Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ib/paper-4/3e/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ib Paper 4 3E Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Uniform convergence means that for every there is such that for every and every . Equivalently, . The nonzero constant functions converge uniformly to zero. In contrast, the continuous moving bumps converge pointwise to zero but have supremum one for every .
On the compact interval,Thus uniform convergence permits the stated interchange with integration.
Choose . It is continuous, nonnegative and tends to zero at infinity, but its improper integral diverges logarithmically. This even choice also makes the prescribed cutoff continuous at both and : beyond either endpoint it remains at for another unit of distance and then decreases as .
Inside , . Outside, both functions lie between zero and , so . Nevertheless each cutoff has finite integral:Here the value of the minimum at is its continuous limiting value one. This example shows that uniform convergence on an unbounded domain does not by itself ensure convergence of the integrals over that domain.
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