Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 202 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Tanaka equation is an example:It has weak solutions and uniqueness in law, but lacks pathwise uniqueness. The value is deliberate: using the sign function with value zero at zero would admit the identically zero solution and would change the example.
For a quick verification, take a Brownian motion and put . Its quadratic variation is , so it is a Brownian motion by the Lévy characterization of Brownian motion, and associativity of stochastic integration gives . Every weak solution likewise has quadratic variation and therefore the law of Brownian motion. On this same enlarged filtration, both and solve the equation driven by : away from zero, and the Brownian zero set has zero time measure, so the discrepancy at zero contributes nothing to the Itô integral. These solutions differ with positive probability at any positive time. This proves the claimed distinction without relying on a choice of zero convention left unstated.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 202 1 a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The integrand is a bounded previsible process, so is a continuous local martingale. The quadratic variation of a stochastic integral isbecause the Brownian zero set has zero Lebesgue measure. Since , the Lévy characterization of Brownian motion shows that is a standard Brownian motion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 202 4 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
LetThe clock is an absolutely continuous function and is strictly increasing: its derivative is positive away from the Brownian zero set, which has zero Lebesgue measure. It also tends to infinity. This is immediate for ; for , recurrence and the Strong Markov property imply that the Brownian occupation time of, for example, is unbounded, while the integrand is bounded below there by .
Thus is continuous, strictly increasing, and maps onto itself. Its inverse function is finite, continuous, and strictly increasing.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 202 4 f Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let . Since is the clock from part (b) and ,For , the absolutely continuous function has derivative on . The one-dimensional area bound for an absolutely continuous function therefore givesFor , and the conclusion follows directly because the Brownian zero set has zero Lebesgue measure. Hence the zero set of has zero Lebesgue measure almost surely.