Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/paper-2/6/b/solution

Let be an orthogonal change of axes. Since is a second-order tensor, . The scalar-contraction assumption gives
for every tensor . In one fixed frame its components can be any array: in particular, choose one component at a time to be one, all others zero. Equality of the coefficients then forces
Multiplying by and yields
This is exactly the tensor component transformation law. It is the full-contraction version of the quotient theorem for Cartesian tensors. The words “for every” are essential: testing a single , such as the zero tensor or the identity, would not determine all components.

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