Paper Theme

HAUTS SQUAD
General Instructions:
This question paper consists of 6 sections with 19 questions (as this is the
19th edition of Technothlon).
The marking scheme is given below, one of the unique schemes you might
ever experience.
There is one section (Section 5) where you have to select the marking
scheme according to your choice in the first question (Q.0) of the section.
Failing to opt for the marking scheme of your choice will result in selecting
the marking scheme in the first option by default.
No ambiguity related to the marking scheme will be entertained later.
If any discrepancy in the paper is found, the final decision regarding the
same will be taken by Team Technothlon.
Integer type answers can have any integer value (NOT restricted to 0 to

Selection Criterion and Result:

The ranking will be based on the total marks obtained in all the sections.
The result will be declared on or before August 8th, 2022 on our website
technothlon.techniche.org.in.
To check your result, log in with the Roll number and password provided in
your admit card.
The top 50 teams will be invited to IIT Guwahati for the Mains and will be
awarded Gold certificates.
The next 200 will be awarded Silver certificates.
The city toppers will be awarded with medals
Marking Scheme:
Choose your ally
The most interesting marking scheme you might have seen. Out of the given
two options; choose the marking scheme that you think is best for you. (You
can check the questions before marking your choice)
Power sequence:
Power Scheme: With negative marking

For consecutive correct questions, you will be awarded 21, 22, 23 and so on.

However, if you leave a question or answer it incorrectly, the sequence is

broken, and you will start

again from 2.

If you answer the question incorrectly your marks will be deducted in the
same pattern but different sequence

E.g. Solving 3 questions,

For all correct you get 2+4+8 = 14

For all incorrect you get -1-2-4 = -7

For RRW you get 2+4-1= 5

For RWR you get 2-1+2 = 3

For WRW you get -1+2-1 = 0

For RRU you get 2+4+0=6

And so on.

(R -> right answer, W-> wrong answer, U-> Unattempted)

Affinity in a row
Q1, Q2, and Q3 have marks 2, 4, and 6, respectively BUT

There are two conditions:

There would be no reduction in the marks of this section if you solve 2

consecutive questions correctly, also

If the above criteria are not met alongside you solving a question incorrectly,
the total marks you have scored in this section are halved.

For example :

For a 3 question section-

If you solve Q2 and Q3 correctly but Q1 incorrectly or leave it unattempted

then you will get 0 + 4 + 6 = 10 marks.

If you solve Q1 and Q3 correctly but Q2 incorrectly or you have not attempted
it, then you will get (2 + 0 + 6)/2 = 4 marks.

Similar rules are applied for a section containing 4 questions with the last
question having 8 marks.

Middle Benefits
The typical marking of the section will be +3 +2 +3 for the consecutive
questions in the section. If you attempt the middle question correctly, then you
will have some benefit and marks of the other 2 will increase as +5 +2 +5. The
negative marks will be -1 in each case.
Shield me
You get 5 marks for answering correctly and 4 marks are deducted for
answering incorrectly, but if you have solved the previous question correctly,
then there is no negative marking for the current question.

For example:

If Your sequence is RWRW, then your score is 5+0+5+0 = 10

But if your sequence is RWWR, then your score would be 5+0-4+ 5 = 6

And if your sequence is RWUW, then your score is 5+0+0-4 = 1

Where (R -> right answer, W-> wrong answer, U-> Unattempted)

Arithmetic game
You will be awarded 2,4,6,8 for consecutive correct answers and a negative of
-1,-2,-3,-4 for incorrect so

For example:

If Your sequence is RRRW, then your score is 2+4+6-4 = 8

But if your sequence is RWRR, then your score would be 2-2+6+8 = 14

And if your sequence is WRUR, then your score is -1+4+0+8 = 11

Where (R -> right answer, W-> wrong answer, U-> Unattempted)

SECTION - 1

Marking Scheme: Shield me

me
Maximum Marks: 20

Minimum Marks: -16

It was the year 1720. The seas of the Caribbean were witnessing the Golden
Age of Piracy. The British Royal Navy often planned attempts to get hold of the
pirates but their efforts mostly ended in vain. In one such attempt, the navy
breaks into a drastic fight with a pirate gang. They succeed in destroying their
ship, but accidentally, they find a small kid floating with a log and struggling
for his life. When rescued and taken into the ship, they find the boy to be
unconscious. Governor Weatherby Swann orders her little daughter, Elizabeth
Swann, to take full charge of the boy and look after him until he recovers.

Little Elizabeth stays with the boy; he introduces himself as William Turner and
they both become good friends. But no one knew that Will(William Turner) is
the son of a highly reputed pirate, ‘Bootstrap’ Bill Turner, who has gone
underwater to serve the sea goddess. Bill, before leaving, has bestowed an
Aztec gold coin, the last gold coin, to his son as a locket. But little did Will know
about the importance of the coin, and gave it to Elizabeth as a token of
gratitude.

Aztec Coins(32 gold and 32 silver coins) were the treasured prizes of the sea
gods, safely guarded on a mysterious island - Isla De Muerta, and one who
disturbs them or steals them, is immediately cursed and they start becoming
less human and more senseless every day. Without knowing the forestry, a
scandalous pirate, Hector Barbossa, steals all the coins and other wealth from
the island and trades them all over the world. Later, he and his crew realize
they were cursed and start collecting the Aztec coins to restore them on the
Aztec board.

Many years pass by. Elizabeth and Will become the thickest friends and
develop a special interest in each other. Barbossa and his crew sail over all
the seas in pursuit of the coins and successfully reclaims 63 coins and are in
search of the last coin, which Elizabeth possesses. Meanwhile, the British navy
proclaimed a promising province in Port Royal, the harbour town of the
Caribbean land, by continuously hunting pirates

James Norrington is an officer of the British Royal Navy, who became a

threat to piracy in the eastern caribbean; he is obsessed with chasing and
capturing Pirates, thus making Port Royal a civilized British settlement. Over
the years, he got promoted from lieutenant of HMS Dauntless to the
captain of HMS Interceptor.

One day, Norrington’s spies give him the information that a Pirate gang
has recently come to Port Royal for a one-day halt and are planning to
start their journey back the other day. Norrington makes up his mind that
he would catch the pirates and execute them openly so that no other
pirate would ever dare to enter Port Royal.

Norrington wants to know all the various routes by which he can reach the
pirates. His choice of roads is shown by the lines on the simplified map
below; but to efficiently use his batallion, he decides to use only those
routes where every section of road takes him nearer to the pirates’ hideout.
How many different routes would he choose to reach his destination?

Home Pirates

Hideout

A. Less than 250

B. Greater than and equal to 250 but less than 275
C. Greater than and equal to 275 but less than 300
D. Greater than and equal to 300
2. Norrington went to the pirates' hideout and caught all of them, and
imprisoned them. Seeing the immediate and effective actions of
Norrington, Governor Weatherby Swann promotes him from Captain to
'Commodore' of the fleet. Norrington beams with pride, and he presumes it
is the right time to impress Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Swann. So, he
personally orders 250 perfume bottles from Spain to gift her. All of them
were specially manufactured and numbered with serial numbers 1 to 250.
But, he was told that one of them is overdosed and anyone who uses it
dies within 20 hours. So, Norrington has to find out that one bottle and
remove it from the stack of bottles he brought. Since he was planning to
execute the pirate gang he caught, he thought he could use the perfume
on them to find the over-dosed one. But as he has announced the public
execution of the pirates the next day, he only has 24 hours to do the
testing. Assume that the time taken by him to test a bottle on a pirate and
the amount of perfume he uses on each pirate is negligible. On how many
minimum no. of pirates should he test the bottles?

A. Less than 250

B. Greater than and equal to 250 but less than 275
C. Greater than and equal to 275 but less than 300
D. Greater than and equal to 300

3. While the imprisoned pirates were tested for the overdosed perfume, one
of them escaped and goes to meet Jack Sparrow. Known for his wit and
negotiation, Captain Jack Sparrow prefers to escape dangerous situations,
and fighting only when necessary. The day of execution has arrived and
Jack Sparrow accompanies the escaped pirate back to Port Royal. The
pirate tells Jack Sparrow that he had overheard a soldier saying that the
execution is planned to be done at one of the corner of a building, whose
location is unknown. The only useful information they have is that there are
792 different routes to reach the location from the entry point. The onus is
now on Jack Sparrow to find the place of execution and rescue the pirates.
What could be the possible location of the place of execution of the pirates
on a coordinate system given below?
4. That night, answering the medallion's mysterious call, the Black Pearl, one
of the most feared pirate ships of them all, captained by the notorious
Hector Barbossa invades Port Royal looking for the medallion. The crew
starts destroying everything in their way and soon reach the palace.
Fearing they might harm Elizabeth, the governor orders Elizabeth to hide in
the secret chamber of the palace.

The chamber consists of a 5m*5m square room enclosing a 1m*1m square

cell, with water in between as shown. Elizabeth then hides inside the cell.
Eight pirates, seemingly invincible, make their way inside the palace and
eventually to the secret chamber. To enclose the princess from all
directions they decide to make 8 different paths to the central square
using wooden logs each of 1m length, in a way that divides the water in
between into 8 equal parts. While dividing, they need to ensure that the
route they make from the palace outside should have direct contact to the
chamber. What is the least number of wooden logs they require to
accomplish this?

A. 18
B. 20
C. 22
D. More than 22
1m

Wooden Planks
 SECTION - 2
Marking Scheme: Power Sequence

Sequence
Maximum Marks: 14

Minimum Marks: -7

Barbossa’s crew make it inside the chamber and forcefully take Elizabeth to
their captain, waiting for her in the Black Pearl. They set off their sail, even
before the British Navy could reach them. Elizabeth’s father, Governor
Weatherby Swann, and Commodore Norrington give out a call to all the spies
and officers to discuss ways to track down the Pearl and save Elizabeth.
Everybody knows Jack Sparrow is the only one who can take them to the Black
Pearl, but none dares to mention his name before Norrington. Will Turner, who
too was in the meeting, argues that they don't have enough time to "discuss"
things and suggests that they should immediately take Jack’s help, and get
into action.

5. When Commodore Norrington refuses to take immediate action, Will

realizes that his only hope to save Elizabeth is persuading Jack, by himself,
to help him track down the Black Pearl. So, Will sneaks into the gallows(jail)
that Jack is kept in, he then proceeds to persuade Jack to help him rescue
Elizabeth in exchange for freeing him from jail. Jack initially rejects his offer
but soon agrees after learning Will's last name is Turner.

Will notices that Jack's cell is locked with a special lock having 2 separate
keyholes. Jack “explains him that, one needs to put 2 keys in the keyholes
and turn them at the same time, in order to open the lock of his cell. Will
smacks the guard outside and grabs a bunch of 8 identical keys out of
which 4 of them fit the lock and the other 4 don’t. Will then rushes to Jack's
cell and tries unlocking the door using 2 keys at a time with different
combinations. What is the least number of attempts in which Will can open
the cell?

A. 7
B. 28
C. 70
D. 6
6. Will manages to open the cell and both Jack and Will flee to the harbour.
Jack then uses his wits and devises an ingenious plan to steal HMS
Interceptor, the fastest ship in the Caribbean as hailed by the British Royal
Navy. But, as we know, a pirate can never set to sail without his crew. So,
after commandeering the Interceptor, Jack and Will drift towards the
Island of Tortuga to recruit a crew.

In Tortuga, Jack meets his old friend and trusted ally, Joshamee Gibbs, a
former boatswain in the Royal Navy. Jack says to Gibbs that he wants to
take revenge on Barbossa and reclaim the Black Pearl. He asks Gibbs to
arrange for a crew to set off his intrepid expedition. Gibbs responds back
saying Jack is out of his mind and adds that it is impossible to defeat
Barbossa and his crew of cursed men. but Jack slyly responds that Will is
actually son of Bootstrap Bill Turner. Will secretly hears their conversation
and grows skeptical that Jack is using him for some personal goal. Once
that information is passed Gibbs gets pumped up and agrees on the
mission and further goes on to recruit a crew.

Gibbs takes Jack and Will to a colony with 36 houses in the form of a grid.
Gibbs further tells that every house has a person who might be useful in
their quest, and tells he would bring them all to Jack. Jack advises him to
move in an 'L shape', like a knight(horse) in chess, to make this tedious task
more fun, Gibbs agrees. Gibbs can choose to start from any house in the
grid and he can’t go to any house which is locked. What would be the
minimum number of moves he would need to cover all the houses?

Valid knight

moves
7. The next morning the crew is ready and everyone boards the ship with
Jack at the helm. They set sail for Isla de Muerta, a mysterious island Jack
knows the pirates will go to in order to break the curse. Will, who's growing
increasingly distrustful of Jack, confronts him about his plans and goes on
to argue about who needs to be at the helm.

Slowly the tension between the two increases and Gibbs suggests they
should settle the dispute by playing a free shooting game. The game is
simple: they take turns shooting, and the first one to make a perfect shot
wins. Jack makes a shot with a probability of 0.4 while Will makes his shots
with a probability of 0.6 . To compensate for the skill difference, Gibbs
suggests Jack gets to shoot first. Is this a fair game?

A. 7
B. 28
C. 70
D. 6

SECTION - 3
Marking Scheme: Affinity in a row

row
Maximum Marks: 18

Minimum Marks: 0

8. Meanwhile Jack's steering the Interceptor super fast and they close in Isla
de Muerta in no time. Now with only 3 other islands separating them and
Isla de Muerta, Jack plans on choosing the optimal path for the last part of
their journey. Considering the Interceptor, the islands A B C and Isla de
Muerta to all be in a straight line and the map/routes to travel between the
islands as shown in the figure, How many different ways are there of
traveling from the ship to their destination, if they never travel more than
once along any section of line during any journey?

9. Jack figures out the shortest way to Isla De Muerta, and sets off his journey,
while Commodore Norrigton follows him along with his fleet. As they came
closer to the island, Norrington couldn’t resist his urge to arrest all the
pirates as he planned; So, he immediately sent his soldiers to arrest Jack
and all his crew. Will opposes him that he can’t imprison those who helped
him but Norrington doesn’t listen to him. After sometime, when everyone
disperses, Will secretly goes to the ship’s basement to release Jack and his
crew from the prison. There was a dial pattern outside the prison, which
should be solved to unlock the door. The figure is shown below.

1 2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

13 14 15

Will is supposed to slide them about until they shall form a perfect magic
square in which the four columns, four rows, and two diagonals all add up
to 30. What is the value of the fewest possible moves in which he can open
the prison door and free the crew?

10. Soon, they reach the shore of their destined island. Jack orders the crew to
stay back in the ship and try to steal Black Pearl, while he’ll go to the island
along with Will. He also asks his crew to "stick to the code" if he doesn’t
come back, which essentially means that the crew should not wait for him,
if he’s left back, and go on with their sail without him. The crew asks Jack to
elect a captain for them, before leaving for the island, in case the worst
happens.

Now, Jack is left with the tough task of choosing someone as the next
captain of the pearl. He takes fifty red stones and fifty green stones(all of
identical size and weight) and mix them well together. Then, he distributed
them at random between two identical sealed boxes. A candidate is
blindfolded and then is let to open any one of the two boxes and pick out
one ball. If the stone is green, he would be the next captain; if the stone is
red, they loose their chance. A fair 50/50 chance.

When Jack asked, only Gibbs and Anamaria came forward to test their
luck in becoming a captain. However Jack deeply wanted Gibbs to be the
next captain; so, he distributes the 100 stones in a certain way between the
two boxes, such that Gibbs has the most possible odds to become the
captain. How does Jack distribute the balls in each case and what are the
chances of him succeeding in his endeavor?

11. Some of Barbossa’s crew are busy fighting the soldiers of the British Royal
in the HMS Dauntless, captioned by Commodore Norrington, while a few of
the crew are in the Pearl guarding it. Meanwhile, Jacks crew decide to slip
into the Black pearl and take over the ship, with Gibbs and Cotton leading
them. After sneaking into the pearl, they take their positions on a special
floor of the Pearl, which looks like a 8*8 grid, as shown in the image below

P
C

The ten crew members of Jack (say Crew1), apart from Gibbs and cotton
(denoted by A) are denoted in white checkers while Barbossa’s crew(say
crew2), apart from Pintel and Ragetti (denoted by B) are in Black X.

Crew 1 decides to silently go towards the opposite corner, where Crew 2

were resting. Any member of Crew 1 may jump over any other member to
the next square beyond, if vacant, either horizontally or vertically, but not
diagonally, and there are no captures and no simple moves-only leaps.

No one dies in this mutiny, but if any member of crew1 makes it to the
square of crew 2, it means that the member of crew 2 is badly hurt and he
cant fight back. But it is mandatory that AA should take down BB.

If you place these, say, on AA, in the end, they must be found in the
corresponding positions BB. Where will you place them?

 SECTION - 4
Marking Scheme: Arithmetic Game

Maximum Marks: 20

Minimum Marks: -10

12. While the crew of both the pirate parties, and the Royal navy keep on
fighting and destructing eachother, Barbossa, accompanied by his
monkey Jack, takes Elizabeth to the cave of Isla de Muerta. He is supposed
to place the Aztec Gold coin that Elizabeth possessed on the Aztec board,
and shed a drop of her blood on it, for the curse to be lifted off. But when
Barbossa asks Elizabeth to give the coin, she said she left it on the ship but
wouldn’t tell where. Though Barbossa tries in many ways to persuade
Elizabeth, she doesn’t give up the location of the coin.

Barbossa cleverly devises a plan to deceive her. He asks her to play a

game with him and to give the location of the coin, if she defeats him.
Elizabeth thinks for a while and agrees. Barbossa proceeds to tell the
instructions of the game - Nineteen pebbles are arranged in a circle (as
shown in the figure below). Players take turns to remove either a single
pebble or two touching pebbles from the circle - the winner is the player
who takes the last pebble. In order to win the game and deceive Elizabeth,
which player should Barbossa choose to be?

13.
Barbossa wins the game as expected, and leaves Elizabeth with no choice
14. but to reveal the location of the coin. But Elizabeth strongly believed that

Will surely comes to rescue her. So, she cleverly thinks of a time-buying

idea. When asked about where she left it, she tells that she doesn't

remember exactly but gives him 2 possible spots for the coin, one in the

East wing and the other in the left wing. Barbossa then orders his monkey,

Jack, to first go to the East wing of the Black Pearl and bring the coin that

Elizabeth has left.

Jack is trained to follow the instructions if they are given only in a specific

format. The set of instructions is given below.

Move ahead : It commands Jack to move one block ahead. It moves forward in the
direction to which it points. If there is no path ahead, it stays the same way. It cannot go
outside the path.

Turn right : It commands Jack to turn right side without moving

Turn left : It commands Jack to turn left without moving

If path then: ‘if path then’ instruction , runs the instructions given inside it, only if

the condition given to it is satisfied, otherwise, it is ignored. You can keep any number and
type of instructions inside it.

If-else : ‘If-else’ instruction, runs the instructions inside of it only if the condition given to it is
satisfied and runs the code given to ‘else’ if the condition given to it is not satisfied. You
can keep any number and type of instructions inside it.

Repeat: Used to repeat a set of instructions inside it until the destination is reached. You
can keep any number and type of instructions inside it.

There can only be 3 types of conditions you can give to ‘if path then’ and ‘if-else’ :

If path ahead

If path to the right

If path to the left

[Be careful that he should not try to step out of the path at any point.]

Note that initially, Jack is facing to the East and suppose the route from the island to the
east wing of the black pearl is as illustrated in the image below. Find the minimum
number of instructions Barbossa needs to provide Jack, so that he can complete the task
in the shortest amount of time.

Jack couldn’t find the coin in the East wing, so he returns to the cave

empty-handed. So, Barbossa asks Jack to go to the West wing and check

for the coin. Considering all the instructions to be same as the above

question,

Find the minimum number of instructions Barbossa needs to provide Jack,

so that he can complete the task.

15. Jack, the monkey, brings the coin this time. But this time Jack sparrow, Will
ans some of Barbosa’s saw the monkey take the coin; so they follow it into
the cave to find a tied up Elizabeth and Barbossa. Will rushes towards
Elizabeth while Barbossa immediately tries to strike Jack as soon as he
sees him, being afraid that Jack might stop him from breaking the curse.
Jack, while fighting with Barbossa, cleverly steals the coin from Barbossa’s
coat. He secretly slides the gold coin to Will, who rushes to a corner of the
cave where he finds the Aztec coins arranged in a pattern. In order to
break the curse, one has to place all the gold and silver aztec coins in an
alternate fashion and then divide them into four equal parts such that in
every part, the number of coins of one kind(gold/silver) should be greater
than twice the number of coins of the other kind(gold/silver). He needs to
make sure that while diving the board into 4 equal parts, he only has to cut
it through the edges of squares, and not from between them.

Will, struggles for a bit, but keeping in mind that that Jack trusted him and
is in need of his help, somehow, figures out the exact way to cut and divide
the Aztec board.

Find out the difference between the number of gold and silver coins in
each part, and give your answer as it’s square/factorial

For example, if in a part, the difference is n, then give the answer as n^2 or
n!
 SECTION - 5
Marking Scheme: Middle Benefits

Maximum Marks: 12

Minimum Marks: -3

16. As soon as Will arranges the coins and divides the Aztec board

While coming out of the cave, some of Barbossa’s crew saw a pile of
diamonds lying on the floor, near the cave gate. They couldn’t help
themselves from taking them. Each of them grabs as many as they can
and go back to the ship. They had been living together through thick and
thin since many decades; so they decide to share all the diamonds equally
among themselves. One of them comes up with a plan.

They were nine members, and they all sit in a straight line in the
descending order of the number of diamonds they had. Let their names be
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, K (for the question’s sake); which means A has the
highest number of diamonds while K has the least number. First A gave
each of the others as much diamonds as he (the receiver) already had;
then B did the same; then C; and so on till the last person, K, giving each of
the other eight persons the number of diamonds they currently held. At
last, as they all wanted, all nine of them had equal number of diamonds
with them.

Now, considering the strategy given here, find the smallest possible value
of total number of diamonds they all have stolen from the cave.

A B C

D E F

G H I
17. Jack finds a horse at a distance; he rushes towards it, mounts on it and
whips it’s back to start. The horse starts to run, while the soldiers of the
Royal Navy come and surround them. Now, Jack needs to clear his way to
go the harbour.

Assume that the image given above is the map of Port Royal. The horse
that Jack is riding can only move in the L Shape, as a horse(knight) in
chess. Using his '50 caliber English Flintlock' Pistol, Jack can shoot and
injure all the soldiers, in a horizontal or vertical fashion from a single line, in
one shot. What is the minimum number of moves in which he can escape
the navy and safely reach the harbour?
18. Jack finally gets onto the Black Pearl, and goes to the helm. He touches the
helm and closes his eyes as he was reliving his past days as the Captain of
Pearl. Seeing Jack getting emotional, Gibbs satirically says, “Don’t you too
think you have become too old to be the captain of the Pearl, Jack?” Jack
doesn’t respond. Gibbs continues, “I don’t even think you can solve the
mystifying puzzle on the helm,” and laughs. Jack replies, “Gibbs, I own the
pearl. But still, if I solve the puzzle, will you agree that I am worthy of having
the Pearl?” Gibbs nods.

As Gibbs mentioned, the helm of the Black Pearl had a very bizzare puzzle
on it, as shown below.

The puzzle is to place a different number in each of the ten squares on the
tips, so that the sum of the squares of any two adjacent numbers shall be
equal to the sum of the squares of the two numbers diametrically opposite
to them. The four numbers placed, as examples, must stand as they are.
The square of 16 is 256, and the square of 2 is 4. Add these together, and
the result is 260. Also-the square of 14 is 196, and the square of 8 is 64.
These together also make 260. Now, in precisely the same way, B and C
should be equal to G and H (the sum will not necessarily be 260), A and K
to F and E, H and I to C and D, and so on, with any two adjoining squares in
the circle.

All Jack has to do is finish the puzzle by filling the remaining six squares
with appropriate numbers. Fractions are not allowed, and no number need
contain more than two figures.

Jack did the math in a snap, and finished the puzzle, by writing the correct
numbers in all the boxes.

Find the value of C*H + K*E + D*I

16 2

8 14
Jack successfully solves the puzzle on the helm. With his hands on the
helm and face beaming with pride, Jack tells Gibbs, ". " He takes out his
compass which never fails to lead him to his desired destination, and steer
the helm in the pointer direction.

Jack and Gibbs set off their sail from the Caribbean waters to reach the
Indian waters. They get into the Bay of Bengal and enter the land of Indian
peninsula through the majestic Brahmaputra river, and halts at IIT
Guwahati, where many more adventures await them during the Mains
Event.