Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ib Paper 1 4C Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
At a regular constrained extremum of on , the tangent derivatives of vanish. Since is normal to the constraint surface, the Lagrange multiplier condition isOne solves these equations and then compares the resulting candidates, including any boundary or singular cases.
Let the base have dimensions and , and let the height be . Measure cardboard relative to the thickness of the front and back. The weighted amount used isbecause the bottom has triple thickness, the two front and back faces have ordinary thickness, and the two side faces have double thickness. The constraint is .
The multiplier equations areThey implyThus and ; imposing gives . ThereforeThis is the global minimum: by the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality,and equality holds at these dimensions. This is an instance of weighted open-box minimization.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ib Paper 4 18H b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 205 1 d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
PutThe numerator is the linear kernel, while the reciprocal of the denominator is the kernel from part c applied to and . The product of positive-semidefinite kernels therefore shows that is a positive-semidefinite kernel. The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality give , soEach power is positive semidefinite by the Schur product theorem, and the convergent sum is positive semidefinite.
Moreover . If is its canonical feature map, thenThe feature-space norm gives symmetry and the triangle inequality. Finally, implies , hence andwhich is equivalent to . Thus is a metric rather than merely a pseudometric.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 109 3 iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Apply coordinate compression in a product of paths in both coordinates. Replacing every fiber by an initial interval preserves the number of edges inside that fiber; between two neighboring fibers, the compressed sets span the minimum of their sizes, at least their original intersection size. Repeating the operation therefore never decreases the number of edges spanned and eventually produces a down-set.
If every , then each diagonal entry of the Gram matrix is , so its matrix trace is . Using iii and the permitted arithmetic-geometric mean inequality,The bound is attained by any orthonormal family, whose Gram matrix is the identity matrix.
The base costs , the glass front costs , the wooden rear costs , and the other two walls cost . Thus minimize subject to . With the Lagrange multiplier convention , the equations areMultiply these by , respectively. Comparing their equal right sides gives . Since all dimensions are positive, and . The volume condition then yieldsThis stationary shape is the unique global minimum, not merely a candidate: the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality applied to the three cost terms giveswith equality exactly at those ratios. Therefore the least cost, in pounds in the specified units, isThis is a weighted open-box minimization, with each pair of opposite walls combined into its appropriate positive face weight.
Take positive dimensions measured in metres. The volume is and the external surface area constraint is . There is one base and four walls, with no lid. The Lagrange multiplier equations for areThe first equation implies . Multiply the first by and the second by and subtract; this gives , hence . The last equation gives . Substituting into the first yields and therefore .
The constraint now reads . ThusFor a global check, apply the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality to , and , whose sum is . Their product is , so no feasible box has . Equality holds exactly at the dimensions found above. This is the maximum-volume open rectangular box at fixed surface area.
Minimize the squared distance , which has the same minimizers as the distance. The Lagrange multiplier equations for the constraint areThe constraint gradient cannot vanish on this branch, since its second component is . Eliminate to obtain . Put ; then , so . But the constraint says , requiring and selecting . It follows thatTo prove a global minimum on the whole branch, substitute into :The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality proves this bound, with equality only when , namely . Thus the stationary point is the unique closest point on the required branch. Numerically it is approximately and its distance is in coordinate units.
Take a face on the flat base and let be its positive half-widths, with height . The upper vertices meet the spherical boundary at , and the rectangular parallelepiped has volume . A Lagrange multiplier givesMultiplication by respectively shows . Positivity and the constraint give . ThereforeBoundary choices with a zero dimension give zero volume, so this is the maximum in this configuration.
The maximum-volume cuboid in a hemisphere also has a bound covering arbitrary orientations. Let be any box's half-edge lengths, its centre coordinates in its orthonormal edge basis, and the vertical unit-vector coordinates. Remaining above the base plane requires , so for at least one index. Its farthest vertex obeyswhere containment supplies the first inequality. The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality applied to the three terms for and yields . Thus its full volume cannot exceed the value attained above; tilting cannot improve it. Boundary contact is allowed for the maximum; strict containment would give the same supremum.
Let the fixed positive volume be . For an interior constrained extremum, Lagrange multipliers applied to the energy giveMultiplying these equations by shows that . Since the lengths are positive, .
The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality proves this is the global minimum:with equality exactly for equal sides. Thus the optimal shape is a cube, and .
Because all variables are positive, the product constraint is equivalent to . The Lagrange multiplier equations forare . Thus every equals , and the constraint requires . The candidate minimum is thereforeFor a global justification, put . The objective becomes the strictly convex function on the affine constraint . A stationary point of this restricted convex function is its unique global minimum, establishing the claim without presupposing the desired inequality.
Finally take and divide the minimum bound by . This is the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality:with equality exactly when all the positive variables are equal.
The Hessian matrix isAt each nonzero stationary point, its diagonal entries are and the off-diagonal entries are . Its eigenvalues are and , both positive. Thus the Hessian matrix is positive definite, and the second-derivative test proves thatTheir common value is . In fact they are global minima: with , the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality gives , soThe last one-variable polynomial attains its minimum at , and equality in the first bound requires , precisely the four points above.
The boundary conditions on the positive half-line, absent from the transcription, select the half-harmonic oscillator. The trial state with satisfies both endpoints and has finite norm and energy. Integration by parts, with vanishing endpoint term, givesUsing , the three required integrals areThus the exponential trial state for a half-harmonic oscillator gives . Its derivative vanishes at , and the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality confirms the global minimum:For comparison, the exact lowest half-line state is proportional to and has eigenvalue three. The exponential trial family gives a valid upper bound rather than an exact eigenvalue.
For an isolated system with equally probable accessible microstates, Boltzmann entropy is . The second law states that an isolated system's total entropy cannot decrease; it remains constant in a reversible process and increases in an irreversible one.
The insulated mixture exchanges no heat with its surroundings. At constant pressure, with only pressure-volume work, its enthalpy is conserved. Constant and equal specific heat capacities therefore give . Calculate each entropy change along a hypothetical reversible temperature path:The surroundings gain no entropy through heat exchange; ideal mechanical work carries no entropy. The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality gives , with equality only for . Mixing unequal temperatures is irreversible even though total energy is conserved.
We first derive the stress and energy facts used in both parts. The Cauchy traction is force per unit area in the deformed configuration. The first Piola-Kirchhoff traction is force per unit reference area. Their force vectors are measured in the same spatial coordinates, but the area measures and the normals used to specify the surface are different.
Parametrize a reference surface by . Its oriented area vector is . Under deformation, the two tangents become . The cross-product identitytherefore proves Nanson's formula . Equality of the physical force on corresponding surface patches now givesSince this holds for every reference normal,The first Piola-Kirchhoff stress tensor is generally not symmetric, whereas the Cauchy stress tensor is symmetric in the absence of couple stresses.
For the stated energy on orientation-preserving gradients, differentiation givesA stress-free state satisfies . Taking determinants yields , so and : precisely . These states are also the global energy minimizers. If are the singular values, the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality gives , with equality only when the singular values are equal. The function decreases up to and increases thereafter, with minimum . Thus , with equality precisely at rotations. A constant shift of the energy can set this minimum to zero without changing the stress.
A dead-load traction is prescribed force per unit reference area whose vector is independent of the deformation. It is imposed through on the reference boundary. It does not rotate or rescale with the current surface as a follower load would.
Elastic incompressibility imposes and adds a scalar Lagrange multiplier to the constitutive law. With the pressure sign convention used here,The pressure field is determined by equilibrium and boundary conditions, rather than by the strain energy density alone.
For the diagonal homogeneous deformation, and . Isotropy makes diagonal here, with entries , soThe six face conditions are exactly . Thus for each , orNecessity follows from the boundary conditions. Conversely these equations give a constant pressure and constant stress satisfying those conditions, while because the stress is constant and there is no body force. This proves sufficiency as well.
For the particular energy, . Put and . Elastic incompressibility gives , henceEquality for every pair is therefore equivalent to . If all stretches are equal, their positive product one gives , with . Otherwise . Conversely any positive triple with this sum and product one solves the equations, with . Thus the complete solutions within the stated homogeneous diagonal ansatz are the unit triple and the stated sum-product family.
By the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality, , with equality only at the unit triple. Consequently admits only that triple, including equality, when the two descriptions coincide.
To prove infinitely many for , choose near one and setAt the discriminant is ; it stays positive on an interval about one, and both roots remain positive. Every such gives a different admissible triple. HenceThe degeneracy has an energy explanation: under the product constraint the strain energy density is , and the total potential under dead loading is . It depends on the three stretches only through their sum. Its minimum over attainable moves from to the whole level set when the load exceeds .
The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality for the positive numbers and givesEquality holds precisely when , hence at . Thus , attained only at . Equivalently, the exact identity proves the same global bound.
The update in Newton's method is exactly . Positivity is preserved, and the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality from part (a) applies to every update. ConsequentlyThis holds even when : the first update moves to or above the positive square root.
For positive edge lengths the volume is and the surface area constraint is . Introduce a Lagrange multiplier :The stationary point equations areMultiplying these by , respectively, and equating their left sides gives and . Because all edge lengths are positive, the equations imply ; hence . The constraint gives .
To establish a global maximum, rather than only a stationary point, apply the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality to :Equality holds exactly when , or . Therefore
The global bound requiresSince the strip count must be even, the smallest count certified by this bound is .
For the tighter bound, use the bisection method on the continuous extension for . The initial root bracket is valid: , while is below the global bound and hence below . To identify the smallest admissible even count, the monotonicity of can also be justified.
Put andFor , differentiation showsThe numerator is nonnegative because : its difference from starts at zero and has nonnegative derivative , by the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality. Thus , and . Therefore increases with , so is strictly decreasing with . Bisection locates its unique threshold crossing; then check the neighboring even integers, retaining the strict error inequality.
For example, and , so the tighter bound certifies strips. These are evaluations of the bound, not an assumption that it equals the actual quadrature error.

