Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 2 14E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Full column rank makes positive definite: for nonzero , . Let be its unique upper-triangular Cholesky decomposition with positive diagonal. Defining givesThus the skinny QR decomposition exists. If is another such decomposition, orthonormality gives . Cholesky uniqueness forces , and then . Therefore the skinny factorization with positive diagonal is unique. This is the thin QR factorization from Cholesky decomposition; no inverse of the rectangular is assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 2 14E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a real symmetric positive-definite matrix, the Cholesky decomposition is , where is upper triangular with positive diagonal; equivalently with lower triangular.
Existence can be proved by induction. Write , where . For a nonzero vector , evaluate the quadratic form at to obtain . The Schur complement is therefore positive definite. By induction it has factor , andhas . The one-dimensional starting case is the positive square root.
For uniqueness, if , then is upper triangular and satisfies . Since is upper triangular and equals , which is lower triangular, is diagonal. Orthogonality makes its diagonal entries , and positivity of the diagonals of forces . Hence and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 2 13A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Set . It is entire, and makes . By the just-proved Liouville theorem, is constant. Differentiation gives . The exponential never vanishes, so everywhere and is constant. This is the entire function confined to a half-plane is constant principle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 1A iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Uniformly continuous. For , the derivative satisfiesThe mean value theorem therefore gives a Lipschitz condition with constant two, hence uniform continuity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 1A ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Not uniformly continuous. ChooseTheir separation is , while and . Thus the function values stay distance two apart, contradicting uniform continuity. Boundedness of the function does not prevent increasingly rapid oscillations.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 1A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Not uniformly continuous. Take , . Then , butThis contradicts the defining implication for uniform continuity, for example with . The sequential criterion for uniform continuity makes explicit why arbitrarily close arguments at large distances from the origin matter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 18F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The initial wavefunction has unit norm, since . On its nonzero half, with . A small domain qualification is important: the derivative jumps at zero, so the state is not in the operator domain of the Dirichlet Hamiltonian operator. Its finite energy expectation value is nevertheless defined by the quadratic form of a positive quantum Hamiltonian. The energy form of a half-well sine state givesThis is also the rigorous weak interpretation of the printed . Indeed the distributional second derivative is inside the well. The Dirac delta term pairs to zero because . One should not instead conclude that this state is an energy eigenstate from its equation on just the positive half.
Its coefficients in the full-well energy eigenstates areFor even , sine orthogonality gives and all other even coefficients zero. For , set and use . Product-to-sum integration then givesSince these coefficients are , converges, confirming that the state has finite energy. With , the spectral expression isThe kinetic-energy quadratic form equals this spectral sum: expanding the weak derivative in the corresponding orthonormal cosine modes and using Parseval's identity gives . Equating it to the directly integrated value provesIn contrast, diverges, consistently showing why is not an ordinary square-integrable vector even though the energy expectation is finite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 18F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-20
Infinite walls impose the Dirichlet boundary conditions . Inside the infinite square well, the time-independent Schrödinger equation is . Its nonzero solutions satisfying both endpoint conditions have wave numbers , . Sincethe normalized energy eigenstates are the sine modes with prefactor . They are orthonormal by sine orthogonality and complete by the Fourier sine series on an interval of length . Differentiating twice gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 14C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let denote the identity endomorphism. The two-root minimal polynomial gives . Every vector has the decompositionThe first summand lies in the eigenspace , and the second in . If a vector belongs to both, subtracting its two eigenvalue equations gives , hence . Thus .
For distinct real roots , define polynomial projectorsThe Lagrange interpolation polynomials in this expression sum to one: their sum has degree at most and equals one at the distinct roots. Hence . Also , because its numerator is the minimal polynomial evaluated at . Thus every vector is a sum of eigenvectors, . On , acts as , so applying to any zero sum of vectors from the eigenspaces shows that every summand is zero. ThereforeChoosing a basis in each eigenspace proves diagonalizability over the reals. Conversely, if a real matrix is similar over the reals to a diagonal matrix, a polynomial annihilates it exactly when it vanishes at each distinct real diagonal entry. Its minimal polynomial is therefore the product of those distinct linear factors. We have proved real diagonalizability is equivalent to a minimal polynomial with distinct real roots.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 14C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write for the Jordan block with diagonal and ones on the superdiagonal. Its characteristic polynomial and minimal polynomial are both . Therefore one answer to the first request isFor the second request, takeThe algebraic multiplicities are five and two, and the largest block at each eigenvalue has size two, so both prescribed polynomials hold. They are not similar matrices: the eigenspace at three has dimensions three and four respectively, and similarity preserves eigenspace dimension.
There is no third similarity class. At eigenvalue one, the total size two and maximal block size two force the single block . At eigenvalue three, the blocks partition five, each has size at most two, and at least one has size two. The only partitions are and . The uniqueness of Jordan normal form up to block order therefore leaves exactly the two classes already exhibited.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 7E c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
If with an odd prime, then but . The multiplicative order consequently divides four and is neither one nor two, so it is four. The preceding divisibility result makes necessary.
For sufficiency, suppose and put , an even integer. Pair opposite factors in the factorial:Wilson's theorem gives , explicitly producing a square root of minus one modulo a prime. Thus
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 7E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be the multiplicative order of modulo . Use Euclidean division to write , . Since ,If , minimality of forces , so divides . Conversely, immediately gives . For negative integers , powers are interpreted using the multiplicative inverse and the same argument applies.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 7E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
If is a prime number and , multiplication by permutes the nonzero residue classes modulo : implies because has a multiplicative inverse. Multiplying all the permuted classes givesThe factorial is a nonzero element of the finite field , so cancellation is valid. Thereforewhich is Fermat's little theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 5E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write , and . The residues are exactly the odd factors of , in reverse order. Henceby Wilson's theorem. It follows that the odd-residue squared product modulo a prime isThus it is for and for .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 5E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a prime number , the nonzero residue classes form the multiplicative group of the finite field . Every class has a unique multiplicative inverse. A class equals its own inverse precisely when , so in the field and or .
For an odd prime, pair each remaining class with its distinct inverse. Each pair contributes one to the product, leavingFor , the same congruence is . This proves Wilson's theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 1E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
No such set exists. If had precisely the sets satisfying as its elements, applying that membership criterion to itself would givea contradiction. This is Russell's paradox. It rules out this unrestricted universal collection; a set whose elements happen not to contain themselves is perfectly possible, for example the empty set.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 4 1E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Suppose were a surjection onto the power set of the set . Form the subsetSurjectivity would give with . But then holds exactly when , a contradiction. Hence no such surjection exists, and in particular there is no bijection between a set and its power set. This is the diagonal construction in Cantor's theorem; it also covers the empty set, whose power set has one element.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 3 8D ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The direct product of groups uses componentwise multiplication:Associativity follows in each factor. The maps and are injective group homomorphisms onto subgroups, giving the required copies of and .
Use the PDF's convention that the subscript in is the group order. Write the hexagon group as and the triangle group as . Let generate . In , has order three and conjugates it to its inverse, so is a copy of . The element has order two and is central, since .
DefineThe generator relations are preserved and commutes with the other images, so is a group homomorphism from the direct product. The six residues are distinct modulo six: reduction modulo two first determines , then reduction modulo three determines . Together with , they give all twelve distinct normal forms in . Thus is bijective andThis is the dihedral splitting when the half-rotation order is odd with half-rotation order three.
Finally, contains an element of order six, namely . The even cycle types on four symbols are the identity, a 3-cycle, and two disjoint transpositions; their orders are respectively one, three and two. Therefore has no element of order six. Since a group isomorphism preserves element orders,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 3 8D i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Compose permutations from right to left. The indicated cycle lengths immediately give . Under conjugation, . Since sends to and fixes ,Direct composition also gives . Thus is a Klein four-group. Conjugation by cycles its three nonidentity elements, so normalizes .
The cosets have four elements each and are distinct. If two coincided, a nontrivial power of would belong to , impossible because it has order three whereas every nonidentity element of has order two. Hence the subgroup generated by contains at least twelve elements. These generators are even permutations, so the subgroup lies in the alternating group , whose order is ; multiplying by one fixed transposition pairs even and odd permutations to justify this count. ThereforeThe calculation also describes as the semidirect product , with the order-three factor permuting the three involutions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 1 9D iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
All three examples below have radius of convergence one, because the th roots of their coefficient moduli tend to one.
For convergence everywhere on the boundary, take . On it converges absolutely: for , , whose sum telescopes to a finite value.
For divergence everywhere on the boundary, take . If , every term has modulus one, so the term test for divergence applies.
For mixed boundary behavior, take . At it is the divergent harmonic series; each successive dyadic block contributes at least . At every other point , summation by parts proves convergence. Indeed put , so the finite geometric series gives . ThenThus the partial sums form a Cauchy sequence and converge. This derives the relevant Dirichlet test rather than only naming it.
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