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Past exam of the algebra, analysis and differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2004 Analysis 4 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Writing and , the Cauchy-Riemann equations areWith continuous second derivatives, mixed derivatives commute. ThusBoth real and imaginary parts are harmonic.
For , the real and imaginary parts are and zero, so . For , they are and , so . The necessary Cauchy-Riemann equations fail at every point. Hence both functions are nowhere holomorphic, indeed nowhere complex differentiable.
Past exam of the algebra, analysis and differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2004 Algebra 2 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Self-adjointness means for all , or . Take the inner product linear in its first variable. If with , thenTherefore every eigenvalue is real.
If is invariant and , then for every , and . Hence , proving invariance of the orthogonal complement.
Induct on . The zero-dimensional case is empty. For , choose an eigenvector and normalize it to a unit vector . Its span is invariant, so its orthogonal complement is invariant as just proved. The restriction of to that complement is again self-adjoint. Its dimension is , so induction supplies an orthonormal basis of eigenvectors there. Adjoining gives an orthonormal eigenbasis of . This proves the finite-dimensional spectral theorem without assuming it in the argument.
Past exam of the algebra, analysis and differential equations 1 course of the University of Oxford 2004 Algebra 1 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
. For arbitrary matrices,This is bilinear and symmetric. Also , with equality exactly when every entry vanishes. Thus it is an inner product, the Frobenius inner product.
If and , invariance of trace under transposition and cyclicity giveFurthermore , so every traceless matrix is orthogonal to the identity. One convenient orthonormal basis adapted to these observations isTheir entrywise inner products are zero in distinct pairs and one on the diagonal; four orthonormal vectors in this four-dimensional space form a basis.
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 3 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Take . The ring homomorphismis surjective. Its kernel of a ring homomorphism is exactly : a polynomial maps to zero precisely when its constant coefficient is even, in which case it has the form with and . By the first isomorphism theorem for rings,This quotient ring is a field, so is a maximal ideal and in particular a prime ideal.
Suppose were a principal ideal. Because , the nonzero polynomial divides the constant , forcing its polynomial degree to be zero: for a nonzero integer . But also makes divide the coefficient of , so . This would give , contradicting the properness of the kernel of a ring homomorphism . ThereforeThere is no conflict with part (c): . The zero-intersection hypothesis is exactly what excludes this example.
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 3 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The nonzero ideal is principal because is a principal ideal domain. Choose a nonzero generator . Part (a) givesThe nonzero rational scalar is a unit in , so this rescaling does not change the generated principal ideal:Part (b) now places in , since . Thus .
For the reverse inclusion, let be nonzero. The displayed equality supplies with . Multiplicativity of rational polynomial content givesSince has integer coefficients, is a positive integer. The normalization from part (a) gives , so multiplying it by the integer proves . Consequently . The zero polynomial belongs as well, provingThis is the divisibility descent in Gauss lemma for polynomials: dividing an integer-coefficient polynomial by a primitive polynomial cannot introduce a denominator into an exact quotient. Here it yields the description of prime ideals of the integer polynomial ring above zero. The generator has positive polynomial degree, since a primitive constant would be a unit and would put in .
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 3 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
The set contains zero. It is closed under negatives because whenever . If and , thensince is an ideal of . Also, any can be written with and , givingThis proves that is an ideal of .
Clearly , by taking denominator one. Conversely, if , then for some positive integer . The condition implies . Since is a prime ideal, forces . HenceIn particular, is nonzero because it contains the nonzero ideal , and it is proper: otherwise its intersection with would contain . This is the concrete extension of an ideal and contraction of an ideal calculation for the localization that inverts nonzero integers.
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 3 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
For a nonzero polynomial , its polynomial content is the positive greatest common divisor of its coefficients:For nonzero , choose a positive integer with and define its rational polynomial content byTo check independence of the denominator, write with and . Then , while multiplication of all coefficients by a positive integer givesDividing by proves , as required.
For multiplication, write . The integer-coefficient content identity permitted in the source givesThusWe will also use the normalization , with content one: if , then . It is a primitive polynomial. For a nonzero rational constant , the same definition gives .
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 2 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Suppose a finite set of rational numbers generated as a module over . A positive common denominator makes every an integer. For every integer linear combination, therefore,The entire generated submodule is contained in . But is a rational number outside that set: would require the noninteger . This contradicts generation of all of . ConsequentlyEach finite set of generators imposes a common denominator; the full rational number system has no such bound.
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 2 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Using the common denominator , the three given generators becomeThus their submodule is contained in . For the reverse inclusion, the following explicit integer linear combination supplies the missing generator:soTherefore belongs to the generated submodule, and all its integer multiples belong as well. We have established equality in both directions:Finally, for an integer forces , so the single generator is linearly independent. Hence the required basis of a module is
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 2 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Let . Choose a positive integer clearing their denominators and write , with . If and are not both zero, thenis a relation with integer coefficients not both zero. If both vanish, use . Thus every pair is linearly dependent over .
A submodule is a torsion-free module: if for a nonzero integer and a rational number , then . If is also a finitely generated module, part (a), applied to the Euclidean domain , makes it a free module. Its rank cannot exceed one, since two different members of a basis of a module would be linearly independent, contradicting the relation just proved. Since , its rank cannot be zero. ThereforeThe denominator-and-greatest common divisor construction in part (c) gives an explicit version of this result for a finitely generated subgroup of the rational additive group.
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 2 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
A Euclidean domain is a principal ideal domain. The structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain therefore gives, for every finitely generated module over ,where the are nonzero nonunits and . The factors are unique up to multiplication by units; is uniquely determined.
The rank of a module is this integer . Equivalently, with the field of fractions of ,The tensor product of modules kills each displayed torsion summand after extending scalars to , while sending to , explaining the equality.
If is a torsion-free module, no summand can occur: its nonzero element is killed by the nonzero scalar . Hence andThis also covers , with .
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 1 d Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
By the first isomorphism theorem for rings, the given surjection identifies with . Since is a principal ideal domain, write .
If , the quotient ring is , an integral domain, so part (a)(ii) applies. If is a unit, the quotient ring is the zero ring; its unique element is associate to itself by multiplication by its identity, so it too is an associator ring.
In the remaining case, unique factorization giveswhere is a unit, the are pairwise nonassociate prime elements, and . The principal ideals are pairwise comaximal: different prime factors have greatest common divisor , and Bézout's identity gives a linear combination equal to . The Chinese remainder theorem therefore gives a ring isomorphismEvery factor is an associator ring by part (c), and their finite direct product of rings is an associator ring by part (b). A ring isomorphism preserves units and principal ideals, so the property transfers to . Hence
Past exam of the algebra 2 course of the University of Oxford 2015 1 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
Put . A principal ideal domain is a unique factorization domain, so every nonzero element of this quotient ring can be writtenIndeed, remove the largest power of the prime element from a representative that is not divisible by . Since and have greatest common divisor up to a unit, Bézout's identity in the principal ideal domain gives . Thus is a unit in .
Consequently every nonzero principal ideal in is generated by one of . Include the zero ideal by assigning it exponent . These ideals are distinct: their inverse images in are , and equality of two different powers would, by cancellation in the integral domain, make the nonunit a unit.
Now suppose . If this is the zero ideal, both generators are zero and are associate elements. Otherwise their exponents agree, so writewith both units. Thenand the multiplier is a unit. ThusThe exponent detects the principal ideal, while its remaining factor is invertible; this is why zero divisors cause no obstruction here.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
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Intro to OurBigBook
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This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
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Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally. Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
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