Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 9 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The statement requires ; an empty set is closed and convex but contains no minimizer. Assume this necessary condition and put . Since is closed and , . Choose a minimizing sequence with .
The midpoint lies in the convex set . Applying the stated Clarkson inequality to and givesThe right side tends to zero, so is a Cauchy sequence. By completeness of Lp spaces, proved in Question 2(a), it converges to some . Closedness puts in , and continuity of the norm gives . This is the closest point theorem for a closed convex subset of Lp. The same inequality applied to two minimizers forces their difference to be zero, so the minimizer is also unique.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 9 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the printed bilinear pairing , which is complex linear in both arguments. For the conjugate exponents , Holder inequality gives , proving well-definedness, continuity, and . Linearity of follows from linearity of integration.
For , takewith the numerator defined as zero where . Since , this has and . Hence ; the same identity holds for . This also proves injectivity.
For surjectivity, let be a nonzero bounded linear functional on . Choose with and let . The closest point theorem for a closed convex subset of Lp supplies the nearest point ; write . For every , the whole line lies in , so the norm derivative at the minimum vanishes for real . Applying this also to shows that the complex linear functionalvanishes on . Since , each is in , giving and . ThereforeMembership follows from . The zero functional is represented by . This proves the asserted Lp duality isometric isomorphism, including surjectivity, without a separate representation theorem.