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43 Number System PYQ (Solutions)

Master Number System for CAT 2026 with practice questions and detailed explanations

CAT 2025

This topic deals with properties of numbers (integers, remainders, base systems, etc.). It has had a limited presence in CAT.

  • CAT 2017: About 4 questions on Number System in each slot.
  • CAT 2018: Only 2 questions (out of 34) were from Numbers.
  • CAT 2019: 2 questions.
  • CAT 2020: At most 1 per slot.
  • CAT 2021–2022: 1 or none in most slots.
  • CAT 2023: Slight uptick with around 2–3 questions per slot, showing an occasional “spike” in this topic.

In general, Number System is not heavily weighted but remains an essential basic area.

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Weightage Over Past Years

YearQ.NODifficulty Level
20245Medium
20235Hard
20226Hard
20214Medium
20208Medium
20193Hard
20186Medium
20176Medium

CAT 2024 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

For any natural number nn , let ana_n be the largest integer not exceeding n\sqrt{n} . Then the value of a1+a2++a50a_1+a_2+\cdots+a_{50} is

Question 2

Slot-1

When 1010010^{100} is divided by 7 , the remainder is

3
6
1
4

Question 3

Slot-2

If mm and nn are natural numbers such that n>1n>1, and mn=225×340m^n=2^{25} \times 3^{40}, then mnm-n equals

209932
209937
209947
209942

Question 4

Slot-2

When 33333^{333} is divided by 11 , the remainder is

1
10
6
5

Question 5

Slot-3

If 106810^{68} is divided by 13 , the remainder is

8
9
4
5

CAT 2023 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Let nn be the least positive integer such that 168 is a factor of 1134n1134^n . If mm is the least positive integer such that 1134n1134^n is a factor of 168m168^m , then m+nm+n equals

12
9
15
24

Question 2

Slot-2

For any natural numbers mm, nn, and kk, such that kk divides both m+2nm + 2n and 3m+4n3m + 4n, kk must be a common divisor of

2m and 3n
m and 2n
2m and n
m and n

Question 3

Slot-2

Let aa, bb, mm, and nn be natural numbers such that a>1a > 1, b>1b > 1, and ambn=144145a^m \cdot b^n = 144^{145}, ten the largest possible value of nmn - m is

580
290
579
289

Question 4

Slot-2

The number of positive integers less than 50, having exactly two distinct factors other than 1 and itself, is

Question 5

Slot-3

The sum of the first two natural numbers, each having 15 factors (including 1 and the number itself), is

CAT 2022 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

Let AA be the largest positive integer that divides all the numbers of the form 3k+4k+5k3^k+4^k+5^k , and BB be the largest positive integer that divides all the numbers of the form 4k+3(4k)+4k+24^k+3\left(4^k\right)+4^{k+2} , where kk is any positive integer. Then (A+B)(A+B) equals

Question 2

Slot-1

For natural numbers xx, yy, and zz, if xy+yz=19xy + yz = 19 and yz+xz=51yz + xz = 51, then what is the minimum possible value of xyzxyz?

Question 3

Slot-1

For any real number xx , let [x][x] be the largest integer less than or equal to xx . If n=1N[15+n25]=25\sum_{n=1}^N\left[\frac{1}{5}+\frac{n}{25}\right]=25 then NN is

Question 4

Slot-2

The number of integers greater than 2000 that can be formed with the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, using each digit at most once, is

1440
1200
1420
1480

Question 5

Slot-2

For some natural number nn , assume that (15,000)(15,000) ! is divisible by (n!)!(n !) ! . The largest possible value of nn is

5
7
4
6

Question 6

Slot-3

A school has less than 5000 students and if the students are divided equally into teams of either 9 or 10 or 12 or 25 each, exactly 4 are always left out. However, if they are divided into teams of 11 each, no one is left out. The maximum number of teams of 12 each that can be formed out of the students in the school is

CAT 2021 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

How many three-digit numbers are greater than 100 and increase by 198 when the three digits are arranged in the reverse order?

Question 2

Slot-2

For a 4-digit number, the sum of its digits in the thousands, hundreds and tens places is 14, the sum of its digits in the hundreds, tens and units places is 15, and the tens place digit is 4 more than the units place digit. Then the highest possible 4-digit number satisfying the above conditions is

Question 3

Slot-2

A box has 450 balls, each either white or black, there being as many metallic white balls as metallic black balls. If 40% of the white balls and 50% of the black balls are metallic, then the number of non-metallic balls in the box is

Question 4

Slot-3

In a tournament, a team has played 40 matches so far and won 30% of them. If they win 60% of the remaining matches, their overall win percentage will be 50%. Suppose they win 90% of the remaining matches, then the total number of matches won by the team in the tournament will be

86
84
78
80

CAT 2020 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

If a, b and c are positive integers such that ab = 432, bc = 96 and c < 9, then the smallest possible value of a + b + c is

56
49
46
59

Question 2

Slot-1

The mean of all 4 digit even natural numbers of the form 'aabb', where a>0, is

5544
4466
4864
5050

Question 3

Slot-1

Let A, B and C be three positive integers such that the sum of A and the mean of B and C is 5. In addition, the sum of B and the mean of A and C is 7. Then the sum of A and B is

6
4
7
5

Question 4

Slot-1

How many 3-digit numbers are there, for which the product of their digits is more than 2 but less than 7?

Question 5

Slot-3

How many of the integers 1, 2, … , 120, are divisible by none of 2, 5 and 7?

41
42
40
43

Question 6

Slot-3

Let NN, xx and yy be positive integers such that N=x+yN = x + y, 2<x<102 < x < 10 and 14<y<2314 < y < 23. If N>25N > 25, then how many distinct values are possible for NN?

Question 7

Slot-3

How many integers in the set {100, 101, 102, ..., 999} have at least one digit repeated?

Question 8

Slot-3

How many pairs (a,b) of positive integers are there such that a ≤ b and ab = 42017 ?

2019
2018
2020
2017

CAT 2019 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-2

How many factors of 24×35×1042^4 \times 3^5 \times 10^4 are perfect squares which are greater than 1? [TITA]

Question 2

Slot-2

In a six-digit number, the sixth, that is, the rightmost, digit is the sum of the first three digits, the fifth digit is the sum of first two digits, the third digit is equal to the first digit, the second digit is twice the first digit and the fourth digit is the sum of fifth and sixth digits. Then, the largest possible value of the fourth digit is [TITA]

Question 3

Slot-2

How many pairs (m,n)(m,n) of positive integers satisfy the equation m2+105=n2m^2 + 105 = n^2?

CAT 2018 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

The number of integers xx such that 0.25<2x<2000.25 < 2^x < 200, and 2x+22^x + 2 is perfectly divisible by either 3 or 4, is [TITA]

Question 2

Slot-1

While multiplying three real numbers, Ashok took one of the numbers as 73 instead of 37. As a result, the product went up by 720. Then the minimum possible value of the sum of squares of the other two numbers is: [TITA]

Question 3

Slot-2

If NN and xx are positive integers such that N×N=2160N \times N = 2^{160} and N2+2NN^2 + 2N is an integral multiple of 2x2^x, then the largest possible xx is

Question 4

Slot-2

The smallest integer nn for which 4n>17194^n > 17^{19} holds, is closest to

33
39
37
35

Question 5

Slot-2

If the sum of squares of two numbers is 97, then which one of the following cannot be their product?

64
-32
16
48

Question 6

Slot-2

How many two-digit numbers, with a non-zero digit in the units place, are there which are more than thrice the number formed by interchanging the positions of its digits?

5
8
7
6

CAT 2017 Number System questions

Question 1

Slot-1

If a, b, c, and d are integers such that a + b + c + d = 30, then the minimum possible value of (a - b)² + (a - c)² + (a - d)² is (TITA)

Question 2

Slot-1

An elevator has a weight limit of 630 kg. It is carrying a group of people of whom the heaviest weighs 57 kg and the lightest weighs 53 kg. What is the maximum possible number of people in the group? [TITA]

Question 3

Slot-1

The number of solutions (x, y, z) to the equation x – y – z = 25, where x, y, and z are positive integers such that x ≤ 40, y ≤ 12, and z ≤ 12 is

101
99
87
105

Question 4

Slot-2

How many different pairs (a,b)(a, b) of positive integers are there such that aba \leq b and 1a+1b=19\frac{1}{a} + \frac{1}{b} = \frac{1}{9}?

Question 5

Slot-2

Let a₁, a₂, a₃, a₄, a₅ be a sequence of five consecutive odd numbers. Consider a new sequence of five consecutive even numbers ending with 2a₃. If the sum of the numbers in the new sequence is 450, then a₅ is [TITA]

Question 6

Slot-2

If the product of three consecutive positive integers is 15600 then the sum of the squares of these integers is

1777
1785
1875
1877

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