Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ii/paper-4/20i/d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 20I d Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Suppose such an exists. Orthogonality and unit lengths makea continuous map into the unit sphere, since its squared norm is one. This is a homotopy from the identity to the antipodal map. Their degrees would coincide, but for even they are respectively and , a contradiction. Thus no such continuous map exists for even . At there is not even a unit vector orthogonal to either point of , so nonexistence holds there as well. This is a sphere form of the Hairy ball theorem.
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