Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 2 5B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Introduce . The pendulum with quadratic damping is the autonomous planar systemIts equilibrium points are . Since the derivative of is zero at zero, the linearization of a dynamical system at each equilibrium point isAt an odd multiple of its eigenvalues are , so it is a saddle equilibrium; the stable and unstable tangents are and . At an even multiple the eigenvalues are . This linearization is a centre and does not decide the nonlinear stability. In particular it would be incorrect to infer a linear damped focus from this Jacobian.
For the full system the mechanical energy is a Lyapunov function near an even equilibrium point:A sufficiently small sublevel set is compact and contains only that equilibrium point. The only invariant motion with has and , hence is the equilibrium point itself. The LaSalle invariance principle proves asymptotic stability. Near it the trajectories turn clockwise and spiral inward, as the near-linear angular motion persists while energy decreases. Thus even equilibria are nonhyperbolic asymptotically stable spiral points; odd equilibria remain saddles.
Local phase trajectories near a stable pendulum equilibrium and an unstable saddle with quadratic damping
. Details. For explicit trajectories put on a branch where . The chain rule gives , so the two signs yield the first-order linear differential equations for , and for . Their integrating factors giveOnly portions with a nonnegative right-hand side are physical. At a turning point the constants of the two branches are matched using ; neither expression is one global trajectory through both signs. When they reduce to energy contours, with closed orbits around the even equilibrium points. For every , the quadratic damping destroys those closed orbits and makes the centres attracting spirals. Its effect is higher order in amplitude, so decay is weaker near rest than with linear damping. The saddle equilibria remain unstable, though their separatrices change shape.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 2 6B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The chain rule gives and . The coefficients of and are and . Their integer roots are and . Thus choose characteristic coordinates , , whose Jacobian determinant is . The coefficient of is , so the equation becomes , equivalently .
Integrating the transformed hyperbolic partial differential equation gives . Along the coordinates are , so the zero boundary condition gives for every real . Along they are , so , hence . The constants cancel and the unique resulting solution isIt directly satisfies both boundary conditions and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 2 7B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Work on an interval where the change of variables is smooth and invertible, with . If , the chain rule gives and . Eliminating using the original second-order linear differential equation givesFor the real transformation as printed, take . Set , which is the Liouville transformation of a second-order equation. Differentiating twice makes the coefficient of cancel. Dividing by leavesThe additional term is exactly , as required.
On an interval with , choose and therefore up to a constant. Primes in the following expression mean derivatives with respect to . We have and , giving the WKB correction termNeglecting gives . Since , the WKB approximation isChanging the lower integration limit only rescales the constants. Small is the stated local approximation criterion; rapid variation or a turning point can invalidate it, and small local residual alone need not imply uniform accuracy over an arbitrarily long interval.
The printed hypothesis only says . If real on the interval, the printed square roots require a consistent complex branch. Equivalently a real WKB approximation isThis supplies the oscillatory interpretation for the negative- case instead of silently assuming that the original nonzero hypothesis means positive. Smoothness through the derivatives used above and absence of zeros are required locally.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 3 3A i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For the positive Euclidean norm , the chain rule givesRepeated indices use the Einstein summation convention. The origin is excluded because the Euclidean norm is not differentiable there. Another derivative, useful below, is , with the Kronecker delta.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 3 9A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
In cylindrical coordinates, and . The chain rule gives and . ThereforeThis is cylindrically radial divergence, valid for .
The bounded domain is outside the unit cylinder, below the inverse-square surface and above the lower plane:The upper plane touches only the rim ; it is not an extra positive-area top face. Revolving the shaded meridional region below around the axis gives the three-dimensional domain.
Meridional section of the annular volume between the unit cylinder, inverse-square surface and lower plane
. Details. With the Jacobian determinant of cylindrical coordinates,Zero divergence gives , hence the most general solution on the positive radial interval isAlthough this vector field is singular on the axis if , the entire closure of lies at , so it is smooth on a neighbourhood of and the divergence theorem applies.
Its volume integral of divergence is zero. Compute the outward surface integral directly. On the inner cylinder, , , and the flux is . On the curved roof , the outward vector surface element of a graph isTherefore its flux isThe horizontal bottom has zero flux and the top rim has zero surface area. Summing giveswhich verifies the divergence theorem with every boundary contribution accounted for.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 10 1 3 Solution 2026-10-06
For a radial function, the Laplacian is . Introduce the retarded and advanced null coordinates and the radial reduction of the three-dimensional wave equation:The chain rule gives and . Consequently the inhomogeneous wave equation isMultiplying the radial wave equation by removes its first-order radial derivative:Thus the particularly useful retarded and advanced null coordinates form isThese formulas hold for . At the axis, smooth spherical symmetry imposes and ; equivalently has a smooth odd extension across .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 17 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A tangent vector at is a derivation at a point: a real-linear map on germs of smooth functions satisfyingAddition and scalar multiplication preserve this identity, defining the tangent space as a vector space. A derivation annihilates constants. In a manifold chart centered near , the local factorization , with , gives . The factorization follows by integrating the first derivatives along a straight segment in a sufficiently small coordinate ball. ThereforeConversely these coordinate derivatives satisfy the derivation identity, so they really give a basis rather than merely a spanning family.
The cotangent space is the dual vector space . Its basis is characterized by . If , the chain rule gives the cotangent coordinate transitionThe cotangent bundle is the disjoint union , with projection . For each base manifold chart , defineIts inverse sends to . On overlaps the transition is , with the displayed fibre-linear transformation. Its coefficients and inverse are smooth, so these maps give a smooth atlas in dimension . Give the total space the topology obtained by transporting the product topology through these charts. Different base points are separated by disjoint base neighborhoods; distinct points over the same base point are separated within one bundle chart. A countable base smooth atlas and countable product bases give second countability. Thus the total space is a Hausdorff, second-countable smooth manifold. The same charts are vector bundle trivializations, since is product projection and their fibre changes are invertible linear maps.
The intrinsic canonical one-form on a cotangent bundle isIn the bundle chart it is . This definition is coordinate independent, hence its exterior derivative is the globally defined smooth differential two-formThis sign follows the fibre-first order in this problem; the equally common position-first symplectic form is . The volume formnever vanishes. A smooth manifold is orientable exactly when it admits a nowhere-zero top-degree form; its positive ordered bases determine a consistent orientation. Consequently is an orientable smooth manifold, even when is not. This is cotangent bundle orientation. In dimension zero the same conclusion uses the nowhere-zero zero-form .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 48 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Any nonsingular holomorphic function of chiral superfields is itself a chiral superfield. The graded Leibniz rule and the chain rule giveThus sums, products, convergent power series and inverses on patches where the denominator is nonzero preserve chirality. An ordinary function involving is generally not chiral, because need not vanish. This is why a superpotential is holomorphic. Spacetime derivatives also commute with , so derivatives of chiral superfields remain chiral; chirality by itself does not impose renormalizability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 5 1 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The characteristic curves solve , hence . By the chain rule, . Pulling back along the characteristic flow map givesFor , this is a classical solution: and cancel in the transport equation, and at the initial condition holds. Conversely, constancy along every characteristic curve forces this formula.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 5 1 3 d Solution 2026-10-06
The tangent-line inequality for a differentiable concave function is . Taking and using the Hamilton-Jacobi equation yieldsAlong , the chain rule identifies the left side with . Integrating givesStrict concavity makes equality possible exactly when along the line, which will select the maximizing characteristic curve.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 5 3 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The original PDF assumes at the beginning of this question; the TeX conversion omits that hypothesis. First replace a smooth nonnegative solution by , which solves the same homogeneous divergence-form elliptic equation. For , the chain rule gives the favorable termin the distributional sense. Thus is a weak subsolution. Testing its subsolution inequality with yields the same Caccioppoli inequality as before. More precisely, testing the equation for with givesIndeed the main term is at least , and the cross term is bounded by twice times the square roots of this weighted gradient integral and . Let to obtain the stated power energy estimate.
Apply the fixed-domain Sobolev embedding theorem to . The crucial constant stays uniform before taking the power:where is independent of . This is uniform power gain for elliptic solutions. The exponent is , not the TeX conversion's . The PDF's weaker prefactor outside the power follows from this stronger estimate, but that weaker form alone cannot be iterated infinitely.
For completeness, the estimate also extends to nonnegative locally weak solutions without assuming they are already bounded. For define up to and continue it linearly with slope above ; set . Both have bounded derivatives for fixed . Direct calculation gives and . Test the weak equation with , using smooth approximations to these Sobolev chain rule functions if needed. The resulting weighted energy bound is . If , dominated convergence on the right and the Fatou lemma on the Sobolev left give the boxed gain as , with the same uniform constant. Starting with , this justifies every subsequent iteration step.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 58 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The stellar adiabatic exponents are fixed-composition, constant-specific entropy derivatives:The chain rule gives . Define the pressure derivatives and . The first law of thermodynamics, with , givesCombining this with on an adiabat givesThus the specific-heat ratio is not generally equal to the three stellar adiabatic exponents.
For the mixture, and . The specific heat capacity at constant volume, obtained by differentiating at fixed mass density, isTherefore the adiabatic exponents of a monatomic gas-radiation mixture and its specific-heat ratio areIf a relation involving only the exponents is wanted, eliminate from :For a pure monatomic perfect gas, and . For any calorically perfect gas with constant heat capacities, the same equality holds with its own . In a genuine gas-radiation mixture, , while the exponents are given separately above.
In the radiation limit, and the adiabatic temperature gradient is . This follows independently from photon entropy: a comoving volume has , so an adiabat obeys and . However, is singular in the pure-radiation limit, not . This is the pure-radiation constant-pressure heat-capacity singularity. The equation fixes temperature whenever pressure is fixed, so an ordinary constant-pressure temperature derivative is not available; along the mixture limit and . For photons alone, mass-specific quantities additionally require a material mass label. The often quoted radiation index is its pressure-density adiabatic exponent, not a finite constant-pressure/constant-volume heat-capacity ratio.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 8 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For an autonomous Hamiltonian function, the chain rule and Hamilton's equations giveThus the energy is constant along each characteristic:The time-independent hypothesis is implicit in the displayed expression in this subpart. For the time-dependent Hamiltonian function allowed earlier, the correct Hamiltonian energy balance is insteadFor example has a unique global Hamiltonian flow, but its value along a curve increases at unit rate. Thus conservation cannot be claimed for arbitrary time-dependent .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 2 2A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the inverse change of variables and . The chain rule gives the differential operatorsThe mixed partial derivatives cancel, assuming the twice continuously differentiable solution appropriate here. Consequently .
The transformed equation isThe factors of belong to the inverse Jacobian matrix; using the forward transformation instead would give an incorrect factor.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 10C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For a smooth map , the Jacobian determinant is the determinant of its Jacobian matrix . In Einstein summation convention,Differentiate the supplied expression for by the product rule. The term differentiating vanishes because is symmetric in , while is antisymmetric; the term differentiating vanishes similarly. Only differentiation of remains:The last equality follows by the cyclic relabelling , which has positive sign. This proves the Jacobian determinant as a divergence identity.
For a composition , the chain rule givesTaking determinants yieldsFor the first-order perturbation, use spatial derivative control in perturbations of the identity map: the usual smooth-family interpretation gives locally. Multilinearity of the determinant shows that its linear term comes from choosing one column of and all other columns from . This gives the trace:The regularity qualification matters: a pointwise remainder for maps does not by itself give an remainder for spatial derivatives. For instance has a uniform displacement and , but its Jacobian determinant at is for . Thus the first expansion needs the remainder in locally, or an equivalent smoothness assumption on the family.
Under the subsequent group law, is the identity and is the inverse of . Write . Applying the composition formula to and the short-time expansion gives the Jacobian evolution of a smooth flow:HenceIf only the pointwise generator expansion is assumed initially, the group law still gives . Uniqueness and smooth dependence for this smooth ordinary differential equation make it a smooth flow map, thereby justifying the differentiated expansion used above. Thus a divergence-free generator hasBy the change of variables formula, these maps preserve ordinary Euclidean volume and orientation. This is the Euclidean instance of a volume-preserving vector field.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 12C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Away from the origin, the given vector field is the gradient of the globally single-valued radius:The sphere has centre , at distance from the origin, and radius one. Its intersection circle is therefore wholly away from the origin, since every point on the sphere has distance at least . Along the closed curve the chain rule gives . Consequently, independently of orientation,The intersection is nondegenerate: the centre's distance from the plane is . No parametrization of the resulting circle is needed because is a potential of a conservative vector field throughout the punctured space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 3C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The chain rule along a smooth curve isDifferentiating the circular parametrization gives the tangent vectorThus the chain rule turns the angular derivative of into . The given partial differential equation makes this equal to , so along every portion of the circle inside the upper half-plane, satisfies the ordinary differential equation . Its solution is .
For the two specified points take . The initial point corresponds to and the terminal point to . The entire intervening arc lies in , so no continuation outside the domain is used. The requested value isThese circular characteristic curves also show locally that the general solution has the polar-coordinate form , with ; there is no requirement of angular periodicity on the upper half-plane.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 9C a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A conservative vector field on is a vector field for a globally defined smooth potential of a conservative vector field . The chain rule givesso its line integral is path independent.
Green theorem states that, for a bounded planar region with piecewise smooth boundary and continuously differentiable on a neighbourhood of its closure,The boundary is positively oriented: the region lies on the left while it is traversed, so outer components run counterclockwise and hole boundaries clockwise.
For the proposed potential of a conservative vector field, the fundamental theorem of calculus and differentiation under the integral sign giveSince , the last integral equals , including negative with the usual signed-integral convention. Hence the proposed potential is global andThe fact that the vector field is defined on all of ensures both straight integration segments stay inside its domain; a hole in the domain could obstruct a global potential.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 14A b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Set and , so . By the chain rule, the equation becomes . The substitution reduces it further toMultiplication by and integration by parts gives for a nonzero solution, ruling out zero and negative eigenvalues. For , the first boundary condition gives , and the second gives , . Thus all eigenpairs arewith arbitrary nonzero scalar multiples of each eigenfunction. These are the complete list since all solutions of the constant-coefficient differential equation have been considered; the transformed sine system is also complete in the corresponding weighted Hilbert space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 17C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Parametrize a streamline by with . The chain rule givesTherefore is constant along every streamline. A different regular parametrization merely multiplies this derivative by a scalar and gives the same conclusion. For time-dependent flow, the claim concerns streamlines at a fixed time, rather than Lagrangian trajectories.

