Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 5 1 e Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a nonnegative integer parameter , make both branches of a structural recursion execute:The semicolon sequences two calls, so this is not a conditional choosing just one branch. The recursion tree has leaves and calls. Its time complexity satisfies , giving . Here is the parameter specified by the question, not its binary encoding length; only calls are simultaneously on the stack.
sml
fun binaryWalk 0 = ()
| binaryWalk n = (binaryWalk (n - 1); binaryWalk (n - 1)); Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 5 1 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Traverse the whole original list once for each of its elements:The outer structural recursion runs times, and each
sml
fun scan [] = ()
| scan (_ :: xs) = scan xs;
fun scanForEach [] whole = ()
| scanForEach (_ :: rest) whole =
(scan whole; scanForEach rest whole);
fun quadratic xs = scanForEach xs xs;scan whole visits constructors. In the ordinary source-evaluation cost model, the time complexity is . This example counts executed traversals, without assuming an optimizing compiler that removes deliberately unused computations. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 5 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Use merge sort on a list of integers:Here
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fun sort xs = mergeSort (op <=) xs;mergeSort denotes the standard merge sort implementation: split into two almost equal lists, recursively sort them, and combine them using the merge algorithm. Splitting and merging take linear time, and each recursion level has total input length . There are levels, so the worst-case time complexity is . Equivalently, . Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 5 1 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A Standard ML length function visits each list constructor once:Writing for its time complexity, and . Thus . Arithmetic is treated as unit cost; the example concerns list traversal rather than arbitrary-precision arithmetic.
sml
fun length [] = 0
| length (_ :: xs) = 1 + length xs; Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 5 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the usual unit-cost model for Standard ML list constructors and fixed-size arithmetic. The input size in the list examples is the number of list elements, rather than the size of the integer entries. Inspecting only the first constructor has constant time complexity:No tail is traversed. The running time is .
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fun firstOrZero [] = 0
| firstOrZero (x :: _) = x; Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 4 5E iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Condition (iv) says in particular that is an equivalence relation, so it is symmetric and transitive. It therefore implies (i) and (ii), closing the chain of implications.
Uniqueness is literal: if two equivalence relations both contain and are each contained in every such relation, each is contained in the other, so they are equal. Combining the preceding proofs givesTheir common relation is the equivalence relation generated by , and under these conditions it is already obtained by the two-step composite .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 4 5E iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The inverse argument in part (i) proves that the one-sided inclusion in (iii) already implies equality:Parts (i) and (ii) then make both symmetric and transitive; it is reflexive from the root solution. Therefore is an equivalence relation containing and .
If is any other equivalence relation containing both, a witness gives , and transitivity gives . Hence . Thus (iii) implies the unique-smallest assertion in (iv).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 4 5E ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A binary relation is transitive exactly when . If condition (iii) holds, associativity and monotonicity of composition of relations giveHence (iii) implies (ii). Conversely, the inclusions implyIf is a transitive relation, the right side lies in , which is condition (iii). Thus (ii) and (iii) are equivalent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 4 5E i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
By the inverse identity established in the root solution, the composite is a symmetric relation precisely whenThus condition (i) implies condition (iii). Conversely, if , take inverse relations. Since are symmetric, this gives the reverse inclusion . The two composites are equal, making symmetric. Therefore (i) and (iii) are equivalent, and either one forces commutation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 9A iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For the anticlockwise arc use , , . Since and , the line integral becomesThe two integrals multiplying each equal , by substituting and respectively. The remaining integral equals one. Thus
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 9A ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 9A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 1D iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
False; in fact no matrix with this spectrum is diagonalizable over . If a real invertible gave with a real diagonal matrix, all eigenvalues of would be the real diagonal entries of . But two of the required eigenvalues have nonzero imaginary parts. This contradiction provesThe real block form in the initial example is consistent with this: a two-dimensional rotation block is not a real diagonalization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 1D ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
False. Consider the real matrixIt is block upper triangular, so its characteristic polynomial is the same as that of and it has the required eigenvalues. Its second column, however, has squared Euclidean norm , whereas every column of an orthogonal matrix has norm one. ThusUnit-modulus eigenvalues alone do not imply orthogonality; they do not control the geometry of the eigenvectors.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 1D i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
True. All three eigenvalues are distinct in , so their nonzero eigenvectors are linearly independent. Here is a direct proof of that assertion. If , apply to obtainDistinctness makes both scalar factors nonzero, hence . Applying the analogous products gives . The three eigenvectors therefore form a basis of . Taking them as the columns of givesThis proves that every such matrix is a diagonalizable matrix over , rather than merely showing it for the example.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 12A ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Decompose the electric field into its orthogonal parts , where . The uniaxial conductivity tensor acts on them asIf , its perpendicular and parallel components each vanish. Since and , this forces both field components to be zero. The contrapositive givesEquivalently, the tensor has nonzero eigenvalues and determinant .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 12A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Writing the uniaxial conductivity tensor in vector form gives the electric current densityChoose the plane through the origin perpendicular to :For an electric field in this plane, the anisotropic term vanishes and . Thus every nonzero such field is parallel or antiparallel to its current according to the sign of the nonzero . The zero field gives zero current. This establishes collinearity throughout the plane without assuming that the tensor is isotropic.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 2 6B iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Under the moving-coordinate transformation, the forcing is . Choose a stationary solution , which requires precisely . The left spatial limit of is zero only if . Therefore one solution is the transported step forcing in an advection-diffusion equation profileIt has and , so their sum vanishes; almost everywhere , canceling the source. The first derivatives are continuous on the moving interface. For each fixed , the profile is zero far to the left and tends to minus infinity to the right, as required. The PDE holds pointwise off that interface and weakly across it, consistently with the requested continuously differentiable regularity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 2 6B ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the Heaviside function vanishes, so . For , , giving . Continuity of and at zero requires and . Consequently the general continuously differentiable profile isIts second derivative jumps from zero to minus one. The equation is satisfied classically away from zero and in the weak, or distributional, sense across it; no globally twice-differentiable function can have the prescribed step as its second derivative. There is no Dirac delta contribution because is continuous. The value assigned to the Heaviside function at a single point does not change this weak solution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 2 6B i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Apply the chain rule to . Holding fixed while differentiating in gives , while and . Thus the advection-diffusion equation becomesThe moving coordinate follows the unit-speed advection, leaving the heat equation with a transformed source.
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