Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2026/iii/paper-106/2/f/ii/solution

Suppose an algebra norm made a Banach algebra. Its unital character space of an algebra would be compact in the Gelfand topology. By part i it consists of the evaluations . The map
is continuous from the usual topology because every is continuous, and its inverse is the continuous map defined by the coordinate function . Thus the character space is homeomorphic to the noncompact space , a contradiction. No complete algebra norm exists.
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.

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