Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ii/paper-2/30a/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 30A b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The Poincare-Bendixson theorem says that a nonempty compact omega-limit set of a smooth planar flow containing no equilibrium is a periodic orbit; use its allowed cylinder version here. For , choose and . At the lower boundary and at the upper boundary , so the compact annulus is positively invariant. It has no equilibrium because . The theorem supplies a periodic orbit, and makes it encircle the cylinder.
Every periodic orbit must lie in : for , , and a crossing of can only be upward. In a periodic orbit is a graph of a function satisfyingTwo distinct function graphs cannot cross by uniqueness of this scalar differential equation. If , their difference obeysIt contracts by a factor strictly less than during one circuit, contradicting periodicity of both function graphs. The scalar return map is order preserving, so a multi-circuit periodic graph of a function also cannot have a period larger than one circuit. Therefore there is exactly one periodic orbit, and it encircles the cylinder. The standard auxiliary results used are existence/uniqueness of smooth differential equations and invariance at inward-pointing boundaries.
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