Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2025 Paper 2 18 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
The symmetric and antisymmetric parts of a matrix areIndeed , while the transpose identities give and . Thus is a symmetric matrix and is an antisymmetric matrix. The decomposition is also unique: a matrix that is both symmetric and antisymmetric must equal its own negative and hence vanish.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2025 Paper 2 16 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Put and . All vector fields and their spatial partial derivatives below are evaluated at . The product rule for a dot product givesBecause the vector field has no explicit time dependence, the multivariable chain rule gives , where the Jacobian matrix has entries . ConsequentlyThe first term measures the change of the curl sampled as the point moves; the second measures the change in the velocity vector used in the dot product.
To give the result explicitly in , define the directional derivative operator . Sincethe same expression isFor example ; the other two terms expand in the same way. Thus only the first and second spatial partial derivatives of , together with the velocity and acceleration of the parametric curve, occur.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2025 Paper 2 15 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Use the given Cartesian coordinates and integrate with respect to first. Since is the derivative of , the double integral becomesA direct antiderivative avoids any issue with the nonmonotonicity of on this interval:The sign changes in make this cancellation possible even though is positive.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2025 Paper 2 14 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Substitute the partial derivatives obtained above. The first-order terms cancel exactly:The transformed partial differential equation is thereforeIn these characteristic coordinates, the mixed partial derivative is the only surviving term.
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