Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 12 5 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Set . Since , the field is , and everywhere, even when the gradient of is unbounded. The divergence theorem on givesLetting proves . This is the fact that an entire bounded vector field cannot have nonzero constant divergence; it holds in every dimension.
The equation is now exactly the minimal surface equation for a graph. Apply the supplied Bernstein theorem for minimal graphs in dimensions to concludeThus no nonzero constant right-hand side is possible for an entire graph, and in the stated dimensions every possible graph is an affine plane.