Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/iii/paper-73/1/v/b/solution

In the local, nonrelativistic Hubble law approximation, . Ignoring the peculiar velocity gives an inferred distance , so
The requested accuracy therefore requires
At exactly the worst-case error is , so “better than” requires a strictly larger distance. This is the conventional leading-order estimate. If one retains the exact Doppler factor and the product term while treating as exact, the positive-velocity case gives , with . It requires . That small refinement is conditional on the distance-redshift prescription; the simple answer uses the local approximation consistently.

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