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CAT 2023 Slot 1 Solved Paper

Instructions [30 - 34 ]

The schematic diagram below shows 12 rectangular houses in a housing complex. House numbers are mentioned in the rectangles representing the houses. The houses are located in six columns - Column-A through Column-F, and two rows - Row-1 and Row-2. The houses are divided into two blocks - Block XX and Block YY. The diagram also shows two roads, one passing in front of the houses in Row-2 and another between the two blocks

Some of the houses are occupied. The remaining ones are vacant and are the only ones available for sale
The road adjacency value of a house is the number of its sides adjacent to a road. For example, the road adjacency values of C2, F2, and B1 are 2, 1, and 0, respectively. The neighbour count of a house is the number of sides of that house adjacent to occupied houses in the same block. For example, E1 and C1 can have the maximum possible neighbour counts of 3 and 2, respectively.
The base price of a vacant house is Rs. 10 lakhs if the house does not have a parking space, and Rs. 12 lakhs if it does. The quoted price (in lakhs of Rs.) of a vacant house is calculated as (base price) + 5 × (road adjacency value) + 3 × (neighbour count). The following information is also known.
1. The maximum quoted price of a house in Block XX is Rs. 24 lakhs. The minimum quoted price of a house in block YY is Rs. 15 lakhs, and one such house is in Column-E.
2. Row-1 has two occupied houses, one in each block.
3. Both houses in Column-E are vacant. Each of Column-D and Column-F has at least one occupied house.
4. There is only one house with parking space in Block YY.

Question : 30

Total: 66

How many houses are vacant in Block XX?

The maximum quoted price of a house in Block XX is Rs. 24 lakhs. The minimum quoted price of a house in block YY is Rs. 15 lakhs, and one such house is in Column-E.
Row-1 has two occupied houses, one in each block.
Both houses in Column-E are vacant. Each of Column-D and Column-F has at least one occupied house.
There is only one house with parking space in Block YY.

Validate

Solution:

It is given that some of the houses are occupied. The remaining ones are vacant and are the only ones available for sale.
The base price of a vacant house is Rs. 10 lakhs if the house does not have a parking space, and Rs. 12 lakhs if it does. The quoted price (in lakhs of Rs.) of a vacant house is calculated as (base price) +5× (road adjacency value) +3× (neighbor count).
It is also known that the maximum quoted price of a house in Block XX is Rs. 24 lakhs
Hence, there can be two cases for the maximum quoted price of a house in block XX.
Case 1: House with parking space:
⇒12+5a+3b=24⇒5a+3b=12 ( a= road adjacency value, b= neighbor count)
The only value for which the equation satisfies is (a=0, and b=4 ). But the value of b can't be 4 because the maximum neighbor count can be at most 3 .
Hence, case 1 is invalid.
Case 2: House without parking space:
‌⇒10+5a+3b=24⇒5a+3b=14
‌⇒(a,b)=(1,3)
Hence, the house must have 3 neighbors and 1 road connected to it. Hence, the only possible case is B2. Therefore, the neighbor houses of B2, which are (B1, A2, and C2 ) are also occupied.
It is known that Row 1 has two occupied houses, one in each block. Since B1 is already occupied, it implies A1, and C1 are vacant.
Hence, the configuration of block XX is given below: (Where U= Unoccupied/ Vacant, and U= Occupied)

Now for block YY, we know that both houses in Column E are vacant. Each of Column-D and Column-F has atleast one occupied house. There is only one house with parking space in Block YY.
It is also known that the minimum quoted price of a house in block YY is Rs. 15 lakhs, and one such house is inColumn E.
Case 1: The minimum quoted house is E2:
We know that the road adjacency of E2 is 1, hence we can calculate whether the house has parking space or not, and the neighbor count (b)
If the house has parking space, then: 12+5⋆1+3*b=15⇒3b=−2 (which is not possible)
Hence, the house has no parking space ⇒10+5⋆1+3b=15⇒b=0
b=0 implies all the neighbor house of E2 is vacant, which are (E1, D2, and F2).
It is known that each of Column-D and Column-F has at least one occupied house, which implies D1, and F1 must be occupied.
But D1 and F1 can't be occupied together since the total number of occupied houses in Row 1 is 2 (one in each block).
Hence, This case is invalid.
Case 2: The minimum quoted house is E :
We know that the road adjacency of E1 is 0 , hence we can calculate whether the house has parking space or not, and the neighbor count (b).
i) If the house has no working space, then: 10+5⋆0+3b=15⇒b=5∕3 (this is not possible since b has to be an integer value)
Hence, the house has parking space ⇒12+5*0+3b=15⇒b=1⇒ One neighbor house is occupied among D1 and F1.
We already know that E2 is vacant. Among the houses D2, and F2, at least one must be occupied since each of Column-D and Column-F has at least one occupied house.
Therefore, the final diagram is given below:

From the diagram, we can see that 3 houses are vacant in block XX.

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