareholder owning 5% of the shares of Leone Energy, have seen the stock price decline by more than 50% during the year 2009–10, and are quite upset with the way the management has been handling the business. You have decided to confront the management at the next shareholders’ meeting and have chosen the following 5 points to argue against the CEO’s version of the story.
Select the most appropriate order of these 5 statements that you, as a disappointed shareholder, should adopt as a strong and robust preface in your case against the management in front of the management and other shareholders:
a. The management is not doing its best to maintain the profitability of the company.
b. The company has actually increased its sales volume during the year under consideration.
c. The adverse economic conditions have led to a worldwide increase in the adoption of alternative energy sources, reflecting in all-time highest profits for wind turbine makers in both developed and developing countries.
d. The management has been lax with its employees as the management enjoys a large set of benefits from the company that they would have to forgo if they became strict with employees.
e. The company is trying to increase sales by charging lower, unprofitable prices.
Determine the value(s) of “a” for which the point $(a, a^2)$ lies inside the triangle formed by the lines: $2x+3y=1$, $x+2y=3$ and $5x-6y=1$.
In a circular field, AOB and COD are two mutually perpendicular diameters having length of 4 meters. X is the mid-point of OA. Y is the point on the circumference such that $\angle YOD = 30^\circ$. Which of the following correctly gives the relation among the three alternate paths from X to Y?
If x and y are real numbers, then the minimum value of $x^2 + 4xy + 6y^2 - 4y + 4$ is
Let X be a four-digit positive integer such that the unit digit of X is prime and the product of all 4 digits of X is also prime. How many such integers are possible?
There are two types of employees in Sun Metals, general graduates and engineers. 40% of the employees in Sun Metals are general graduates, and 75% of the engineers earn more than Rs. 5 lakh/year. If 50% of the organisation’s employees earn more than Rs. 5 lakh/year, what proportion of the general graduates employed by the organisation earn Rs. 5 lakh or less?
In an equilateral triangle ABC, whose length of each side is 3 cm, D is the point on BC such that BD = (1/2) CD. What is the length of AD?
Two poles of height 2 meters and 3 meters are 5 meters apart. The height of the point of intersection of the lines joining the top of each pole to the foot of the opposite pole is: