Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 7D b ii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 7D b i Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 7D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the dihedral group presentation . Every element is or . A nonidentity rotation has order two only when its exponent is , while for every . Thus the complete list isThe half-turn is central, so its conjugacy class is the singleton and its normal closure is .
For reflections, and . Hence the conjugacy class is exactly the reflections whose exponents have the same parity as :The subgroup generated by this class contains , as the product of two consecutive listed reflections, and contains . Conversely those two generators contain every listed reflection. Their subgroup is invariant under conjugation by both and , so the smallest normal subgroup containing isof order and index two. This involutions in an even dihedral group classification distinguishes the two reflection classes from the central half-turn.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 6D b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Write the matrix as . Direct multiplication and inversion giveThe identity is and all determinants are one, so these formulas verify the subgroup criterion inside . This is the real Heisenberg group.
The map is a surjective group homomorphism to the additive group of real numbers; its kernel is exactly . Hence is normal and the first isomorphism theorem givesTwo matrices commute exactly when . Requiring that relation for every forces , while is unrestricted. ThereforeFinally is a surjective group homomorphism to the additive group with precisely this kernel of a group homomorphism, giving . The central coordinate records noncommutativity: the group commutator is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 6D a ii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 6D a i Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 5D b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Place the cube's vertices at . Its full symmetry group of a cube consists of signed permutation matrices. To see completeness, a cube symmetry fixes its center of a group and permutes the six face normals, so it sends coordinate axes to signed coordinate axes; conversely every such matrix preserves the cube. Coordinate permutations and sign changes take any edge to any other edge, so this is a transitive group action on edges.
Choose the edge . A symmetry stabilizing it must preserve its axis direction and its midpoint . It can swap the first two coordinates and independently reverse the third coordinate, but cannot change the signs of the two fixed coordinates. HenceThere are twelve edges and four elements of the stabilizer subgroup. The orbit-stabiliser theorem therefore gives , including orientation-reversing symmetries, not just the twenty-four rotations.
The action defines a group homomorphism . If an element fixes every edge as a set, it fixes every vertex, since each vertex is the unique common point of its three incident edges. A cube isometry fixing all vertices is the identity. Thus this is a faithful group action, and the cube symmetry action on edges embeds as a subgroup withIt is not a normal subgroup. Central inversion belongs to and swaps the twelve edges in six opposite pairs. In , all permutations of cycle type are conjugate, and their number isIf were a normal subgroup, it would contain this entire conjugacy class, impossible for a group of order forty-eight. This avoids relying on a classification of normal subgroups of the symmetric group.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 5D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Take and let act by left multiplication . Each is a permutation, with inverse . Associativity gives , so is a group homomorphism into . If is the identity permutation, evaluating it at the identity element gives . ThusThis is the Cayley theorem, realized by the left regular action, which is a faithful group action.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 3C ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the arc length coordinate oriented in the direction of increasing : , with . Also , giving and . The Lagrange identity for the cross product yieldsThe curvature of a space curve is thereforeFor the forward portion , this has ordinary nonnegative arc length . If instead nonnegative distance is measured backwards from , put for ; that branch has , . Choosing orientation avoids confusing the two points at the same unoriented distance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 3C i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Differentiation gives . The squared speed is , so the arc length isThe speed never vanishes, so this is a regular curve throughout its parameter range.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 12C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Under the usual bounded-domain hypotheses, with piecewise smooth boundary and a sufficiently smooth vector field, the divergence theorem stateswhere is outward. Apply it to and use the product rule to obtainFor uniqueness, let for two classical solutions with the same Dirichlet boundary data. Then and on the boundary. Taking , gives Green's first identity in the formThe continuous nonnegative integrand must vanish, so is constant on each connected component. The zero boundary data make every such constant zero. Thus the solution of the Dirichlet problem for the Laplace equation is unique, if it exists. This establishes Uniqueness of the Dirichlet problem; existence is assumed. Boundedness, or suitable conditions at infinity, is needed: on an unbounded half-space the harmonic function has zero boundary values but is not identically zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 12C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the Levi-Civita symbol and summation over repeated indices. Contracting the two symbols givesThus the curl of a cross product is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 2 4F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
The Poisson distribution with unit parameter has mass . Its moment-generating function isFor an integer , multiply the exponential probability bound by to obtain . The exponent is minimized at , hence , including when . Consequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 2 4F i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
For , monotonicity gives . Apply Markov inequality to the nonnegative variable :If the expectation is infinite, the bound remains true but uninformative. At the right side is one, so that endpoint follows directly. Minimizing over gives the Chernoff bound.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 2 12F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a finite stopping time with target , necessarily . The last toss must be a head and the preceding tosses must contain heads. The negative binomial stopping argument therefore gives likelihood for the biased coin, and for the fair coin. Applying Bayes' theorem again yieldsThe two experiments have different combinatorial coefficients, but each coefficient is independent of the coin parameter. Thus posterior equality for proportional likelihoods explains their identical posterior formula. If , a finite positive-head stopping observation has zero likelihood under the biased coin, consistently giving posterior zero. If the target is , the experiment stops at without a toss and the posterior remains ; a positive stopping time would then be impossible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 2 12F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let mean that the selected coin is biased and that it is fair. Both have prior probability . Conditional on either coin, tosses are independent. For the observed head count, the two binomial distribution likelihoods are and . Bayes' theorem cancels the common coefficient and equal prior weights, givingThis applies for , including endpoint coin biases with zero-power factors interpreted by the corresponding likelihood. The fair-coin likelihood is positive, so the denominator cannot vanish.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 1 9D b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
The Taylor theorem with Lagrange remainder says that, if has continuous derivatives on the interval joining and , then for some strictly between them,More generally the expansion is about any base point, replacing by its displacement. The displayed regularity is a sufficient hypothesis for the theorem.
For and , repeated differentiation givesTherefore the requested coefficients are . For a fixed , the remainder hasNow and for , so . Hence . Passing to the limit proves, rather than merely formally suggests, the binomial seriesThe restriction makes the remainder bound especially direct, since .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 1 9D a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
For a nonzero , the absolute successive-term ratio in the exponential series is , so the first series converges for every . For the factorial series the ratio is , so its terms fail to tend to zero for every .
The third series is sparse: its exponent is , as in the PDF. If , thenFor , the terms grow without bound; at their moduli are , so they again fail the term test. Equivalently, the Cauchy-Hadamard theorem for the sparse coefficients uses , not . Thus the three radii of convergence areZeros at non-square coefficient indices do not change the relevant limsup in the last root test. This illustrates the radius of convergence of a sparse power series.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 1 8B c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the orthonormal right-handed basisDirect multiplication gives , and . Thus the matrix in this basis isThe last two columns are orthogonal and both have squared norm . Therefore is an orthogonal matrix precisely when , giving the unique positive valueIts determinant is , so it is a proper rotation matrix, not a reflection. The transverse block has cosine and sine both . ConsequentlyWith the oriented axis , the angle is positive by the right-hand rule, since . The axis also follows from the unit-eigenvalue eigenspace. As a check, .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 1 8B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Let the repeated eigenvalue be , and choose an eigenvector . Complete it to a basis of . In this basis the matrix is an upper triangular matrix, with first column , say . Its characteristic polynomial is . By part (a)(ii), this must equal , so .
If , the matrix is already . If , rescale the first basis vector by and apply part (a)(iii); the upper-right entry becomes one. ThusThe second possibility is a size-two Jordan block. It has only one independent eigenvector, whereas has a two-dimensional eigenspace, so the two types cannot be related by matrix similarity. This repeated-eigenvalue classification in dimension two proves the required result without assuming the general Jordan normal form theorem.
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