Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/iii/paper-79/2/ii/solution

The principal strain rates are the eigenvalues of the symmetric strain-rate tensor. Incompressibility makes its trace zero, so . The polynomial identity
therefore gives . Since the trace of is the sum of the cubes of its eigenvalues, the Betchov relation becomes

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