Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/iii/paper-302/2/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 302 2 ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For the Euclidean motion Lie algebra in two dimensions, use the ordered basis and keep the printed rotation signs. The Adjoint representation matrices areOnly the square of has a nonzero trace. Hence the Killing form of the planar Euclidean motion Lie algebra has matrixIts radical of the Killing form is , precisely the translation subspace. This is a nonzero abelian ideal of a Lie algebra, so the Lie algebra is neither simple nor semisimple. In fact its first derived series of a Lie algebra term is this translation ideal and its next is zero. Thus the degeneracy and the failure of semisimplicity agree with the structural proofs above; the adjoint action nevertheless remains nontrivial.
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