Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ii/paper-4/25j/d/solution

The left side in part (c) is a polynomial in of degree at most . If is even, is a half-integer, so
is not a polynomial and cannot agree with the left side on an interval. This contradiction shows that an everywhere nonzero tangent unit vector field cannot exist on an even-dimensional sphere.

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