Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 121 2 iv Solution 2026-10-03
Take a transitive model . In , choose a bijection and encode its graph by a set , using a fixed bijection between and . The relative constructible universe can decode , and therefore contains every real number of ; being an inner model of , it has no additional reals.
Models with the same reals have the same first uncountable ordinal, because their reals code exactly the same countable well-orders. If satisfied the Continuum hypothesis, its bijection between and the reals would also belong to , contradicting . This is the construction in relative constructible universe can violate the continuum hypothesis, and it gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 324 2 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The map is a bijection and an involution, so its permutation matrix satisfiesIn particular , which proves that is a unitary operator. Equivalently, it permutes the computational basis and therefore preserves every inner product.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 324 2 b iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
An injective self-map of the finite set is a bijection. For sufficiently large , exactlyoutputs satisfy the integer comparison, so there are exactly good inputs. Prepare the uniform superposition state , whose good probability isUse the phase oracle from the previous part and the reflection . The amplitude amplification theorem requires iterations; each uses two queries, while the state preparation and its reflection are independent of . With the nearest-integer iteration count from that theorem, the failure probability is at most , tending to zero. Therefore the success probability eventually exceeds , withThis is a bound on quantum query complexity; implementation costs of the known gates are not counted as oracle queries.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 348 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write , the absolute Jacobian determinant. Under the usual meaning of a map on domains, the injective area formula gives, for any nonnegative measurable ,This version of the change of variables formula does not require to be nonsingular everywhere. A map is a locally Lipschitz function, and the formula applies by exhaustion if the domains are unbounded. For non-open , one needs the corresponding extension or regularity interpretation of the stated assumption.
First suppose almost everywhere with respect to Lebesgue measure. For each bounded nonnegative measurable ,Taking indicator functions proves .
Conversely, the area formula shows that the measure with probability density function has total mass one and satisfies . The assumed equality then implies , since the measurable bijection has a measurable inverse on these domains. Equivalently, apply both pushforward measure identities to for each Borel set . Uniqueness of the Radon-Nikodym derivative yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 16H i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Choose sets of cardinalities . Their cardinal arithmetic operations arewhere is the set of functions . The relation means that there is an injective function .
The currying law for cardinal exponentiation follows from the explicit bijectionand provesMoreover, is the cardinality of the power set of a set of size , so Cantor theorem gives
For completeness, identify each cardinal with its initial ordinal. Suppose that some infinite violates , and choose the least such cardinal. Well-order the pairs first by and then lexicographically. Every proper initial segment is contained in together with finitely many boundary pieces for some , and has cardinality below by minimality. The resulting well-order therefore has cardinality at most . The reverse inequality is immediate from , contradicting the choice of . Thus the square of an infinite cardinal satisfies .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 3 5E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
A group action of on is a map such that and . The orbit and stabilizer of areFor a finite group, the mapis a well-defined bijection from the left cosets of to . Each coset has elements, so the orbit-stabilizer theorem is
The Cauchy theorem for groups says that if a prime number divides , then has an element of order . To prove it, letThe first entries determine the last, so , which is divisible by . The cyclic group acts on by cyclically rotating the entries; rotation preserves the product condition becauseEvery orbit has size one or . The fixed points are exactly the tuples with . Their number is therefore divisible by . Since the identity gives one fixed point, there is another, and its entry has order .
Now let . Cauchy's theorem gives a subgroup of order . Let act by the conjugation action on the set of subgroups of order . It fixes . If it also fixed , then would normalize ; since , the product would be a subgroup of order , which is impossible. Every other -orbit in therefore has size , soDistinct members of share only the identity and each contributes ten nonidentity elements. Hence , forcing . Thus is a normal subgroup.
Conjugation now defines a group homomorphismBecause , its automorphism group has order . By the Lagrange theorem, the image has order dividing both and , so the image is trivial and lies in the center of . Cauchy's theorem also supplies of order . If generates , then and commute and has order . Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 3 6E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
A Möbius transformation of the Riemann sphere is a mapwith its natural values at the pole and at infinity.
For three distinct points , defineThe usual limiting conventions cover an infinite . This Möbius transformation sends to . Defining similarly, the mapsends to . If two Möbius transformations do so, their quotient fixes . A Möbius transformation fixing infinity is affine, and fixing zero and one then makes it the identity. This proves uniqueness.
With this convention, the cross-ratio isSubstitution shows that translations, nonzero scalings, and inversion preserve it; since these generate the Möbius group, every Möbius transformation preserves cross-ratios.
Conversely, suppose a bijection of the Riemann sphere preserves every cross-ratio. Let be the unique Möbius transformation agreeing with at three chosen points . For any other , preservation by and givesThe last coordinate in a cross-ratio with three fixed distinct entries is injective, so . The equality already holds at the three base points, hence everywhere and is Möbius.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 3 8E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
The set consists of all bijections . The composition of two bijections is a bijection, composition is associative, the identity map is an identity, and every bijection has an inverse, so is a group.
An element of has finite support. The support of a composition is contained in the union of the two supports, and a permutation and its inverse have the same support. The identity has empty support. Hence is a subgroup.
Let be a cycle and choose that it moves. Because has finite support, the sequencemust repeat. Since is invertible, its first repetition returns to ; let the least positive return time be . The cycle condition says that every moved point occurs in this orbit, so fixes every point. No smaller positive power fixes . Thereforewhich is finite.
For , partition its finite support into the orbits of the cyclic group . On each orbit, let agree with and fix every point outside that orbit. Then each is a permutation cycle, their supports are pairwise disjoint, andDisjoint cycles commute because at every point at most one of them acts nontrivially.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 3 11G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-10-03
For , the function is differentiable at if there is a linear map such thatThe linear map is unique and is the Frechet derivative . The function is continuously differentiable at if it is differentiable on a neighbourhood of and the map , with values in the space of linear maps equipped with the operator norm, is continuous at .
If is linear, thenConsequently at every . The derivative is a constant function of , hence is continuous, so every linear map is continuously differentiable everywhere.
The mean value inequality says that if the line segment lies in andthenTo prove it, put . The claim is immediate if . Otherwise set and apply the one-dimensional mean value theorem to the real-valued functionFor some , the chain rule givesas required.
Now suppose that is open and connected and that for every . Every point has an open ball contained in . The mean value inequality with shows that is constant on each such ball, so is locally constant. Fix . The level setis nonempty and open in ; its complement is also open because is locally constant. Since is connected, . This proves the zero derivative on a connected open set result: is constant.
The inverse function theorem states that if is continuously differentiable, , and is an invertible linear map, then there are open neighbourhoods of and of such that is a bijection whose inverse is continuously differentiable.
For the curve in the question, define the continuously differentiable functionThenThe implicit function theorem, which follows from the inverse function theorem applied to , therefore gives an open interval containing , an open neighbourhood of , and a continuously differentiable, hence continuous, function such that
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 116 3 b Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
No. Letthe successor cardinal of computed by . Then , and regards as a cardinal number. Because is transitive, , so externallyOn the other hand , hence in the ambient universe. A corresponding bijection belongs to because its rank is below the inaccessible limit . Thus regards as equinumerous with and therefore not as a cardinal. This is an instance of cardinal nonabsoluteness in a small transitive model.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 160 3 a i Solution 2026-09-28
Use a beta set on an -runner partition abacus. A hook of length divisible by corresponds to a bead and a gap on the same runner. Divide both runner positions by . They become a bead and a gap at distance in the runner partition , and hence determine a hook there. This gives the required bijection, with .
Removing replaces the bead by the gap . On its runner this is exactly the bead move that removes , while every other runner is unchanged. Thus hook removal commutes with the construction andThis is the abacus divisible-hook correspondence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 324 1 c i Solution Created 2026-09-25 Updated 2026-10-03
For each fixed , right multiplication by is a bijection of , whose inverse is right multiplication by . Therefore permutes the displayed orthonormal basis of the tensor-product space. It is consequently a unitary operator, with
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 324 1 b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Since , multiplication by modulo is a bijection of , with inverse multiplication by the modular inverse . Hence permutes the standard orthonormal basis. It preserves all inner products and satisfiesso is a unitary operator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 224 1 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Independence makesa Markov chain. The data processing inequality for mutual information therefore gives . Translation by the known value of is a bijection, so conditional entropy and independence giveand . Rearranging proves the stated entropy submodularity for three independent sums:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 224 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Because the Entropic Ruzsa distance depends only on marginal distributions, take independent with the required marginals. Since is a function of , the data processing inequality for mutual information yieldsThe map is a bijection. Using independence and the chain rule for information entropy, the left side iswhereas the right side is . Hencewhere the final step is subadditivity of information entropy. Substituting this inequality into the definition of gives the Entropic Ruzsa triangle inequality
Permutation Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Pointwise periodic self-map 2026-10-07
A pointwise periodic self-map returns each point to itself after a positive number of iterates which may depend on the point. It is a bijection: each finite cycle supplies predecessors; equality of two images can be undone by an iterate with an exponent one below a common multiple of the two periods. The set consequently decomposes into disjoint finite permutation cycles. Pointwise periodicity does not imply that one iterate is the identity on an infinite set.
Real-number pairing by separated digits 2026-10-07
Map each real into by a fixed bijection, choose its canonical binary expansion, and alternate the two bit sequences as ternary digits and . If two such outputs first differ at position , the leading difference has size and the remaining tail has size at most , so they are unequal. This gives an explicit injection pairing two reals. Iteration encodes every fixed finite real tuple without invoking ambiguous decimal expansions.
Robinson–Schensted correspondence Created 2026-10-06 Updated 2026-10-07
Insert the successive letters of a permutation by row insertion to obtain an insertion tableau , recording the insertion times in the new boxes of . This is a bijection between permutations and pairs of standard Young tableaux of a common shape. Reverse insertion removes the box marked by the latest recording time. The first row of has length equal to the longest increasing subsequence.
Sign homomorphism Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The sign homomorphism sends an even permutation to and an odd permutation to ; its kernel is the alternating group.
A symmetric group is the group of all bijections from a set to itself, with function composition as its operation.