Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ib Paper 1 10G ii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ib Paper 1 10G i Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 9B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
During ejection, the remaining mass is , and the water is exhausted at . Consider the momentum of the octopus and the small portion of water expelled during . Initially it is . At the end of this interval, the remaining body has mass and velocity , while the expelled mass has laboratory velocity , to first order. Hence the total final momentum isThe external impulse from quadratic drag is . Equating this to the change in total momentum, and dividing by , proves the equation of motionThe outgoing water's momentum flux is essential: applying to the remaining body alone would omit it.
For dimensional analysis, the independent physical inputs are , with dimensionsThe scales , and fix units of mass, time and length. In these units, the only remaining independent dimensionless variables areFor example, with and , the equation of motion becomes , with and ejection ending at . Thus the dimensionless terminal value depends only on , proving .
For its explicit value, put and . The initially stationary solution stays below , since the acceleration vanishes at and is positive below it. Separation of variables givesThe two integrals yieldThis is constant mass-loss propulsion with quadratic drag. At , the remaining mass is , givingThus , verifying the required dimensional form. The limit as drag tends to zero is , the ordinary rocket equation, while the positive-drag answer is below the terminal velocity .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 8D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The key telescoping series identity isFor the requested mathematical induction, when the proposed sum is . If the identity holds for , adding cancels its last term and yields . Thus it holds for every . Since for fixed positive integer , the infinite series has sum .
For the second series, the integral digit condition is , and in particular . Its partial sums are increasing and satisfyThus the bounded monotone sequence theorem proves convergence to a real number . The same telescoping calculation gives, for every ,If positive digits occur infinitely often, then every tail contains a positive term, so . If occurs infinitely often, then every tail contains a digit smaller than its maximum. Indeed,Consequently the two conditions together give for every . Were a rational number, with positive integer , choose . Because , the number is an integer, as is . Their difference would be an integer strictly between zero and one, a contradiction.
Conversely, if positive digits occur only finitely often, then is a finite sum of rational numbers. If digits below their maximum occur only finitely often, then for every for some , givingThese are exactly the two ways the conjunction of infinitude conditions can fail. Hence the irrationality criterion for factorial series is proved in both directions: is irrational exactly when both kinds of digit occur infinitely often.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 7D b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 7D a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 6D c Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 6D b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 6D a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 5D c Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 5D b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 5D a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 4B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Introduce . The phase plane system for the damped pendulum isAt an equilibrium point, and , so all equilibrium points are . Angles identified modulo give one downward and one upward equilibrium point.
The linearization of a dynamical system at has Jacobian matrix and eigenvaluesWhen is even and , both eigenvalues are real and strictly negative, since . These downward equilibrium points are stable nodes. When is even and , the eigenvalues are , so the downward equilibrium points are stable foci, approached with decaying oscillations.
When is odd, , so one eigenvalue is positive and one is negative in either parameter range. Every upward equilibrium point is consequently an unstable saddle equilibrium. All these equilibrium points are hyperbolic equilibria in the two requested cases, so their linearization of a dynamical system gives their local nonlinear classification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 3B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Put and let be the center of mass. Applying Newton's second law separately to the two point masses givesThus the center of mass has constant velocity, . For the relative position , subtraction givesHere is the reduced mass; it converts the relative motion into a one-body equation of motion.
For the given linear force, the relative position obeys simple harmonic motion, , where . The initial rest condition givesFor , collision first occurs when the relative position vanishes, namely when . ThereforeThe separation cancels because the frequency of this simple harmonic motion is independent of its amplitude.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 2D b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 2D a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 1D iv Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 1D iii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 1D ii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 4 1D i Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
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