Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/ii/paper-2/11i/a/solution

Assume (i), and suppose a map as in (ii) existed. Then
are closed, cover , and contain , respectively. But
since the three sides have no common point. This contradicts (i), so (i) implies (ii).
Conversely, suppose (i) fails. Let be a counterexample and put
No point lies in all three closed sets, so . Identify affinely with the standard simplex so that side is the side on which the first barycentric coordinate is zero, and similarly for . Define to be the point with barycentric coordinates
Because covers , at least one distance is zero, so . If , then , so ; likewise for . Thus is a forbidden map from (ii). This proves (ii) implies (i).

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