Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-38/4/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 38 4 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use positive strikes, the natural real-power domain of this price curve. For any such , the stock-minus-call payoff isalmost surely, since . Therefore the call price must be strictly below the stock price : if , buying stock and selling the call has nonpositive initial cost and strictly positive terminal payoff. Also a negative call price is an immediate arbitrage by buying the call.
For , and raising to the negative power reverses the inequality, giving and . The expression is undefined at . For , strict concavity of the power implies , whenceAt , . Every defined case with therefore violates the necessary no-arbitrage bounds. ConsequentlyThis argument does not require a dense family of strikes; even one positive-strike call gives the contradiction. The strict stock-minus-call payoff explains why the borderline is also excluded.
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