Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 2 2 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
For Laplace's equation in polar coordinates, put . Separation of variables gives and . Periodicity selects integers . For , the radial solutions are ; for , they are , while a term linear in is excluded by periodicity. Their superposition isInside the disk, boundedness at the origin removes the logarithm and all negative powers. The separately biased semicircular boundary values have mean , no nonconstant cosine coefficients, and sine coefficients for odd , zero for even . The disk potential with two semicircular boundary values is thereforePut . The odd logarithmic series sums to . The quotient has positive real part for , so its argument is the principal arctangent of . Taking imaginary parts givesThe boundary limits away from the two voltage jumps are . Along the diameter through a jump the value is the mean; incompatible adjacent boundary limits prevent a continuous extension at the junctions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 2 10 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
An invariant subspace satisfies for every ; applying the inverse gives equality. The representation is irreducible when the only invariant subspaces are and the full space.
The inverse and conjugate transpose each reverse multiplication order, so their combination preserves it:Its values are invertible, so this is the conjugate contragredient representation.
If is invariant under , take and . For the standard Hermitian inner product,since . Hence , proving its invariance. If is irreducible, is either zero or the whole space; finite-dimensional orthogonal complementation makes the whole space or zero, respectively. Thus is irreducible whenever is irreducible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 2 1 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Choose the Green function convention , with decay at infinity and no extra singularities. For sufficiently decaying source data,Away from its source, this fundamental solution of the Laplace equation is harmonic. Its radial derivative is , so the flux of its gradient through a small source-centred sphere is one. The divergence theorem therefore supplies exactly the unit Dirac delta function required by the equation. Decay at infinity excludes an added globally regular harmonic term.
For the half-space, reflect the source to . The method of images gives the zero-boundary Dirichlet Green functionThe two distances coincide at , and also cancel if the source lies on the plane. The image singularity lies outside the physical domain.
The sign conventions for a Dirichlet Green function require care here. With , Green's second identity gives . At this wall the outward normal is , so . Direct differentiation gives , where . Thus the printed intermediate formula with needs a minus sign for its stated Green convention. The final Poisson kernel for the upper half-space is positive:Its boundary integral is one for constant data, providing an independent sign check.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 9 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Apply the Euler-Lagrange equation to the integrand of , namely . With fixed zero endpoint values, it gives . Multiplying by and using integration by parts gives , so each stationary Rayleigh quotient equals its eigenvalue.
In the half-line problem, , , , so the quotient is . For , , its numerator is and denominator . Hence , minimized at :For the compactly supported linear trial, , the numerator is and denominator . Thus , minimized at , givingThe derivative jump at the cutoff is allowed in the quadratic-form trial space of the Rayleigh-Ritz method: the trial is continuous and has finite form energy.
The exponential ground state of a linearly weighted Sturm-Liouville problem proves which estimate is best. Vanishing endpoint terms giveEquality occurs for , which also satisfies the differential equation with . Thus the exponential trial gives the exact smallest eigenvalue, whereas the linear trial gives a larger upper bound. Finiteness at the singular endpoint supplies the regular branch with ; all the displayed trials have the required vanishing boundary terms.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 8 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
For the zero initial data, the Green function of an undamped oscillator is for , and zero for . It is continuous at the source and its first derivative jumps by one. The resulting convolution isIt vanishes together with its first derivative at zero and has the required resonant forcing.
For the two-endpoint problem, write , , and . This covers both signs of the supplied nonzero . Left and right homogeneous solutions are and , with Wronskian . The Dirichlet Green function is thereforeIts endpoint values are zero and its first derivative jumps by one. Here , so the denominator does not vanish. Integrating the constant forcing givesEquivalently . The negative interior response is consistent with the negative kernel for this short Dirichlet interval.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 7 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Multiply the original equation by . Since , it becomes with , . This is Sturm-Liouville form. For two real eigenfunctions, multiply the equation for by , subtract the equation for multiplied by , and integrate. The Lagrange identity for a Sturm-Liouville operator givesEach separated homogeneous boundary condition makes the corresponding determinant zero, provided its pair of coefficients is not both zero. For distinct eigenvalues, this proves the orthogonality of Sturm-Liouville eigenfunctions.
For the constant drift, the drift-removing substitution for a Dirichlet Sturm-Liouville problem is . It reduces the equation to with . Nonzero solutions occur exactly atThe zero and negative values give only the zero solution under both endpoint conditions. The self-adjoint expression is . Hence the weight is , and for the displayed normalization,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 6 i Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 5 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
A matrix is diagonalizable if some invertible makes diagonal, equivalently if it has a basis of eigenvectors. If and for , then , so every eigenvalue is zero. There is at least one zero eigenvalue: otherwise and hence would be invertible. A diagonalizable nilpotent matrix has an all-zero diagonal form and therefore is zero itself.
For the specified matrices, direct determinant expansion givesThe Cayley-Hamilton theorem gives . Its entry is nonzero for every real , so is not diagonalizable for any . The matrix has three distinct real eigenvalues and is therefore diagonalizable over . For an explicit check, take columns , , in ; then .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 3 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
With the stated angular-frequency convention, the inverse Fourier transform is . Direct integration gives . For , integration by parts has zero boundary terms and gives . ThereforeThis also follows from the Fourier transform of a polynomial multiple, since multiplication by corresponds to .
To prove Parseval's identity, substitute the inverse transform of into . Under the assumed integrability, Fubini's theorem permits interchange, and the inner integral is . HenceApply this with . The spatial Gamma integral is . The transformed squared modulus is , giving the scaled even rational Parseval integral
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 2 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Separation of variables in the wave equation with fixed endpoints selects and angular frequencies , . The time factors may be chosen as , . By Fourier sine series orthogonality, the initial data giveHence . The factor in is required because differentiating the time sine supplies .
The given displacement is a symmetric triangular tent: it is zero at both endpoints and has height at . Integrating each linear half gives . Release from rest gives , so the midpoint-plucked fixed-end string isOnly odd modes occur, by symmetry about the midpoint. The initial slope corner makes this a finite-energy weak solution; it is a classical solution away from the propagating corner lines.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2006 Paper 1 1 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
In Cartesian coordinates, . For orthogonal coordinates, let be the position, the scale factors of orthogonal coordinates, and the corresponding unit vectors. Since and , comparison of independent increments gives the gradient in orthogonal coordinates:For the hyperbolic parametrization of oblate spheroidal coordinates, the three coordinate tangent vectors areTheir pairwise dot products are zero. Their squared Euclidean norms are , , and , respectively. Thus the coordinate surfaces meet orthogonally wherever this is a regular coordinate chart, andThe last expression uses the usual latitude range ; without that range a scale factor is its absolute value. Axial or ring degeneracies are excluded from a regular chart.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2005 Paper 2 9 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
A group homomorphism preserves multiplication, . A group isomorphism is a bijective homomorphism. An isomorphism from a group to itself is a group automorphism.
The automorphism group contains the identity map. Composition is associative, and if are automorphisms, ; composition is also bijective. For and , , proving the inverse bijection is a homomorphism. These facts establish all group axioms.
A finite cyclic group is with of order . The map is well defined modulo , bijective onto the roots of unity, and preserves multiplication. It identifies with the multiplicative group of th roots of unity.
For prime , Lagrange's theorem leaves only subgroup orders one and : there is no nontrivial proper subgroup. The trivial subgroup is nevertheless proper when , so that qualification is necessary in the printed claim. The characterization of groups with no proper nontrivial subgroups makes the distinction explicit.
For composite , choose a prime divisor and take , of orders and . They are distinct proper subgroups, with nontrivial. If the question intended two nontrivial proper subgroups, that demand is not always possible: a cyclic group of order has only the one of order . The subgroups and quotients of a cyclic group are controlled by its divisors. The order-one group is a separate trivial case, with no proper subgroups.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2005 Paper 2 8 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
A left coset is . The cosets partition a finite group into equally sized sets of elements, so Lagrange's theorem gives ; in particular subgroup order divides group order.
The table proves closure, is the identity and every element is its own inverse. Associativity is inherited from matrix multiplication, so this is the Klein four-group.
Finally, if every nonidentity element has order two, every element satisfies , including the identity. Then . Thus a group of exponent two is abelian.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2005 Paper 2 7 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
The kinetic energy is . Differentiating the given potential and applying Newton's second law givesThese are the normal modes of a symmetric three-mass string, with mass matrix and stiffness matrix . The coordinate order here is , although the spatial order along the string is .
Reflection symmetry splits the generalized eigenvalue problem into an antisymmetric mode , , with , and symmetric modes . Writing , these obey and . Thus . The three results areThe displacement vectors are mutually orthogonal under the mass-weighted inner product , as required for these conservative normal modes.
The three transverse normal modes in their physical order along the string
. Original mode shapes with segment length . The moving particles have masses from left to right and positions . Vertical displacements are normalized independently in each panel; straight string segments join the particles and fixed endpoints. Details. There are unlisted articles, also show them or only show them.


