Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 3 3E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The product topology has as a basis of a topology all sets , where is open in and is open in . Open sets are arbitrary unions of these rectangles. The projection maps are and . For any open and ,These are open rectangles, including the empty case. Taking inverse images of open sets therefore proves that both projection maps are continuous functions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 106 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The prescribed-pole form of Runge theorem is this: let be compact, and let meet every connected component of the complement in the Riemann sphere. If is holomorphic on a neighbourhood of , then for every there is a rational function with all its poles in whose uniform distance from on is less than . A polynomial is regarded as having its only possible pole at infinity. The empty compact set is trivial, so assume .
First suppose . Let be the uniform rational approximation algebra with prescribed poles, the uniform closure of rational functions whose finite poles lie in . It is a commutative unital Banach algebra, and contains . Setwhere the inverse in this definition is the pointwise continuous function on . The set is relatively open: if the inverse at belongs to , the Neumann series gives inverses at nearby points. It is relatively closed: when , the corresponding scalar functions converge uniformly on , and is closed.
Each bounded complementary component meets in a finite point , and is an allowed rational function. The unbounded component meets because for the geometric series for belongs to . Being both open and closed in the complement, therefore contains every component, so it is the entire complement. Conversely, evaluation at any prevents from being invertible. HenceApply the holomorphic functional calculus in to near . For every , the evaluation character of an algebra and the contour formula from (b) give . Thus . By the definition of this uniform closure, the required rational approximations exist.
If , choose a finite point in the component containing infinity. The Möbius transformation sends to a compact subset of the plane and sends to a set containing infinity. It preserves complementary components, so meets every component of the complement of . The transformed function is holomorphic near , since . The case already proved approximates by rational functions with poles in . Pulling them back gives rational approximations to on with poles only in : a pole at infinity in the -plane becomes a pole at , and every other pole has its prescribed preimage. In particular the pullbacks do not acquire a pole at the original infinity, since .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 106 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem identifies the dual of the complex space of continuous functions on a compact space with finite regular complex Borel measures on : each bounded linear functional has a unique representationHere is the variation measure; positive functionals correspond exactly to positive regular measures. This is the measure representation theorem, rather than the Hilbert-space representation of a functional by a vector.
For the spectral construction use the convention that the Hilbert inner product is linear in its first argument. A unital subalgebra of is understood to contain : an algebra whose abstract identity is a smaller projection could not give a resolution normalized by . On a compact Hausdorff space, a resolution of the identity is understood to be a normalized regular projection-valued measure: its scalar measures are regular, its values are orthogonal projections, and it is countably additive in the strong operator topology. Regularity is part of the usual convention needed for the uniqueness assertion; the statement is interpreted in this sense.
The Commutative Gelfand--Naimark theorem makes the Gelfand transform an isometric unital star-isomorphism , where is compact Hausdorff. Denote its inverse by . For , the bounded linear functional has norm at most . Riesz-Markov-Kakutani gives a regular complex measure such thatUniqueness makes these measures sesquilinear in . For , the identity shows positivity, so is positive with total mass .
For every Borel set , the bounded sesquilinear form determines an operator by Hilbert-space Riesz representation theorem, withIn particular and is self-adjoint. We now verify the projection identity rather than assume it.
For continuous , uniqueness of the representing measure applied to continuous test functions givesThese identities imply . Testing once more against a continuous givesThe restriction of a finite regular Borel measure is still regular, so uniqueness in Riesz-Markov-Kakutani yields . Consequently, for any Borel ,Taking proves that is an orthogonal projection. Also and . For disjoint , these projections are orthogonal, and scalar countable additivity gives weak countable additivity. If , then is the projection of the remaining union andThus countable additivity holds in the strong operator topology. The scalar measures are the regular measures already constructed. This completes the scalar-measure construction of a projection-valued measure.
By the integral theorem permitted in the question, continuous satisfies , and hence . For , this proves the spectral theorem for a commutative operator algebra:Any other regular resolution giving these integrals has the same scalar integrals on all of ; Riesz-Markov-Kakutani uniqueness forces the same scalar measures and therefore the same projections on every Borel set.
For nonempty open , compact Hausdorff normality supplies a nonzero continuous function supported in . If , the stated squared-norm identity for spectral integrals gives , contradicting the isometry of . This proves the full support of a faithful spectral measure propertyFaithfulness of the representation is essential here.
The spectral theorem for normal operators says that a bounded normal operator on a nonzero complex Hilbert space has a unique regular projection-valued measure on such that . Its support is all of , and bounded Borel functions have the associated Borel functional calculus for a normal operator.
For the proof sketch, is commutative because commutes with ; polynomials in these two operators commute, as do their norm limits. The map , , is onto by the character of an algebra formula and spectral permanence for C-star algebras. It is one-to-one because a character of an algebra preserves the star operation and its values on determine it on their dense polynomial algebra. It is therefore a homeomorphism from compact to the Hausdorff spectrum. Transport the resolution just constructed through this homeomorphism. It gives the formula for and full support; conversely a regular resolution for gives the same integrals for polynomials in , hence by density the same continuous functional calculus and the same resolution. This argument works without separability of .
Finally choose disjoint nonempty relatively open sets around two distinct spectral points, and put . Full support gives and , while , so . The spectral integral, or multiplicativity of its Borel calculus with , gives and also . Thus is closed, nonzero and proper, and . The spectral projection gives a reducing subspace conclusion isIn fact it is a reducing subspace, since it is also invariant under .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 136 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
On continuous functions on the p-adic integers, define the forward difference operator and the Mahler coefficients byWriting , the explicit iterate follows from . The ultrametric inequality and integral binomial coefficients imply and , where the supremum norm is taken over .
The Mahler theorem states that every such has a unique expansion with uniform convergenceConversely, every sequence in tending to zero yields a continuous function by this expansion. The binomial polynomials form an orthonormal expansion in the non-Archimedean sense: .
Here is the requested proof under the permitted coefficient-decay assumption. For , the binomial polynomial is a continuous function on . Its values on nonnegative integers are integral, and those integers are dense in the p-adic integers. Since is a closed set in , . Also , so , including .
If , the ultrametric inequality gives the uniform tail boundCompleteness of gives a uniform limit , and the uniform limit theorem makes continuous. At any nonnegative integer , all with vanish. Finite binomial inversion givessince the inner sum is . Hence on a dense subset and therefore on all of . The values at recover each coefficient recursively because ; this proves uniqueness. The expansion bounds by , and the earlier coefficient inequality proves equality. This also proves the converse statement.
Although the problem allows us to assume decay, it can be established independently. By compactness and uniform continuity, approximate uniformly by constant on residue classes modulo . On this finite-dimensional space, andThe matrix of has entries divisible by , so its operator norm is at most ; consequently for . Thus . Since , arbitrary uniform approximation proves automatic decay of Mahler coefficients.
For the last claim, construct the discrete antidifferentiation on the p-adic integersIts coefficient sequence is , still tending to zero, so it is continuous. By Pascal's identity, . The boundedness of permits applying it to the uniform limit, giving . For the stated linear map, invariance under translation by one now givesThus translation-invariant linear forms on p-adic continuous functions vanish:No continuity of has been assumed or used. In particular, one must not justify this by applying termwise to an infinite Mahler expansion; it is the existence of a continuous discrete antiderivative that makes the conclusion valid.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 217 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Construct a mean-square derivative of a Gaussian process on the original probability space before choosing its continuous modification. The real covariance function satisfies , because covariance is symmetric. Three-times differentiability implies that is continuous everywhere and differentiable at zero. Since is an even function,This uses differentiability of at zero, not a bound on throughout a neighborhood.
Let for . Twice applying the fundamental theorem of calculus to the covariance function givesOriented integrals make this identity valid for negative as well as positive . For a fixed , the right side tends to as . In particular,By completeness of L2 space, the mean-square derivative of a Gaussian processexists. Finite vectors consisting of values of and have a centered multivariate normal distribution: approximate the coordinates by difference quotients and use mean-square convergence and characteristic functions. Thus is a centered Gaussian process jointly constructed with , withIn particular , and is a positive-semidefinite kernel because it is an actual covariance function. Merely constructing an unrelated Gaussian process with that covariance function would not yet construct a modification of a stochastic process of .
The increment variance of isFor small , differentiability of at zero bounds this by . For the remaining distances in , continuity of enlarges to give the same bound. The fourth moment of a centered normal distribution is three times its variance squared, soThe one-dimensional Kolmogorov continuity theorem states that with gives a continuous modification, with sample-path Hölder continuity of every order less than . Apply it here with . We obtain a continuous modification on . On its null exceptional event, set the entire path equal to zero.
Define, on this same probability space,The path integral exists because its integrand is a continuous function. It agrees in L2 space with the integral of : Riemann sums converge in L2 space because is mean-square continuous; sums of have the same values almost surely at each finite collection of mesh points and converge pathwise to the integral. These two limits therefore agree almost surely for each fixed . Equivalently, the integral is the Bochner integral of the L2 space-valued map .
To verify the modification of a stochastic process property directly, put and . The preceding covariance identities and the fundamental theorem of calculus giveTherefore and almost surely for every fixed . This is also the mean-square fundamental theorem of calculus in this stationary setting. If a version on all of is desired, retain the original outside ; equality at every fixed parameter still holds.
The ordinary fundamental theorem of calculus now gives the simultaneous pathwise conclusionThus the requested differentiable modification of a stationary Gaussian process exists. Integrability of is compatible with the hypotheses but is unnecessary for this direct argument. It also avoids any assumption that a third absolute moment of a spectral density follows from three-times differentiability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 3 19F iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be disjoint closed subsets of . They are compact. For each , the Hausdorff space condition gives disjoint open neighbourhoods . For fixed , finitely many cover ; intersect the corresponding and take the union of those to obtain disjoint open sets and . Finitely many cover . Their union and the intersection of the corresponding are disjoint open neighbourhoods of . The case of an empty set is immediate. Hence is a normal topological space.
Urysohn lemma states that in a normal topological space satisfying , disjoint closed sets admit a continuous function with on and on .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 3 19F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Since a subalgebra is closed under addition and scalar multiplication, the given absolute-value property yieldsThe same identity with a minus sign gives . These are pointwise operations on real-valued continuous functions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 11F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Let , a continuous map into the unit circle. By uniform continuity, partition so finely that on each interval beginning at , . This ratio lies in the right half-plane and has a continuous complex argument with value zero at . Starting from , add these local arguments successively, matching endpoint values. This constructs a continuous real lift with .
Any two such lifts with the same initial value differ by a continuous function taking values in , and hence coincide. Since the curve closes, . Define its winding number byChanging the chosen initial argument adds a constant multiple of to the whole lift, so the winding number is independent of that choice. No differentiability of the curve is required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 22F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Take . Its Fourier transform iswith value one at zero. It is bounded near zero and is at infinity, so is integrable for . ThereforeIf a continuous function agreed with this indicator almost everywhere, continuity would force it to equal zero on and one on : any violation has a nonempty open neighbourhood of positive measure. The one-sided limits at zero would then differ, a contradiction. Hence no continuous representative exists.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 1 9F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
If this holds and , eventually , so . Conversely, if continuity fails, some allows, for every , a point with but . Then while , a contradiction. This is the sequential characterization of continuity in metric spaces.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ib Paper 2 3F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The L1 norm properties of absolute homogeneity and the triangle inequality follow from the corresponding properties of the absolute value and the integral. If , the nonnegative continuous function has zero integral. Were , continuity would make it bounded below by a positive number on a nontrivial interval, contradicting the zero integral. Thus , proving positive definiteness.
Put and choose the continuous cutoff functionThen , , and is supported in the two endpoint intervals of total length . Therefore
Now suppose for every . Apply this to the above . By the uniform norm bound,Hence , and continuity again gives .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 1 2F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Sperner's lemma says that if a triangle is triangulated, its vertices are labelled , and label is forbidden on the edge opposite vertex , then an odd number of small triangles have all three labels.
To prove it, count incidences with edges whose endpoint labels are and . Along the outer -edge, the labels begin at and end at , so the number of transitions is odd; no other boundary edge contributes. An interior edge contributes twice. A small triangle contributes an odd number precisely when its three labels are : a triangle using only contributes two, and every other non-tricoloured triangle contributes zero. The number of tricoloured triangles is therefore odd.
Now suppose the closed sets in the question existed. Let be the distance from a point to a closed set . Empty triple intersection makes , sois a continuous function from the large triangle to itself, where is the vertex opposite . Since the cover the triangle, at least one vanishes, so always lies on the boundary. On , its th barycentric coordinate vanishes, hence . Thus is face-preserving on the boundary; its boundary restriction is homotopic there to the identity by the straight-line homotopy. This would give a map from the triangle into its boundary whose boundary degree is one, contradicting the no-retraction theorem, the standard topological consequence of Sperner's lemma. Therefore the three closed sets must have a common point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 2F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For part (a), fix and consider the line segmentThe convex set contains this entire segment. Forwe have andIf , then for all sufficiently small positive , contradicting the hypothesis on . Thus
For part (b), is compact, and the product of the coordinates is a continuous function. The extreme value theorem therefore supplies maximizing that product. Assume every and apply part (a) to the convex setIt contains , and maximality of makes every coordinate product at most one. HenceIf is another maximizer, its coordinates are positive and . The arithmetic-geometric mean inequality giveswhile the displayed inequality gives the reverse bound. Equality in the arithmetic-geometric mean inequality forces every . Therefore the maximizer is unique.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ia Paper 1 10D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The intermediate value theorem states that if is continuous and lies between and , then some satisfies .
Assume and letThe least-upper-bound property makes well defined. If , continuity gives points immediately to the right of in , contradicting that is an upper bound. If , continuity gives a left neighborhood of disjoint from , contradicting the definition of the supremum. Thus . The endpoint and reversed-order cases follow directly or by replacing with .
The mean value theorem states that if is continuous on and differentiable on , then some satisfiesFor the functions in the question, the definition of the derivative makes continuous at and continuous at , withIf the middle secant slope equals , take . If it exceeds , the intermediate value theorem applied to gives with , and we take . If it is below , apply the theorem to to obtain with , and take . In every caseThe mean value theorem on this subinterval then produces withThis is the Darboux theorem for derivatives for the stated pair of derivative values.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 2 12E a ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Choose a basis of the finite-dimensional vector space and let be the maximum absolute coordinate. For any norm , the triangle inequality givesso is continuous in the coordinate topology. On the compact set , the positive continuous function attains a positive minimum and a finite maximum . By absolute homogeneity,This proves the equivalence of norms in finite dimensions: every norm is equivalent to the maximum norm, and transitivity of these inequalities proves that any two norms on a finite-dimensional vector space are Lipschitz equivalent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 4 3E ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
No. For each , , whereas for every . The pointwise limit on is thereforeThis limit is not continuous at . Since every is continuous, the uniform limit theorem rules out uniform convergence. Directly, for , whose supremum over is for every .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 4 3E i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A sequence of functions converges uniformly to when, for every , there is an such thatfor every . Equivalently, in the supremum norm.
Yes. Fix and . Uniform convergence gives such that for every . Since the continuous function is continuous at , there is a such that implies . The triangle inequality then givesThis proves the uniform limit theorem: is continuous.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 2 11H c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 26K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let and be the probability laws of and . The hypothesis saysfor every compactly supported continuous function . The theorem that compactly supported continuous functions determine a finite Borel measure gives . Hence and have the same law.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 3 29K a i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
- almost surely;
- it has independent increments;
- has the normal distribution whenever ; and
- its sample paths are almost surely continuous.