Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/ia/paper-3/12a/c/i/solution

Split the array in its first two slots:
For every symmetric second-rank tensor , antisymmetry gives . Hence the stipulated vector equals .
Let change the orthonormal frame, so . The vector transformation law gives
for every symmetric test . Both coefficient arrays in are symmetric, so equality against every symmetric matrix forces equality of the coefficients; one may test the individual diagonal entries and the symmetric off-diagonal basis matrices. Multiplying by and using orthogonality yields
This is exactly the rank-three tensor law. It is the symmetric-test criterion for a third-rank Cartesian tensor, a form of the quotient theorem for Cartesian tensors. Equivalently one may test for arbitrary vectors and apply the quotient theorem twice.

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