Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 70 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
First prove necessity. If polynomials with integer coefficients converge to in the supremum norm, their values at and are convergent sequences of integers. Each such sequence is eventually constant, since a convergent sequence is Cauchy and two distinct integers are at distance at least one. Its limit is an integer. Thus .
For sufficiency we also need uniform convergence of the Bernstein polynomial to . Here is a direct argument. For , write . The binomial distribution has and . For every , uniform continuity of and the Chebyshev inequality giveFirst make small and then large; the bound is uniform in . Hence .
If the endpoints are integers, part (b) gives . Each coefficient multiplying in is an integer. Expanding by the binomial theorem therefore gives integer coefficients in the ordinary monomial basis. The triangle inequality proves . Thus the integer endpoint condition is necessary and sufficient for integer-coefficient polynomial approximation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 70 6 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The half-open translates partition the real line. Exactly one summand is therefore nonzero in the periodization of , giving .
Choose the Shannon scaling mask to be the -periodic extension of . On the support of , its product with is ; outside that support both sides vanish. Thus the scaling refinement equation holds in frequency. The Fourier coefficients give its precise filter normalization:These coefficients are square summable, so the interpretation in part (b) applies.
The Fourier inversion theorem gives the Shannon scaling functionThis is the normalized sinc function. Its Fourier transform is taken in the Plancherel theorem sense: the Shannon scaling function belongs to but not , so its Fourier integral is not absolutely convergent. The inverse integral above is an ordinary integral because the rectangular transform belongs to . The resulting refinement spaces are exactly the functions with Fourier transform supported in ; their union is dense and their intersection is zero. Thus this example also gives a full multiresolution analysis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 13 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For each element of the product set , let count its representations as with . The ratio equality is equivalent to . Swapping the two coordinates is a bijection between the ratio-equality quadruples and the equal-product quadruples. Therefore the multiplicative energy satisfiesThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality gives the energy lower bound:For the upper bound, place the Cartesian product in the strictly positive quadrant. For every occupied Euclidean ray from the origin let be its points and . The slope is , soTake to be the natural logarithm and put , using the non-triviality assumption . Partition the possible occupancies into classes: for , and for the last class. This last closed endpoint ensures that the partition works even when the top endpoint is attained. Within each class the ratio of any two occupancies is at most .
Fix one class and order its occupied Euclidean rays by increasing slope, with occupancies . Write , the cardinality of . If , then , since adding any fixed element gives an injection of into its sumset , and similarly for .
If , the sums contain exactly different points, by injectivity of sums on two distinct rays. Indeed, the two direction vectors are linearly independent, so the coefficients of a sum uniquely recover its two summands. Positivity puts every sum strictly inside the open planar sector between those two Euclidean rays. The sectors between successive selected Euclidean rays are disjoint, even if there are additional unselected rays between them. All these sums belong to , and henceFor neighbouring occupancies their ratio lies between and , soSumming covers every at least once, and gives . The same bound holds for empty or singleton classes by the preceding observations. Adding over the classes proves the multiplicative energy sumset bound . Combining both bounds yields the sum-product conclusion:If instead is interpreted as base two, use the same occupancy classes with in place of ; proves that convention as well. Positivity is essential to the sector argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 328 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Label the sides by , and parametrize the two vertical sides by , the horizontal sides by . Their outward normal derivatives are , , and . Let denote the prescribed side values. Assume compatible, sufficiently regular boundary traces; the square's corners have zero arclength measure and do not require separate normal values.
For sine collocation of square modified Helmholtz global relations, use Legendre polynomials for the known Dirichlet boundary condition and a Fourier sine series for the unknown normal derivative:The known coefficients are . The sine functions have and form a complete basis in . Choosing them for the normal derivative does not impose zero flux at a corner: the expansion is an representation, and endpoint values are not determined by it. If preserving corner values of the approximated Dirichlet trace is necessary, subtract its endpoint-interpolating line before polynomial approximation, and add that line back. All subsequent known-data integrals can alternatively be evaluated with the exact .
Define the entire function basis transformsAt the quotient is evaluated by its removable limit or by the defining integral. For example, , and polynomial expansion of expresses every in derivatives of . PutFor compactness write and . Substituting these expansions into the first global relation for a linear boundary value problem givesThe signs are fixed by the outward normal vectors, rather than by a choice of traversal direction. The second approximate global relation for a linear boundary value problem replaces by , leaving unchanged:Here records omitted boundary-expansion tails. In a finite spectral method the selected equations are set equal to zero to solve for the unknown real coefficients . For real data the two families obey the same complex conjugation relation as their exact counterparts.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 1 f Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The real vector space of symmetric matrices has dimension . By the conic Carathéodory theorem, every member of is a conic combination of at most generators. Absorb each nonnegative coefficient into its vector through .
If converges to , write, padding with zero vectors if necessary,The matrix trace satisfiesThe left side is bounded because converges. Thus the finite tuple is bounded. The Bolzano-Weierstrass theorem gives a subsequence on which every vector converges, say . Continuity of the outer product now gives . HenceThis proves closedness of the completely positive cone. The uniform bound on the number of factors and the matrix trace bound are both essential: an arbitrary conic hull of a closed generating set need not be closed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For each coefficient index , let have constant diagonal blocks and cross blocks . The preceding block-constant argument gives . Define the Hadamard powers , withThis is the constant entrywise power, including at zero entries; it is not the identity matrix. Repeated use of the Schur product theorem shows for every .
Applying the Schur product theorem again makes every summand positive semidefinite. The partial sums are positive semidefinite, and their entrywise limit is exactly . In finite dimension this is a matrix-norm limit; the positive semidefinite cone is closed. ConsequentlyEndpoint convergence follows from the stated expansions on the full interval: and , while . Thus the expansions converge absolutely at every matrix entry. This is coefficient-dominated entrywise positivity.
The coefficient condition must include index zero. We interpret the PDF's accordingly. If it means only positive integers and no condition is imposed on , the assertion is false: take , , and . All positive-index inequalities hold, but .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 2 e Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put , so . The power series coefficients of the hyperbolic sine preprocessing areThus for every , and the series converge on the full interval. Applying coefficient-dominated entrywise positivity gives .
Every diagonal entry belongs to one of the diagonal blocks and equals . Because and , this is . ThereforeThe matrix lies in the elliptope and admits a Gram matrix representation by unit vectors. This preprocessing is the Krivine rounding scheme; the equality of absolute coefficients is what preserves positive semidefiniteness even though the cross-block sine coefficients alternate in sign.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 3 b iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Pair the off-circle roots of a polynomial using reciprocal-conjugate root pairing, and split each unit-circle root of a polynomial's even multiplicity equally between the two members of a pair. The fundamental theorem of algebra and the leading coefficient give . None of the selected is zero.
On the unit circle, the identityturns intoAt a point of the unit circle outside the finite set of roots of a polynomial, the product is positive and is nonzero and nonnegative. Its ratio to the product is therefore real and strictly positive. This proves , even though the algebraic expression initially permits a complex constant. ConsequentlyThis proves the Fejér–Riesz theorem for a nonzero trigonometric polynomial of actual order . A positive constant has a constant square-root factor, and the identically zero trigonometric polynomial has ; if for a specified upper order , reduce to the actual order first.
Although the PDF permits assuming even multiplicity, there is a short proof of even multiplicity of unit-circle roots of a nonnegative trigonometric polynomial. The real analytic function cannot have a zero of odd order. Near , has a simple zero, and the nonzero factor leaves the zero order of unchanged. Hence the multiplicity of a root must be even.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 3 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For , the coefficient symmetry yieldsThus equals its reversed-conjugate polynomial. If is a root of a polynomial, with , this identity gives , provingThe reciprocal-conjugate root pairing also preserves the multiplicity of a root: reversal and complex conjugation take each factor associated with to the corresponding factor associated with , with the same exponent.
Since , no zero root of a polynomial occurs, so the reciprocal operation is always defined on the roots of a polynomial. Roots off the unit circle are paired on opposite sides of it; roots of a polynomial on the unit circle are fixed by this operation. Pairing alone does not force even multiplicity at those fixed roots of a polynomial; that extra fact uses nonnegativity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 3 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Since is real on the unit circle,Multiply the difference by . It is an ordinary polynomial of polynomial degree at most vanishing at every point of the unit circle. A nonzero polynomial has only finitely many roots of a polynomial, so all its coefficients vanish. This proves the conjugate symmetry of trigonometric polynomial coefficients:For arbitrary nonzero complex , coefficient substitution now gives preciselyEquivalently . The complex conjugation on the right applies to the whole value, including the coefficients; it cannot simply be discarded away from the circle.
The PDF additionally assumes . Then , so the ensuing polynomial has polynomial degree exactly and nonzero constant term. These clauses and this subpart are absent from the damaged TeX, but present in the PDF.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 339 3 c i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Collect the factor's coefficients in the column vector and setThis is a Hermitian matrix and a positive semidefinite matrix, because for every complex vector ,On the unit circle, expanding the modulus square givesUniqueness of the finite Laurent polynomial coefficients, proved as in part (b)(i), therefore givesThis is the rank-one spectral-factor Gram matrix. The matrix has matrix rank one when and zero when . The orientation is the PDF's convention: using instead would generally interchange and .
The radius of convergence of a power series is the number such that the series has absolute convergence for and diverges for . Equivalently,Use , including at . The supremum may be . There is no general conclusion at : boundary convergence depends on the coefficients. If , only the centre is guaranteed; if , every finite lies inside the disk of convergence.
Use the ceiling function to choose positive integer coefficientsBecause , we have andFor , the comparison test for series with the geometric series givesFor , we instead have , so the terms do not tend to zero. Thus the power series has radius of convergence exactly .
All three examples below have positive integer coefficients, so they work under either convention for whether .
For , take . This is the geometric series: it converges for , and its terms fail to tend to zero for .
For , take , using the factorial and . For every fixed , the absolute values of successive terms have ratio . This eventually exceeds two, so the terms grow without bound and the series cannot converge. At it is finite, giving radius of convergence zero.
For , takeusing the floor function. The coefficients satisfyThe upper bound and the comparison test for series give absolute convergence when . The lower bound prevents the terms tending to zero when . Hence the radius of convergence is exactly .
The Steinitz exchange lemma states that if are linearly independent and span a vector space , then and some of the can be replaced by while preserving the spanning set property.
Here is the exchange argument. Suppose that after replacements, a spanning set iswhere the remaining have been relabelled if necessary. Express as a linear combination of this family. At least one remaining has a nonzero coefficient; otherwise belongs to the span of , contradicting linear independence. Relabel this entry . Solving for shows that it lies in the span ofThe new family therefore still spans . Starting at repeats this step until all independent vectors have been inserted. If , after steps the next would lie in the span of , a contradiction. Thus , and the construction proves the replacement assertion as well.
The vectors are linearly independent ifThey span if every is a linear combination with real coefficients. They form a basis of if they are linearly independent and span . Equivalently, every has exactly one such representation: existence is the spanning set condition, and subtracting two representations shows that uniqueness is precisely linear independence.
The preimage isIt contains , and if belong to it and , then , since is a vector subspace. Thus is a vector subspace. It contains the kernel of because .
To establish the dimension of the preimage of a vector subspace formula without assuming the theorem to be deduced, choose a basis of and a basis of , where . For each , choose with . These lie in .
The family is linearly independent: applying to a vanishing linear combination forces all coefficients to vanish by linear independence of the , and then all remaining coefficients vanish by linear independence of the . It also spans : for in that preimage, write . Then , so it is a linear combination of the . ConsequentlySet . Then and , giving the rank-nullity theorem:
Over the finite field , a basis of the hyperplane has vectors by ii. Each vector on the hyperplane has a unique expression as a linear combination of that basis, and each coefficient has possibilities. ThusEquivalently, choose freely all coordinates except , where , and solve uniquely for . For this counts just the zero vector, consistently with .
Define the linear functional by . The given hyperplane is . Choose with . For any , the vector whose only nonzero coordinate is satisfies . Hence is surjective and has rank of a linear map equal to .
Applying the rank-nullity theorem to this particular linear map givesThe nonzero-coefficient hypothesis is essential: if all were zero, the kernel of a linear map would instead be all of .
Put . Taking all coefficients zero puts the zero vector in . If , lie in and , thenThus is closed under vector addition and scalar multiplication, contains the zero vector, and is therefore a linear subspace of . This is precisely why the linear span is a linear subspace.