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CSIR NET June 2025Part B

All 40 Part B questions we have transcribed from this paper, of the 118 on the site for this sitting — every option and the answer key, with the reasoning for each one.

Part B

One correct option. 3 marks, −0.75 for a wrong answer.

Q1Boundary and endpointElements of set theory: operations, De Morgan and difference

Let p, q be non-negative integers. Consider the following statements: (A) There is an integer k ≥ 1 such that p + k = q. (B) There is an integer k ≥ 1 such that q + k = p. Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.There exist non-negative integers p, q such that both (A) and (B) are true.
  2. B.Both (A) and (B) are false if and only if p = q.
  3. C.For all non-negative integers p and q, (A) or (B) is true.
  4. D.There exists p ≠ q such that both (A) and (B) are false.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q2Standard counterexampleElements of set theory: operations, De Morgan and difference

Let A = { for some {0}, gcd(p, q) = 1}, B = { for some {0}, gcd(p, q) = 1} and C = {p/q ∈ (0, 1) : p/q has terminating decimal expansion} be subsets of (0, 1). Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.A ⊊ C and B ⊊ C
  2. B.A ⊊ C ⊊ B
  3. C.A ⊊ B ⊊ C
  4. D.A ⊊ B = C

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q3Standard counterexampleElements of set theory: operations, De Morgan and difference

Let A, B be non-empty subsets of with cardinality |A| ≥ 2. Let {f : A → B | f is one-to-one} and {g : B → A | g is onto}. Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.If A ⊊ B and B is finite, then there is a one-to-one map from to .
  2. B.If , then there exists a one-to-one map from to B.
  3. C.If and A is finite, then there exists a one-to-one map from B to .
  4. D.If A is finite, then is finite for any B.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q4Execution slipSequences: convergence, monotone, Bolzano–Weierstrass, Cauchy

Let \ \ be the function defined as f(x) = (3x + 2)/(4x + 3). Let \ . For n ≥ 1, define . Suppose that the sequence converges to a real number . Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.If is positive, then .
  2. B.If is positive, then .
  3. C.If is negative, then .
  4. D.If is negative, then .

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q5Execution slipDifferentiability, mean value theorems, Taylor, L'Hôpital

Let for . Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.f is unbounded.
  2. B.f is increasing.
  3. C. f(x) = 2.
  4. D.f is decreasing.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q6Pointwise vs uniformPointwise vs uniform convergence, M-test, Dini

For each n ≥ 1, let be defined as nx if nx if x ∈ (1/n, 2/n), and if x ∈ [2/n, 1]. Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A. converges uniformly on [0, 1] to a continuous function f.
  2. B. converges pointwise on [0, 1] to a discontinuous function f.
  3. C. converges pointwise on [0, 1] to a continuous function f.
  4. D. does not converge pointwise on [0, 1].

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q7Execution slipEigenvalues, characteristic & minimal polynomials, Cayley–Hamilton

Which of the following polynomials is the characteristic polynomial of a real 2 × 2 matrix A such that trace(A) = 7 and trace?

  1. A.
  2. B.
  3. C.
  4. D.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q8Standard counterexampleEigenvalues, characteristic & minimal polynomials, Cayley–Hamilton

Consider the real matrix A whose rows are (29, 0, 55, 17), (1, 28, 46, 26), (17, 13, 33, 38) and (21, 67, 0, 13). What is the largest real eigenvalue of A?

  1. A.101
  2. B.67
  3. C.103
  4. D.113

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q9Boundary and endpointBases, dimension, rank–nullity

Let 𝔽 denote the field with 5 elements. How many 2 × 2 matrices with entries in 𝔽 have rank one?

  1. A.125
  2. B.144
  3. C.145
  4. D.480

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q10Finite-dimensional intuitionBases, dimension, rank–nullity

Let X be the vector space of all twice differentiable real valued functions on [0, 1]. Consider the linear map defined by . Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.The dimension of is 3.
  2. B. is finite dimensional.
  3. C.The dimension of is 1.
  4. D.X is finite dimensional.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q11Standard counterexampleGram–Schmidt, orthogonal/unitary/normal matrices, spectral theorem

Let be the real vector space of real-valued continuous functions on the closed interval . For positive integers n, define by nx)/sin x if , and . Let V be the real subspace of spanned by {}. Consider the inner product on V given by ⟨f, g⟩ dx. Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.
  2. B.{} is an orthonormal basis of V.
  3. C.The dimension of V is 2.
  4. D.{} is an orthogonal set but not orthonormal.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q12Standard counterexampleQuadratic forms, positive definiteness, Sylvester's law

Let V = {ax bx cx | }. For f ∈ V, define dt, where f′ denotes the derivative of f. Which of the following statements is FALSE?

  1. A.Q is a positive definite quadratic form on V.
  2. B.Q takes every positive real value.
  3. C.Q(x) = 2.
  4. D.For all f, g ∈ V, Q(f + g) = Q(f) + Q(g).

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q13Boundary and endpointLiouville, Morera, maximum modulus principle

Let be a polynomial map. For R > 0, let be the map t ↦ . Suppose that there exists such that |(f ∘ | dt → c as . Which of the following statements is FALSE?

  1. A.The function zf(1/z) → 0 as |z| .
  2. B.The function f is constant.
  3. C.c = 0.
  4. D.c > 0.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q14Boundary and endpointLiouville, Morera, maximum modulus principle

Let f be an entire function such that {x + iy | y = x + 1}. Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.|f(z)| as |z| .
  2. B.f(z)/z → 0 as |z| .
  3. C.zf(z) → 0 as |z| .
  4. D.f(z) → 0 as |z| .

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q15Invariants don't determineConformal maps, Möbius transformations, Schwarz lemma

Let X be the image of the interval [0, 1] under the Möbius transformation f(z) = (z − i)/(z + i). Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.X is the line segment joining −1 and −i.
  2. B.X = { | }.
  3. C.X is the line segment joining −1 to 1.
  4. D.X = { | }.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q16Execution slipPower series and analyticity

Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.There exists an entire function f such that f⁽ for all positive integers n.
  2. B.There exists an entire function f such that f⁽ for all positive integers n.
  3. C.There exists an entire function f such that f⁽⁾(0) = (n − 1)! for all positive integers n.
  4. D.There exists an entire function f such that f⁽⁾(0) = n!n for all positive integers n.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q17Hypothesis droppedSubgroups, cosets, Lagrange, cyclic groups

Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.p ∤ 1 + (p − 1)! for some odd prime p.
  2. B.p | − 1 for all primes p > 700.
  3. C.There exist and a prime p > 11 such that p ∤ aᵖ − a.
  4. D.p ∤ for some odd prime p.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q18Standard counterexampleIdeals, quotient rings, prime & maximal ideals, CRT

Let A be a subring of the field of rationals such that for any nonzero rational or 1/r ∈ A. Which of the following statements is FALSE?

  1. A.The set {a ∈ A : 1/a ∉ A} ∪ {0} is an additive subgroup of .
  2. B.A has at most one maximal ideal.
  3. C.If , then A has infinitely many prime ideals.
  4. D.For any nonzero a, b ∈ A, a divides b or b divides a in A.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q19Hypothesis droppedIdeals, quotient rings, prime & maximal ideals, CRT

Which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.The ideal is maximal in .
  2. B.The ideal is maximal in .
  3. C.The set of all polynomials in whose coefficients add up to 0 is a maximal ideal in .
  4. D.The ideal is maximal in .

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q20Hypothesis droppedContinuity, homeomorphism, separation axioms

Let S = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} be equipped with the topology {∅, {1}, S}. What is the number of homeomorphisms of S onto itself?

  1. A.25
  2. B.120
  3. C.24
  4. D.6

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q21Execution slipLinear ODE, Wronskian, variation of parameters, systems

If is a solution of the ordinary differential equation (ODEdx dy/dx , then the general solution of the ODE is given by

  1. A.(a + ,
  2. B.(a + ,
  3. C.ae^x + bx,
  4. D.(a + be

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q22Execution slipSturm–Liouville problems and Green's functions

Let be the sequence of eigenvalues of the Sturm-Liouville problem (d/dx)(x dy/dx , y(1) = 0, = 0. Then is equal to

  1. A.
  2. B.
  3. C.
  4. D.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q23Boundary and endpointFirst-order PDE: Lagrange, Charpit, characteristics

Let u = u(x, y) be the solution to the Cauchy problem . Then which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.u(1, 1) = 2
  2. B.u(2, 2) = 4
  3. C.u(3, 3) = 3/2
  4. D.u(4, 4) = 2/3

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q24Execution slipLaplace, heat and wave equations: separation of variables

Let u = u(x, t) be the solution of . Then the value of u(1, 1) is

  1. A.2
  2. B.3
  3. C.4
  4. D.5

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q25Execution slipInterpolation and numerical integration with error terms

If the function defined by for for 1 < x ≤ 3, and for 3 < x ≤ 4, is a cubic spline, then the value of 2a + b + 2c is

  1. A.2
  2. B.3
  3. C.4
  4. D.5

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q26Execution slipEuler–Lagrange equation and standard functionals

Let y(x) be the extremal of the functional xy) dx subject to . Then y(x) is equal to

  1. A.
  2. B.
  3. C.
  4. D.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q27Standard counterexampleSeparable kernels and resolvent kernels

If y(x) is the solution of the integral equation xt y(t) dt, then which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.y(0) + y(1) = 1/2
  2. B.y(−1) + y(1) = 1
  3. C.y′(0) + y′(1) = 3/2
  4. D.y′(−1) + y′(1) = 3

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q28Execution slipLagrangian formalism and generalised coordinates

Suppose a dynamical system has the Lagrangian L = (q̇̇̇̇. If and are momenta conjugate to and respectively, then which of the following statements is true?

  1. A., ṗ
  2. B., ṗ
  3. C.
  4. D.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q29Boundary and endpointRandom variables, distributions, moments, MGF

Suppose that we have a data set consisting of 2n + 1 observations for some . Value of each observation is either x or x + r, where . Then, which of the following statements is always true?

  1. A.The mean and median of the data will be different if and only if r > 0
  2. B.Variance of the data is positive if and only if r > 0
  3. C.Mean and mode of the data will be same if and only if r = 0
  4. D.Median and mode of the data will be same for all values of r ≥ 0

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q30Boundary and endpointAxioms, conditional probability, independence, Bayes

A biased six-faced die is tossed once. Suppose that the probability of any prime number showing up is twice that of any non-prime number showing up. Then, the probability that an odd number will show up is

  1. A.1/3
  2. B.2/3
  3. C.4/9
  4. D.5/9

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q31Hypothesis droppedAxioms, conditional probability, independence, Bayes

Suppose the distribution of X given is normal with mean and variance 15. Further, let the prior (improper) distribution of be proportional to . If the observed value of X is 13, then which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.Posterior mean = Maximum likelihood estimate of , Posterior variance = Var(X|
  2. B.Posterior mean = Maximum likelihood estimate of , Posterior variance < Var(X|
  3. C.Posterior mean > Maximum likelihood estimate of , Posterior variance = Var(X|
  4. D.Posterior mean > Maximum likelihood estimate of , Posterior variance < Var(X|

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q32Standard counterexampleMarkov chains: classification of states, stationary distributions

Let be a sequence of independent and identically distributed random variables having discrete uniform distribution over {1, 2, …, 2024}. Let . Further, let be the remainder when is divided by 2025. Then, which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.
  2. B.
  3. C.
  4. D.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q33Moments and tailsStandard discrete and continuous distributions

A mobile manufacturing company uses two brands of batteries for its mobiles. The life (in years) of batteries of Brand I follows an exponential distribution with the probability density function f(x) = if x > 0 and 0 otherwise, and that of Brand II follows a gamma distribution with the probability density function g(x) = if x > 0 and 0 otherwise. The company uses the batteries of Brands I and II in proportion of 20% and 80% respectively, in its mobiles. The probability that a randomly selected mobile has the battery life more that 2 years is

  1. A.
  2. B. +
  3. C. +
  4. D. +

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q34Execution slipMLE and method of moments

Consider a discrete random variable X with the probability mass function , where is an unknown parameter. In a random sample of size 90 from this distribution, the observed counts for X = 0, 1 and 2 are 20, 60 and 10, respectively. Then, the maximum likelihood estimate of is

  1. A.1/3
  2. B.1/2
  3. C.2/3
  4. D.3/4

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q35Execution slipJoint distributions, transformations, order statistics

Let X be a random sample of size 1 from the probability density function f(x| if , and 0 otherwise. If is a confidence interval for with confidence coefficient , where , and , then which of the following statements is true?

  1. A.
  2. B.
  3. C.
  4. D.

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q36What the inference meansNeyman–Pearson lemma and UMP tests

Let be a random sample from a continuous distribution with the common probability density function f(x| if x > 2, and 0 otherwise, where is an unknown parameter. Suppose , where Y ~ . For testing against uniformly most powerful test of size , will reject if

  1. A. + n ln 2
  2. B. + n ln 2
  3. C. + n ln 2
  4. D. + n ln 2

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q37Execution slipGauss–Markov, regression, ANOVA basics

Consider the multiple linear regression model , where are independent and identically normal distributed with mean 0 and variance . Suppose the model is fitted using the method of least squares. If the calculated value of the F-statistic for testing the significance of regression is 2.50, then the possible values of and Adjusted are respectively

  1. A.0.30 and 0.10
  2. B.0.50 and 0.30
  3. C.0.50 and 0.16
  4. D.0.30 and −0.10

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q38Dependence misreadMultivariate normal distribution

Suppose ~ , where 0 is the zero mean vector and is the 3 × 3 identity matrix, and where A has rows (3, 0, 0), (2, 2, 0) and (4, 0, 4). Then the partial correlation coefficient is

  1. A.1/2
  2. B.2/3
  3. C.3/4
  4. D.0

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Q39Hypothesis droppedSRS, stratified and systematic sampling

Suppose we want to estimate the population mean Ȳ of a variable for a finite population of size 85, with 34 Statisticians and 51 Biologists. We consider the following sampling scheme: a stratified random sample with 2 strata of Statisticians (Stratum-1) and Biologists (Stratum-2), where 12 Statisticians and 15 Biologists are drawn from Stratum-1 and Stratum-2, respectively, using SRSWOR scheme. Denote ȳ_S, ȳ_B, and ȳ as the mean of the variable among the Statistician sample, Biologist sample, and the combined sample, respectively. Which of the following is an unbiased estimator of Ȳ?

  1. A.ȳ
  2. B.(2ȳ_S + 3ȳ_B)/5
  3. C.(4ȳ_S + 5ȳ_B)/9
  4. D.(ȳ_S/12 + ȳ_B/15)/(1/12 + 1/15)

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.

Q40Execution slipLinear programming, simplex and duality

Solve the following linear programming problem: maximize z = x + y subject to 5x + 3y ≤ 30, 2x + 6y ≤ 25, 2x − y ≤ 8, x ≥ 0, y ≥ 0. Then the optimal value of the objective function is

  1. A.45/11
  2. B.74/11
  3. C.85/12
  4. D.25/6

Trap Analysis has the working, and why each of the other options was written to tempt you.