Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 3 27J Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 3 28J Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 2 9F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 31 3 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Put . For a real eigenvalue ,The spectral theorem for real symmetric matrices therefore gives and , since is a sum of with nonnegative coefficients given by squared eigenvector coordinates of . This is the positive imaginary part of a Stieltjes matrix resolvent. HenceApply the triangle inequality to the identity above, and add and subtract the minor trace:The allowed principal minor resolvent trace bound, with the printed normalization, bounds the second average by . Thus the explicit conclusion isIn particular, the final term is with a constant independent of . The upper-half-plane restriction gives the displayed positive denominators; in the lower half-plane the analogous bound uses .
The chosen centering also has a probabilistic meaning. The column vector is independent of the minor, has mean zero and coordinate variance , so its conditional expectation satisfiesThis explains why the bound isolates fluctuations of a quadratic form around the minor trace. Mean centering alone is not a concentration estimate; no unrequested limiting assertion is being assumed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 36 4 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Vary only the probability density function of , using with bounded and . The nuisance score function is , giving the statistical tangent setIts closed linear span is the nuisance tangent space of all centered functions of , by density of bounded centered scores.
The conditional expectation of the parametric score function given is zero:It is therefore orthogonal to this nuisance tangent space. Its orthogonal projection onto that space vanishes, so the efficient score is unchanged. By independence and ,These equal the parametric score function and Fisher information when is known. There is no loss of information from the unknown covariate density. This is adaptivity to an unknown covariate distribution; it follows from score orthogonality, without having to estimate the nuisance parameter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 43 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Work under the money-market risk-neutral measure, with . The zero-coupon bond price is . For this CIR model, write . The Feynman-Kac formula givesMatching the constant and linear coefficients of yieldsFor CIR bond pricing, solving this Riccati equation and integrating the scalar equation for , put and . ThenSubstitution verifies both equations and their initial conditions. The discounted candidate solves the martingale pricing equation; its boundedness on finite horizons, or Feynman-Kac formula, identifies it with the conditional expectation. The answer is . More generally the same coefficients give .
The CIR model mean reverts to and has volatility , so it remains nonnegative and its fluctuation size depends on the rate level. For positive initial rate, zero is inaccessible if ; below this threshold zero is reachable but the process remains nonnegative. Its stationary law is a gamma distribution, of shape and rate . Explicit affine bond prices and nonnegative rates are useful features. Limitations include exclusion of negative rates, restricted volatility behavior and a single stochastic factor; the time-homogeneous parameter family cannot fit an arbitrary initial term structure exactly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 43 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The principle terminal correlation does not identify adapted stock volatility exposes a false printed assertion for the correlation coefficient defined in the introduction. Take , , andThen andHence and are bounded. Both terminal prices have positive finite variance and are perfectly correlated, because one is a positive affine function of the other. Nevertheless on every continuous finite stock path. Equal initial prices fix the means, not the affine slope.
Here is the exact general conclusion and the intended qualified proof. Bounded volatilities make these zero-rate stochastic exponentials true square-integrable martingales. Writing , perfect terminal correlation gives for some . Conditional expectation therefore gives for every . Comparing stochastic integrals, the Itô isometry yieldsThis relation need not imply equality of the volatilities.
The terminal proportionality identifies bounded stock volatility criterion repairs the statement. If one additionally assumes equal terminal variances, then and the whole stock paths coincide, so positivity gives almost everywhere and the requested integral is zero. The same repair follows if terminal proportionality is assumed: equal martingale means force , after which the conditional-expectation and Itô isometry argument applies. This proves the intended conclusion under a sufficient additional hypothesis without treating centered correlation as uncentered proportionality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 43 6 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For zero drift, the reflection principle gives the known Brownian first-passage time densityTo obtain a general drift, on a fixed finite horizon use the exponential martingale as change-of-measure density. The Novikov condition holds for constant , and the Girsanov theorem says that the coordinate process has drift under the new measure. Thus the hitting law of under that measure is the law of under the original measure. Conditional expectation of at a hitting time bounded by equals its stopped value, by the martingale optional sampling theorem. At this value is . The drifted Brownian first-passage density is obtained by multiplying , giving .
To verify the integrated formula, put and . The identity for the standard normal density givesBoth terms vanish as , so . The distribution has total mass one for and mass for ; in the latter case the remaining probability is an atom at infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 44 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the usual normalization , finite deterministic initial wealth , positive state-price density, and nonnegative consumption. The deflated asset prices are local martingales, so predictable stochastic integrability makes a zero-starting local martingale. Integrating part (b) givesA nonnegative local martingale is a supermartingale: localize to martingales, apply Conditional Fatou lemma, and obtain the conditional expectation inequality and integrability. Therefore , and hence , are supermartingales. In particular,This is supermartingale control of deflated consumption gains. Nonnegative consumption is essential to the lower bound; it is the ordinary meaning of a consumption rate here. Wealth nonnegativity alone would not supply that bound if arbitrary signed cash flows were allowed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 5 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Construct the densities using the Riesz representation theorem for a Hilbert space, rather than assuming the measure-decomposition conclusion. Put , a finite dominating measure, and work in the real L2 space . The linear functionalis well-defined on its equivalence classes because . By the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality,Thus the Riesz representation theorem supplies such that . Since is finite, is also integrable. Testing givesThe first identity and nonnegativity of rule out a positive-measure set where ; for example, test . The second identity and nonnegativity of similarly rule out . Modify a measurable representative on a -null set so that everywhere. This is the Hilbert-space construction of dominated measure densities.
SetThen and . The indicator identities for extend to integrals of nonnegative measurable functions by approximation with simple functions and the monotone convergence theorem. Consequently,and, for every ,HenceThis proves Lebesgue decomposition from a sum-measure density. The argument includes the cases of zero measures; there is no division on , where the denominator vanishes.
Absolute continuity of measures, written , means that implies for every . If , then in the construction above, so the singular term vanishes. Conversely, if with a nonnegative integrable , that integral is zero on every -null set. ThusThis is the finite-measure Radon-Nikodym theorem as a consequence of the proved construction.
Finally restrict the base measure to the sub-sigma-algebra . For a real , write , with both parts nonnegative and integrable. On define finite positive measuresThey are absolutely continuous with respect to . The result just proved gives nonnegative, -measurable densities satisfyingSet . Since , this is in , and subtraction givesFor complex , apply the real construction separately to its real and imaginary parts and combine the two results. This is conditional expectation from finite-measure densities. The resulting conditional expectation is unique almost everywhere: for two real versions, their difference has integral zero on its positive and negative level sets in , forcing it to vanish; apply this to both components in the complex case. No probability normalization of is required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 12 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Expose the independent coordinates one at a time and define the Doob exposure martingaleFor a fixed exposed prefix, couple the future coordinates identically under two choices of . The coordinate-change hypothesis bounds the difference of the resulting conditional expectations by . Thus the increment has conditional mean zero and lies in a conditional interval of length at most . This range bound, rather than merely , gives the sharp constant in the McDiarmid inequality.
Here is a proof of the needed Hoeffding lemma. For a mean-zero random variable in an interval of length , let . Its second derivative is the variance under the exponentially tilted distribution. A random variable in has variance at most : the inequality gives . Hence , and imply , for either sign of .
Apply this conditionally to each increment and iterate the conditional expectation:For , Markov's inequality bounds the upper tail by . Taking and then applying the same argument to givesAt the bound is immediate. If all vanish, is constant on the product support and the positive tails are zero, so that degenerate case is handled directly.
For a binomial random graph, let coordinate be the entire vector of edges from vertex to vertices of smaller label. The coordinates are independent finite probability spaces. Changing coordinate changes only edges incident to that one vertex. Deleting the vertex gives the same graph under both outcomes, and each outcome's chromatic number is either that graph's chromatic number or one more. Thus the coordinate range is at most one. Taking all and proves vertex exposure for chromatic number:Using individual edges as coordinates would give a weaker scale; grouping the incident edges is what yields the required bound.
For the expectation asymptotic, take fixed , put , and write . We outline both bounds and the step that turns probability estimates into an expectation estimate. For each fixed , the expected number of independent sets of size isIts logarithm is . Thus Markov's inequality gives with probability tending to one, and yields the corresponding lower bound on its expectation.
For the upper bound, set and , with . The key uniform fact is that every vertex subset of size at least contains an independent -set with probability tending to one. For a fixed subset of size , let count its independent -sets and let . The normalized dependency sum in Janson inequality is bounded byThe term is . The remaining overlap terms give the same order or less: use for large , and split the sum at . For the lower half the terms beyond decrease at the initial endpoint and are exponentially small at the other endpoint; for the upper half, makes every endpoint exponent negative of order . Also is exponentially small on that scale. The exponential form of Janson inequality therefore gives, uniformly for ,for a positive constant depending only on . A union bound over at most subsets succeeds, because is of order . This is independent sets in every large subset of a dense random graph.
On that event, repeatedly remove an independent -set and assign it one new colour until fewer than vertices remain; colour the remainder individually. This gives . The failure probability is exponentially small compared with , and always , so the failure event contributes negligibly to the expectation. Combining the upper and lower bounds and then letting provesThis is the chromatic number of a binomial random graph asymptotic. The slash in the printed expression must be read with as the denominator; a multiplicative reading would eventually exceed . At the endpoint probabilities and , the chromatic numbers are respectively one and for , so this logarithmic formula is intended for .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 25 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
If , then is -measurable. Independence and centring of the future Brownian increment make the desired left side zero; the time multiplier on the right is zero as well.
Suppose . Conditional on , write and . The pair is jointly normal and independent of , withApply the supplied Gaussian integration by parts formula to , treating the known as its parameter. This givesMultiply by the bounded -measurable and use the defining property of conditional expectation. Thus the required expectation identity holds for every , including intervals crossing or lying after .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 28 4 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Conditional on , a Poisson distribution has both conditional expectation and conditional variance equal to . For the uniform distribution on ,Thus and the one-year credibility factor is . With the observed count equal to one, the Bühlmann credibility estimate of the next year's conditional claim expected value isThe estimate gives relatively little weight to one year because the expected process variance is six times the variance of hypothetical means.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 39 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Backward induction makes the Snell envelope integrable and adapted: . Its definition gives and , so it is a supermartingale dominating the reward.
For a stopping time taking values in , expand its stopped value asThe indicators are -measurable. Taking conditional expectations in each summand makes its expectation nonpositive by the supermartingale property. Since is trivial, is deterministic andThis proves the finite-horizon optional sampling theorem directly in the instance needed here, without assuming nonnegative rewards.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 2 11F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Assume , or use nonnegative with extended expectations. Let and . For , the discrete conditional expectation is . Therefore Fubini's theorem, or Tonelli theorem in the nonnegative case, gives the tower property of conditional expectation:Values of a conditional expectation on zero-probability conditioning events do not affect the sum. An unrestricted signed whose expectation is undefined is outside this assertion.
Write . The waiting time for two increments larger than dominates for and has mean , so is finite. Conditioning on the first increment, one step is always consumed; if that increment is below , the remaining independent sequence has the original law. Thus first-step analysis and the tower property of conditional expectation giveThis first makes continuous and then gives , with . Hence the uniform-sum crossing time below one hasAn independent explanation uses the tail-sum formula: for , since this region is an -dimensional simplex inside the unit cube. Summing from gives . In particular the strict-crossing convention gives almost surely and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 26 2 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The conditional expectation is a -measurable integrable random variable such thatIt is defined up to almost sure equality. Measurability with respect to the sub-sigma-algebra and equality of these integrals are both essential: the first expresses that only the information in is retained, and the second preserves all averages visible through that information. Existence follows from the Radon-Nikodym theorem; uniqueness is up to sets of probability zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 26 2 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let for a deterministic integer . The stopped martingale has the finite-sum representationEach summand is integrable, and by the stopping time property. Therefore the conditional expectation identity for a martingale givesTaking expectations in the finite sum proves the bounded optional stopping theorem:No limiting argument or uniform-integrability assumption is needed for a bounded stopping time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 26 2 3 Solution 2026-10-06
For the real-valued variables here, take a -measurable version of . Since the variables are bounded, the conditional expectation defining identity extends to the bounded -measurable multiplier , givingThe equality case for conditional second moments now givesA nonnegative random variable with zero expectation vanishes with probability one. Thus as an almost sure equality. The same proof works for square-integrable variables; boundedness is more than is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 26 3 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Fix . The event means that the future path through time one never exceeds the maximum already attained by time . Given , future increments form an independent Brownian motion , soHere the Brownian running maximum distribution is the one derived above. On , an event of probability , the finite quantity is strictly positive, so this conditional probability lies strictly between zero and one.
If were a stopping time, would be -measurable, and the displayed conditional expectation of its indicator would equal that indicator, taking only zero and one. The contradiction proves is not an -stopping time. Thus the Strong Markov property cannot be invoked at to assert a Brownian shifted process; the direct argument here does not assume that property at this random time.