Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-2/6/iii/solution

Adding and subtracting the transpose uniquely separates a Cartesian second-rank tensor into its symmetric tensor and antisymmetric tensor parts:
Then , and . Both parts transform as tensors because transposition commutes with the orthogonal similarity . Uniqueness follows by taking the symmetric and antisymmetric parts of any such decomposition.

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