College of Engineering Education

2nd Floor, BE Building

Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

COMPREHENSIVE EXAM: Mathematics, Surveying, and Transportation Engineering

Instructions: Select your best answer by shading the chosen letter to the answer sheet provided. Avoid ERASURES and BLANK items. Your answer
sheet will be check by the machine so be sure to answer all of the items legibly. Back pages of the test questionnaires will serve as your scratch
papers. Other instructions will be given by your proctor.

1. An earth satellite has an apogee of 2450 miles and a perigee of 410 miles. Assuming that the
earth’s radius is 400 miles, what is the value of the eccentricity of ellipse, which form with the
center of the earth at one focus and whose apogee and perigee satisfy the condition above?
A. 0.235 B. 0.325 C. 0.775 D. 0.557

2. A father and his son can dig a well, if the father works 6 hours and his son works 12 hours or
they can do it if the father works 9 hours and the son works 8 hours. How long will it take for
the father to dig the will alone?
A. 12 hrs C. 18 hrs
B. 15 hrs D. 10 hrs

3. A descending grade of 4.2% intersects an ascending of 3% grade at station 12 + 125

at elevation 14.2 m. These two grades are to be connected by a 260 m. vertical parabolic
curve. A reinforced concrete culvert pipe with overall diameter of 105 cm is to be constructed
with its top 30 cm below the subgrade. What will be the invert elevation?
A. 15.13 m B. 14.38 m C. 14.72 m D. 14.93 m

4. A 100 kg body initially at rest is acted upon by a constant force of 80 N for 5 sec. after which
an opposite force of 54 N is applied. In what additional time in seconds will the body come to
rest?
A. 4.17 B. 7.41 C. 4.71 D. 6.12

5. This should always be shown on site plans for orientation purposes. Displaying it prominently
is the standard practice.
A. Vicinity map C. North Directions
B. Scale D. Legends and symbols

6. Standard color used as a background for STOP signs.

A. Red B. Black C. Yellow D. White

7. A trainee in a computer company takes 0.9 times as long to assemble each computer as he
took to assemble the preceding computer. If it took him 30 minutes to assemble the first
computer, find how long it takes him to assemble the fifth computer.
A. 102 min. B. 112 min C. 123 min. D. 213 min.

8. What is the maximum speed at which an automobile can round a curve of 24 m. radius of a
level road if the coefficient of friction between the tires and the road is 0.30?
A. 8.4 m/s B. 4.8 m/s C. 6.7 m/s D. 7.6 m/s

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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

9. Which one of the following is a better buy: a large pizza with 16-inch diameter for $15 or a
medium pizza with an 8-inch diameter for $7.50? What is the cost per square inch of the
better buy pizza?
A. Medium pizza; $0.07/sq.in . C. Medium pizza; $0.15/sq.in.
B. Large pizza; $0.07/sq.in. D. Large pizza; $0.15/sq.in.

10. P180,000 was spent on the project that yields annual benefit of P60,000 for a period of 8 years
without any salvage value. Determine the benefit cost ratio considering the cost of money to
be 7%.
A. 2.12 B. 1.05 C. 1.43 D. 1.99

11. A new machine which costs P50,000 has a life of 5 years. It is expected to generate P25,000
in revenues in each year of its life with an annual operating cost of P8,280. Compute the rate
of return so that its net present value would be equal to zero.
A. 20% B. 15% C. 10% D. 25%

12. In November 1994, Intel announced that a “subtle flaw” in its Pentium chip would affect 1 in
9 billion division problems. Suppose a computer perform 20 millions divisions (a not reasonable
number) in the course of a particular program. What is the probability of no error? Of at one
error?
A. 0.0000001111, 0.00222 C. 0.99999999989, 0.000000111
B. 0.99778, 0.00222 D. 0.000011111, 0.9999999998

13. The surface area of a cylindrical aluminium can is a measure of how much aluminium the can
requires. If the can has radius r and height h, its surface area A and its volume V are given by
the equations: A = 2∏r2 + 2∏rh and V = ∏r2h. The volume V of a 12 oz cola can is 355 cm 3.
A cola can is approximately cylindrical. Express its surface area A as function of its radius r
where is measured in centimetres.
A. 2∏r2 + 710/r C. 2∏r2 + 710/2r
B. 2∏r + 510/r
2
D. 2∏r2 + 510/2r

14. Two particles repel each other with a force inversely proportional to the square of the distance
between them. If one particle remains fixed at a point on the x-axis 2 units to the right of the
origin, find the work done in moving the second along the x-axis from a point 3 units to the
left of the origin up to the origin if the proportional constant is 10.
A. 6.5 B. 6 C. 3.5 D. 3

15. Every year, an engineering consultant pays a bonus of P300 to his most industrious assistant
and P75 each for the rest of his staff. After how many years would his outlay be exactly P600
is all but two of his staff had merited the P300 bonus, but none of them more than twice?
A. 6 years B. 7 years C. 8 years D. 10 years

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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

16. A savings bank offers long-term savings certificate at 7.5% per year compounded continu-
ously. If a 10-year certificate costs P1,000, what will be its value at maturity?
A. P2,117.00 B. P,2711.00 C. P1,712.00 D. P1,271.00

17. Find the horizontal asymptote of the curve

2x 2
y 4
x  3x 2  1
A. y+2=0 C. y+4=0
B. y–2=0 D. y–4=0

18. A swimmer is capable of swimming 0.45 m/s in still water. If she aims her body directly across
a 75 m wide river whose current is 0.40 m/s, how far downstream from a point opposite her
starting point will she land?
A. 54 B. 45 C. 67 D. 76

19. A ford has engines in three sizes. Of the Ford car sold, 50% have the smallest engine, 40%
have the medium, and 10% have the largest engine. Of the cars with the smallest engine,
15% fail an emission test within two years of purchase. The failure figure for medium size
engine is 10%, and the failure figure for the largest engine is 8%. What is the probability that
this Ford engine will fail the emission test within two years.
A. 0.12 B. 0.123 C. 0.213 D. 0.13

20. Find the volume of the parallelipiped whose edges are represented by
A = 2i – 3j + 4k
B = i + 2j – k
C = 3i – j + 2k
A. -5 B. -8 C. -7 D. -6

21. A 50 m. tape weighing 1.075 kg has a standard pull of 8 kg. The tape’s cross-sectional area
and modulus of elasticity are 0.05 cm 2 and 200 GPa respectively. What pull (normal tension)
is required in order that the effect of sag will be eliminated when the tape is supported at the
end points only?
A. 174.9 N B. 149.7 N C. 197.4 N D. 179.4 N

22. The ratio of the wave height to its wave length is called:
A. Steepness B. Amplitude C. Propagation D. Crest

23. A hemispherical tank having a radius of 2.5 m is filled with water to a depth of 1.8 m. If a solid
sphere having a diameter of 1.80 m is placed on the bowl, determine how high will the water
rise on the bowl.
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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

A. 116 mm B. 126 mm C. 136 mm D. 161 mm

24. In a raffle the prizes include on first prize of Php3000, five second prizes of Php1000 each, and
twenty third prizes of Php100 each. In all 10,000 tickets are sold at Php1.50 each. What are
the expected net winnings of one person who buys one ticket?
A. - 0.5 B. – 0.7 C. 0.4 D. 0.5

25. A politician states, if you elect me to office, I promise to cut your taxes for each of my first
three years in office by 15% each year, for a total of 45%. Evaluate the accuracy of the poli-
tician’s statement.
A. 27.1% B. 38.6% C. 44.99% D. 55%

26. Evaluate the integral of x Cos (4x) dx with lower limit of 0 and upper limit of ∏/4.
A. – 0.125 B. 0.125 C. 0.25 D. – 0.25

27. Find the centroid of the region in the first quadrant bounded by the graph of y=
9 – x2, the x – axis and the y – axis.
A. (9/4, 9/8) B. (9/8, 9/4) C. (8/9, 4/9) D. (4/9, 8/9)

28. A cross section through the center of a football is a circle x inches in circumference. The football
is x – 8 inches long from tip to tip and each seam is an arc of a circle 0.75x inch in diameter.
Find x.
A. 21.89 in. B. 20.69 in. C. 20.85 in. D. 22.45 in

29. A solid consisting of a right circular cone at the top and a hemisphere with a common base of
radius of 12 cm. The height of a cone is “ h” and the volume of the hemisphere is ¾ of the
volume of the cone. The solid is cut into two parts such that the upper one is a right circular
cone of height “ y “ and the base radius x. If the two parts are equal in volume, find the value
of “ y “ from the vertex of the cone.
A. 34.12 cm B. 25.84 cm C. 30.60 cm D. 28.10 cm

30. The cross section notes of the ground surface at sta. 1 + 200 of a road survey, shows that the
ground is sloping at a 10% grade downward to the right. The elevation of the ground along
the center line of the proposed road at this station is 150 m. and that of the finished subgrade
is 152 m. Width of subgrade is 7.00 m. with side slopes of 1.5 : 1.0. Compute the distance of
the right slope stake from the center of the road.
A. 6.47 m B. 4.76 m C. 6.74 m D. 7.64 m

31. A rotating vessel coming to rest makes 300 revolutions in the first minutes and in each minute
thereafter makes 2/5 as many revolutions as the preceding minutes. Find how many revolu-
tions the vessel makes before it comes to rest.
A. 50 B. 60 C. 702 D. 80

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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

32. A company vice president has to visit four of the twelve subsidiaries that the company owns.
How many sets of four companies are there from which the vice president can pick one set to
visit?
A. 495 B. 11880 C. 945 D. 18810

33. Two parallel sides of a rectangle are being lengthened at the rate of 12 in/sec, while the other
two sides are shortened in such a way that the figure remains rectangle with a constant area
A = 50 in2. What is the rate of change of the perimeter P when the length of an increasing side
is at 5 in?
A. 4 in/sec B. – 4 in/sec C. 6 in/sec D. – 6 in/sec

34. Two angles whose sum is 360 degrees.

A. Conjugate angle
B. Complement angle
C. Supplement angle
D. Reflection angle

35. The price of a dress is reduced by 40%. When the dress still does not sell, it is reduced by
40% of the reduce price. If the price of the dress after both reductions is P72, what is the
original price?
A. P150 B. P200 C. P250 D. P275

36. There are four towns at the corners of a square. Four motorists set out, each driving in the
next (clockwise) town, and each man but the fourth going 8 kn/hr faster than the car ahead –
thus the first car travels 24 km/hr faster than the fourth. At the end of one hour the first and
third cars are 204 km and the second and fourth 212 (beeline) km apart. How fast is the first
car travelling?
A. 40 km/hr B. 50 km/hr C. 60 km/hr D. 69 km/hr

37. An engineer is planning for a 15 year retirement. In order to supplement his pension and offset
the anticipated effects of inflation, he intends to withdraw $5000 at the end of the first year,
and to increase the withdrawal by $1000 at the end of each successive year. How much money
must the engineer have in his savings account at the start of his retirement, if money earns
6% per year compounded annually?
A. $174,457.45 B. $124,486.15 C. $145,458.15 D. $106,116.59

38. Mr. Clean deposits P1000 in the bank at the end of the first year, P1200 at the end of second
year, etc. continuing to increase an amount by P200 a year for 20 years. If the bank pays 7%
per year, compounded continuously, how much money will have accumulated at the end of 20
years?
A. P61,057.92 B. P42,135.93 C. P103,193.85 D. P130,193.85

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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

39. A spiral 80 m. long connects a tangent with a 6.5⁰ circular curve. Determine the deflection
angle at the first quarter point.
A. 0.81⁰ B. 0.18⁰ C. 0.27⁰ D. 0.72⁰

40. At what rpm is the ferriswheel turning when the riders fell weightlessness or zero gravity
everytime each rider is at the topmost part of the whell 9 m. in radius.
A. 9.97 B. 7.99 C. 9.17 D. 7.19

41. In a scalene triangle, the distance between the centroid and the circumcenter is equal to 1.6.
What is the distance from the circumcenter to the orthocentre?
A. 1.6 B. 4.8 C. 3.8 D. 2.7
42. A circle has an equation of x2 + y2 + 2ky = 0. Find the value of k when the length of the
tangent from (5, 4) to the circle is equal to one.
A. - 5 B. - 6 C. - 7 D. - 8

43. The distance between the foci of an ellipse is 5. If its eccentricity is 0.5, what is the distance
between the directrices?
A. 18 B. 20 C. 24 D. 30

44. A 17-foot ladder is sliding down a wall at a rate of – 5 ft/sec. When the top of the ladder is 8
ft. from the ground, how fast is the foot of the ladder sliding away from the wall in ft/sec?
A. 15/8 B. 7/4 C. 8/3 D. 10/3

45. The cross section of a pipe is formed by two concentric circles such that the bigger one cir-
cumscribe a hexagon of sides 9.4 cm. while the smaller one is inscribe in it. What is the area
of the pipe’s cross section?
A. 69.43 cm2 B. 64.39 cm2 C. 36.29 cm2 D. 93.64 cm2

46. A certain triangle have sides a = 42 cm, b = 51 cm and c = 64.05 cm. Find the radius of the
inscribed circle.
A. 12.05 cm B. 11.16 cm C. 16.11 cm D. 13.61 cm

47. Two insects fly from the same point but towards different directions. One was flying at a speed
of 12.2 m/min. while the other was flying at 17.4 m/min. The angle between their flight direc-
tionis 84.1⁰. How many meters are they apart after 2.1 minutes.
A. 38.38 m B. 48.48 m C. 42.42 m D. 34.34 m

48. Two values A and B are related to each other in an inverse manner such that when one in-
creases, the other decreases, always with a constant inverse proportionality, when the value
of A is 1200, B is recorded to have a value of 144720. Find the value of A when B reaches
256,000.
A. 753.768 B. 768.375 C. 678.375 D. 375.678

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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

49. What is a non-zero solution to the equation 2x5 – 30x4 = 0.

A. 15 B. 3 C. 30 D. 5

50. Rey Albert walks along Roxas Blvd. With his girlfriend for half an hour at an average speed of
3 kph. They waited 10 min. for a taxi, which brought them to their starting point at 3:15 PM.
If they started walking at 2:25 PM that afternoon, what was the average speed of the taxi?
A. 9 kph B. 12 kph C. 15 kph D. 18 kph

51. If arc Sin (3x – 4y) = 1.571, and arc Cos (x – y) = 1.047. Find x.
A. 1 B. 2 C. 4 D. 5

52. Determine the area of the region of the boundaries of the curve y = cot x, the line x = ∏/4
and the x-axis.
A. 0.6634 B. 0.4636 C. 0.2234 D. 0.3466
53. A quadrilateral has properties such that its diagonals bisect each other and are perpendicular.
What kind of quadrilateral is this?
A. Parallelogram C. Rhombus
B. Trapezoid D. Rectangle

54. Two circles of different sizes are externally tangent to each other. How many common tangent
can be drawn to these two circles?
A. 2 tangents B. 4 tangents C. 3 tangents D. 1 tangent

55. The total error in the latitude of a certain closed traversed is 15.97 m. while the sum of all
positive and negative latitude is 1870.97 m. Using the transit rule, what is the correction to
be applied to a line having a latitude of 640.13?
A. 6.54 m B. 5.46 m C. 4.56 m D. 4.65 m

56. The deflection angles of two intermediate points A and B of a simple curve are 6 015’ and 11015’
respectively from the tangents thru the P.C. If the chord distance between A and B is 20 m.,
determine the radius of the simple curve.
A. 114.74 m B. 141.71 m C. 147.11 m D. 171.41 m

57. What is the stiffness factor of a pavement if its modulus of elasticity is 180 MPa and whose
subgrade modulus of 40 MPa.
A. 0.482 B. 0.506 C. 0.605 D. 0.824

58. Points A, B, C, D, and E is on the periphery of the circle. AB = BC = CD. If the value of the
angle BAC is 350, find the angle DEA.
A. 1250 B. 1150 C. 1050 D. 1500

59. Points A, B, C, and D lies on the circle with a radius r. AD is a chord 5 cm. long and the angle
ACD = 150, with AB as the diameter of the circle. Find the radius r.
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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

A. 9.66 cm B. 6.69 cm C. 5.46 cm D. 4.65 cm

60. Compute the thickness of a rigid pavement with a wheel load capacity of 54 kN, if the allowable
tensile stress of concrete is 1.6 MPa. Neglect the effect of dowels.
A. 318 mm B. 298 mm C. 415 mm D. 330 mm

61. AB is a diameter of a circle having its center at O. Points P and Q is on the perimeter of the
circle. The ratio of the arc AP to that of arc PQ is 4:3. Compute the angle AOP if the value of
angle PAQ = 240.
A. 480 B. 360 C. 520 D. 640

62. A curve has an equation of x2 = 16y. Compute the equation of the tangent at point (4, 1).
A. x + 2y = 2 B. x – 2y = 2 C. 2x + y = 2 D. 2x – y = 2

63. An equipment costs P1,200,000. At the end of its economic life of 5 years its salvage value is
P300,000. Using sum of years digit method, what will be its book value on the 3rd year.
A. P408,000 B. P840,000 C. P480,000 D. P804,000
64. The probability that a family owns a washing machine is 0.78, that it owns a VCR is 0.71, and
that it owns both a washing machine and a VCR is 0.58. What is the probability that a randomly
selected family owns a washing machine or a VCR?
A. 0.91 B. 0.32 C. 0.55 D. 0.72

65. A hole 100 mm in diameter is to be punched out from a right circular cone having a diameter
of 160 mm. Height of cone is 240 mm. Determine the length of the hole punched out.
A. 85 mm B. 70 mm C. 77 mm D. 90 mm

66. You want to find someone whose birthday matches yours. What is the least number of
strangers whose birthday you need to ask about to have a 50–50 chance?
A. 270 B. 231 C. 183 D. 253

67. What is the total length of the curve x2 + y2 + 4x – 10y – 92 = 0.

A. 69.12 B. 58.20 C. 74.55 D. 55.20

68. Assuming that the energy per hour expended in driving a steamboat through the water varies
as the cube of the velocity. Find the most economical rate per hour when steaming a current
running 4 kph.
A. 6 kph B. 8 kph C. 4 kph D. 3 kph

69. The common tangent of a compound curve makes an angle 120 from the tangent passing thru
the P.C. and 180 from the tangent passing thru the P.T. If the radius of the second curve is
180 m, find the radius of the first curve if the length of the common tangent is 70 m. long.
A. 439.75 m B. 394.75 m C. 475.39 m D. 357.94 m

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 College of Engineering Education
2nd Floor, BE Building
Matina Campus, Davao City
Telefax: (082)296-1084
Phone No.: (082)300-5456/300-0647 Local (131)

70. In the two-peg test of a dumpy level, the following observations were taken.

What is the correct difference in elevation between A and B?

A. 0.459 m B. 0.6285 m C. 0.4371 m D. 0.5145 m

71. A new bridge with 100-year life is expected to have an initial cost of $20 M. This bridge must
be resurfaced every five years at a cost of $1 M. The annual inspection and operating costs
are estimated to be $50,000. Determine the present-worth cost of the bridge using the capi-
talized equivalent approach (that is the life of the bridge as infinite), if the interest rate is 10%
per year, compounded annually.
A. $23,785,452.12 C. $24,475,856.21
B. $25,456,753.21 D. $22,137,974.81

72. A man bought a government bond, which cost P1000 and will pay P50 interest each year for
20 years. The bond will mature at the end of 20 years and he will receive the original P1000.
If there is a 2% annual inflation during this period, what rate of return will the investor receive
after considering the effect of inflation?
A. 2.94% B. 3.54% C. 1.26% D. 4.52%

73. In the given series of numbers,

1, 1, 1/2, 1/6, 1/24 . . . . . . . . . . . find the 7th term.
A. 1/120 B. 1/480 C. 1/720 D. 1/840

74. A man is riding a car at the rate of 30 kph towards the foot of a monument 6 m high. At what
rate is he approaching the top when he is 36 m from the foot of the monument?
A. – 18.27 kph B. – 24.32 kph C. – 29.59 kph D. – 32.47 kph

75. Which of the following is the most important consideration in avoiding bias in surveying?
A. Taking care to choose individuals who you feel are representative of the population in terms
of as many characteristics as you can list.
B. Picking a sampling method in which every possible combination of people has the same
chance of being selected.
C. Making sure that every individual in the population of interest in invited to respond.
D. All of the above.