Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ib/paper-3/4c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ib Paper 3 4C Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
For a general Lagrangian,Along an Euler-Lagrange trajectory,so energy is conserved when has no explicit time dependence.
For the given Lagrangian, write . At points where ,The Euler-Lagrange equation is thereforeIn expanded form its left-hand side isThe momentum has fixed magnitude,so this is constant without needing to solve the equation of motion. The Hamiltonian is
The singular Legendre transform of a degree-one velocity Lagrangian applies here: determines only the direction of , not its magnitude, and the velocity Hessian is not invertible. Thus the usual inverse Legendre transform cannot reconstruct the Lagrangian from this Hamiltonian.
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