Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2022/ii/paper-3/31b/d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 3 31B d Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Poincare-Bendixson theorem states that a nonempty compact -limit set of a planar flow which contains no equilibrium is a periodic orbit.
The origin is the only equilibrium: at a nonzero equilibrium, putting would requirebut its determinant is positive. By local asymptotic stability, choose a small simple closed Lyapunov level curve on which the original vector field points inward. On a sufficiently large circle,so the original vector field points outward.
Reverse time. The annulus between these two curves is then a compact positively invariant trapping region: the reversed field points into it at both boundaries. It contains no equilibrium. The Poincaré--Bendixson theorem applied to any reversed trajectory in the annulus produces a periodic orbit. Reversing time does not change its image, so the original system also has a periodic orbit.
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