Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/ii/paper-1/2f/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 ii Paper 1 2F Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The hyperbolic cosine has the absolutely convergent expansion . Suppose its value were a rational , with . For sufficiently large , . Multiplying by makes the assumed value an integer, and every term of the partial sum through is also an integer. Their difference is the positive remainderLet . Every new pair of factorial factors is at least , so for . No integer lies strictly between zero and one. This contradiction proves is irrational. The argument uses a finite integer partial sum and a controlled tail; it does not infer irrationality merely from an infinite expansion.
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