Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 11 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the phase-distance convention for a Bohr set:where the norm is distance to the nearest integer. This is the Bohr set in phase-distance convention; the alternative condition has a different radius and corresponding constants. Assume , as requires.
For each residue , form in the -dimensional torus. Around these points place translates of a box of side length in each coordinate. For , their volumes sum to . If , two boxes overlap, and their distinct indices differ by a nonzero with every phase distance less than . Thus the Bohr set contains a nonzero element at the stated threshold. For larger radii the entire group is already present.
Letting the box width decrease to and using the finite number of possible nonzero , obtain a nonzero with for every . By the triangle inequality, lies in whenever . Since is prime, these multiples are distinct up to length . Therefore, in the usual radius range , the arithmetic progressionhas the requested length. For literally unrestricted , the correct lower bound is : a progression of distinct residues cannot exceed . For example, , makes the uncapped printed bound impossible. If is empty, the Bohr set is the whole group and has a progression of length ; the displayed exponent is simply inapplicable.
Now transfer the dense integer set to a larger cyclic group. Choose a prime , using Bertrand's postulate, and regard as a subset of . Its density is at least . Normalize Fourier coefficients on a finite abelian group and convolution byThe Fourier inversion and Parseval identity formulas are and ; convolution turns into multiplication of Fourier coefficients on a finite abelian group.
For , set . Then Parseval identity boundsAlso, with , the nonnegative convolution is supported exactly on the modular set , andThe frequencies outside contribute in absolute value at most . For , the real part of each phase from is at least ; moreover and . Hence . We have proved the cyclic Bogolyubov lemma with explicit phase radius:The previous Bohr set argument gives a modular arithmetic progression of length at least . The remaining step is lifting a short modular progression to an integer progression. Every one of its elements has a unique integer lift belonging to . Successive lifted differences lie in and are congruent to the same residue. Since , at most one integer in this difference interval represents that residue, so every successive difference is the same. The lifts form a genuine integer arithmetic progression, not merely a modular one.
For sufficiently large , the constants can be absorbed into half the exponent. ThusNo attempt to optimize this absolute constant is needed.
A counterexample comes from dense integer sets with only logarithmic-length progressions. To show that itself need not have such a progression, choose a random subset by independent inclusion with probability . Its size has mean and variance at most , so Chebyshev's inequality shows . There are at most increasing arithmetic progressions of any fixed length , and each belongs to with probability . Taking makes the union bound at most . For large , some realization has at least elements and no length- arithmetic progression. Take a subset of exactly elements. It retains that avoidance. Such a set has no progression longer than , and therefore no progression of length for any fixed , eventually. Interpret the prescribed exact cardinality on values of where it is integral, or use its integer part.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 33 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For the unit-width box kernel, the convolution and kernel density estimator areandIn particular . The scaling gives . Even if is not square-integrable, Young's convolution inequality gives because and .
Using independence to eliminate the cross terms in the centred estimator, and Tonelli theorem to integrate the nonnegative variance, gives the exact integrated variance of a kernel density estimator:The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality now yieldsThis constant comes from the unit norm of the unscaled unit-width box kernel.
For the piecewise constant probability density function, integrability forces the constants on both unbounded outer intervals to be zero. Thus is bounded, has compact support, and has finitely many jumps. Let denote the jump at . For smaller than the least gap between consecutive breakpoints, the smoothing regions do not overlap. Outside these regions the convolution equals .
Within a region, put . For , the bias is ; for , it is . Endpoint values do not affect an norm. Integrating these two triangular errors givesThis is the box-kernel bias of a piecewise constant density. By the triangle inequality, with ,Balancing this bias-variance tradeoff with gives, for all sufficiently large ,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 61 1 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Take . In the normalization used here, the Dirichlet kernel has the finite expansionAveraging a finite number of the integral formulas for the Fourier partial sums is legitimate by linearity of the integral. Hence the Fejér sum is convolution withTo obtain the nonnegative form of the Fejér kernel, expand a squared geometric sum:The coefficient counts pairs of indices whose difference is . Dividing by and summing the geometric progression givesAt the ratio has its continuous limiting value . Thus this is a continuous, nonnegative trigonometric polynomial, not a kernel with genuine singularities.
Integration over a full period kills every nonconstant cosine term, soTranslation invariance of integration over the circle consequently gives, for every ,The first step is the integral triangle inequality, the second uses nonnegativity, and the last uses the mass just computed. Taking the supremum norm provesIn particular, Fejér summation is a uniform-norm contraction. The factor , rather than , is essential for the half-normalized Dirichlet kernel and Fejér kernel in this problem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 70 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Set and use the sign-appropriate Cole-Hopf transformation . Direct differentiation givesThus the heat equation implies the viscous Burgers equation with the required negative nonlinear sign. Conversely, vanishing of the Burgers residual makes the final quotient depend only on , and a multiplicative time-dependent factor in removes it. The algebraic substitution works for any nonzero where .
For a forward dissipative initial-value solution, take and . This is essential for the supplied heat kernel: at , , its real Gaussian integral diverges even for . More generally that kernel requires . The physical viscosity convention selects the positive case; the mere condition does not justify a forward Gaussian function formula.
Integrating gives a positive continuous initial factor, normalized asIts heat kernel convolution converges for both signs of , since a Gaussian function dominates the one-sided exponential. DefineThe left half-line contributes ; completing the square on the right half-line gives . ThusWhen differentiating, the two moving-endpoint Gaussian function terms cancel, becauseOnly remains in the logarithmic derivative. The viscous Burgers step solution with negative flux is thereforeThe denominator is strictly positive, so lies between and , irrespective of the sign of . Its initial limits away from are the required step.
For the spatial limits, the Gaussian function tails must be compared with ; inspecting that exponential alone gives the wrong inference when . As , the complementary error function asymptotic givesAt , tends to zero even for , because its quadratic decay dominates any exponential linear in . Hence . At , use the identity above to obtainwhile approaches its full Gaussian integral. Thusfor both signs of .
Since is strictly decreasing, holds exactly when . At this point , so the midpoint symmetry of a viscous Burgers step givesMore generally the exact symmetry is . For , the midpoint follows the inviscid shock trajectory. For , it is instead the center of an expanding fan, not a shock.
The vanishing viscosity approximation makes the comparison precise. For fixed and , near both tail integrals tend to the full Gaussian integral, so andThe layer has width and tends to the entropy shock, with value at its center. Outside it the limits are and .
For , inside both Gaussian function tails have large positive lower limits. Their asymptotics giveOutside this interval the limits are on the left and on the right. Thus positive viscosity selects the rarefaction wave, including the same midpoint value as the inviscid fan. The two sign cases agree with the preceding entropy solution construction, while a negative diffusivity would not furnish this dissipative selection.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 2 12F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
An exponential distribution of rate has density for and zero for , with survival probability . For , its memoryless property follows fromFor the minimum, independence gives . HenceThe density is zero for negative . The comparison probability follows from identical continuous laws and zero tie probability; directly it is . These are competing exponential clocks.
For the last density, substitute into the normalizing integral to obtain , the Gaussian integral. Equivalently, each variable has a gamma distribution with shape and rate one. Independence permits convolution of the densities. For ,Putting turns the integral into . ConsequentlyThis is also the additivity of independent gamma distributions with a common rate: their shapes add to one. Density values at the single endpoint zero are immaterial.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 5 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The interior elliptic regularity assertion for the Laplace equation is that a harmonic function is smooth, in fact real analytic, throughout . No boundary regularity of its unspecified boundary values is implied.
First let and . On a ball compactly contained in , differentiating its spherical average and applying the divergence theorem expresses that derivative as a constant factor times , which is zero. The spherical average tends to at the center as . This proves the mean value property for harmonic functions.
Choose a radially symmetric smooth mollifier , supported in , with integral one. By integrating the spherical mean value property,whenever . For fixed the right side is a smooth convolution, since all derivatives can be placed on . Thus is smooth. The same argument proves the Weyl lemma for a distributionally harmonic : first mollify , apply the fixed-radius identity, and let the mollification radius tend to zero in distributions to obtain the same smooth representative.
To prove real analytic regularity, differentiating the fixed-radius convolution gives the interior derivative estimate for a harmonic functionfor any harmonic . All derivatives of are harmonic. On nested balls between and , apply this estimate times, decreasing the radius by each time. For ,The inequality follows by integrating below the sum defining . Apply the one-dimensional Taylor theorem along each segment, expanding directional derivatives by the multinomial formula. The remainder is bounded by , so it tends to zero for sufficiently small . This gives a locally convergent multivariate Taylor series. A harmonic function is real analytic in the interior.
The usual inhomogeneous elliptic regularity statement also follows: if and is smooth, take a cutoff equal to one near a given point and set , where is a fundamental solution of the Laplace equation with . Moving every derivative to the compactly supported smooth function shows is smooth. Locally is harmonic, so is smooth there too.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 64 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use a bounded BV extension operator for the bounded Lipschitz domain. Extend to , supported in one fixed compact set, with . Such an extension is obtained by reflection in Lipschitz boundary charts, a partition of unity and a fixed cutoff function. A naive zero extension must also charge its boundary-trace jump; it cannot discard that contribution.
Let bound these norms and let be their mollifications. The BV mollification error estimate givesThe variation measure here is on . The printed lemma's needs this correction unless it also assumes all the derivative mass lies in : a nonconstant bump supported outside disproves its literal wording. The correct estimate follows by averaging the BV translation estimate over a mollifier supported in .
For each fixed , convolution gives uniform boundsThe mollifications have common compact support and are uniformly equicontinuous. The Arzela-Ascoli theorem supplies a uniformly convergent subsequence at each scale . A diagonal subsequence converges at every one of those scales. For two late members of that subsequence,First choose large , then late ; the sequence is a Cauchy sequence in . Its limit belongs to the BV space because the total variation seminorm on a domain is sequentially lower semicontinuous. Uniform derivative bounds and integration by parts give . Restriction to proves the required weak-star convergence in BV.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 67 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use complex-linear distribution pairings, without conjugation. Write for the space of test functions. The smoothing convolution with a test function isOn a compact set of values, all the translated test functions have support in one compact set. Continuity of the distribution therefore permits differentiation in , giving for every multi-index. In particular this convolution is a smooth function, even if is not tempered.
For the first associativity identity, integration against and the distribution pairing can be interchanged: the integrand has a common compact support in , depends smoothly on the integration variable, and satisfies the finite-order continuity estimate there. ConsequentlyThe common-support argument matters: a general distribution cannot be paired with arbitrary noncompact functions.
For convolution of distributions with a compactly supported factor, first take with compact support and defineThe inner pairing is interpreted using a cutoff function equal to one near . It is smooth in and has support in . To see continuity, restrict to a fixed compact support . The order of a distribution estimate for controls derivatives of the inner function by finitely many derivatives of , and its support lies in the fixed compact set . Applying the corresponding estimate for givesThus is a distribution, not merely a formal iterated pairing.
Choose an additional cutoff function in equal to one on a neighborhood of . The resulting joint kernel is compactly supported in both variables, so the tensor product of distributions permits reversing the pairings. One justification is to approximate that smooth compact kernel, in all the required derivative seminorms, by finite sums of products of one-variable kernels; the two orders agree on such products and their continuity estimates pass to the limit. Reversing consequently gives . If rather than has compact support, use the same construction with the roles reversed; pairing against a smooth function is then legitimate.
Evaluating the resulting smoothing convolution with a test function givesIf has compact support, is itself a test function; if has compact support, its action on the smooth inner convolution uses a cutoff. This explains the meaning of the formula in either case. It also proves uniqueness: , and reflection runs through all test functions. When both factors have compact support, the same definition gives , their Minkowski sum.
The Schwartz space consists of smooth functions for which every seminorm is finite. A tempered distribution is a continuous linear functional on this space. Fix the angular-frequency Fourier transform conventionThe Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space makes the dual definition continuous. For a compactly supported distribution, a fixed cutoff function near its support extends the action to smooth functions by . A finite-order estimate controls this by finitely many Schwartz space seminorms, so both compactly supported factors are tempered.
Their Fourier transform of a compactly supported distribution is the smooth function . Applying the compact-support convolution definition to the exponential givesThe convolution theorem has no extra factor with this normalization.
For the spherical surface measure convolution, put . Rotate the polar axis to the direction of ; rotational invariance of surface area givesAt the removable value is , the total sphere area. Hence .
For , angular integration in Fourier inversion now givesThis conditional integral can be made rigorous by first inserting and then taking in tempered distributions. The supplied sine identity gives an integral of when , and zero off that interval. Thusas a regular distribution. To justify the limiting density as well as the signs, expand the product of sines into four sine terms and use . The four arctangents are uniformly bounded; the regularized inverse is bounded by a constant times , which is a locally integrable function in three dimensions. Dominated convergence theorem therefore identifies the distributional limit with the displayed density.
Changing the two endpoint sphere values does not change the regular distribution; this includes the source's closed-interval representative. At a jump, symmetric Fourier inversion instead takes the half-value. If , the singularity at the origin remains locally integrable and is not a point mass. As a normalization check,exactly the product of the original sphere areas.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 69 1 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The partial differential equation. Each term in is a translated heat kernel and satisfies for . The same holds for , either by direct differentiation or because it is . For , and its derivatives vanish faster than any power as . Therefore differentiating the boundary convolution creates no extra upper-endpoint term. Gaussian domination justifies differentiating both integrals on compact subsets of , proving the advection-diffusion equation.
The initial condition. For fixed , the first Gaussian in is an approximate identity centered at . Its integral tends to . The reflected Gaussian is exponentially small as , because its center lies outside the half-line. The boundary convolution also tends to zero for . Thus .
The Dirichlet boundary condition. The identityshows that , so the initial-data contribution vanishes at zero. The boundary contribution must be evaluated as a limit, not by substituting inside its singular integral. The positive kernel satisfiesfor every . Hence it is a one-sided approximate identity at zero time, and continuity of givesThe mass formula follows from the Gaussian Laplace integral, or from the decaying solution of the corresponding constant-coefficient ordinary differential equation. Compatibility gives the continuous corner value. These arguments also verify the equivalent contour solution in (iii). In the decaying energy class the solution is unique: the difference of two solutions has zero data and for real solutions, with the analogous modulus identity for complex solutions.
The unheaded sine transform question. The direct classical Fourier sine transform does not close on . Ifthen integration by parts givesThe drift introduces an unknown cosine transform; the usual scalar sine-transform solution of the heat equation is therefore unavailable directly.
A Dirichlet gauge transform for constant drift does provide a qualified alternative. Set . Then , with and . If these weighted data have the decay needed for an ordinary Fourier sine transform, it solves the transformed problem and produces exactly the kernel above. Mere decay of does not ensure this weighted integrability. Thus not directly by the classical sine transform of ; yes after a gauge transformation when the required weighted-transform hypotheses hold, or after a justified cutoff/limit argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 35 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be the infection time and its incubation delay, with independent delays having probability density function . Each infection contributes to the symptom-onset intensity according to its delay density. Back-calculation of infection incidence uses the convolutionObserved onset intensity is infection intensity convolved with the incubation distribution. If infections begin at a known , take for , reducing the first integral's lower limit to . Otherwise past infections must be included; the observation window's start need not be the infection process's start.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 69 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Define the second modulus of smoothness by . The Jackson kernel is even, nonnegative and has integral one. Symmetrizing its convolution therefore givesWe first establish the needed scaling rule. For the translation operator , . Squaring gives . Central and forward second differences have the same norm. For every , take and . Taking the supremum over these provesThe zero-step case is immediate.
For , the inequalities , , and implyUse the first estimate on and the second outside it. ThenAll constants are independent of and . Combining these estimates proves the Jackson operator estimateFor , two applications of the fundamental theorem of calculus give the second-difference integral formulafor . Its absolute value is at most , so .
Finally, is a trigonometric polynomial of degree : its sine ratio squared is a Fejér polynomial of degree , and squaring doubles that degree. Thus has degree at most . To bound degree- best approximation, choose , rather than using directly. Since for , the smooth-function approximation rate is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 71 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use complex-linear distributions, so the pairing contains no complex conjugation. The space of smooth functions is , with seminormsThus means uniform convergence of every derivative on every compact subset of . A cofinal compact exhaustion with makes an increasing defining family. Such an exhaustion exists for every open set; for example, use bounded sets staying a positive distance from its complement and enlarge them slightly. This is a Fréchet space.
The compactly supported distribution space is the continuous dual space . We use its weak-star topology: precisely when for every . A stronger standard choice is the strong dual topology, which requires uniform convergence on bounded subsets of ; specifying the weak convention avoids conflating these definitions.
A continuous linear functional necessarily takes null sequences to zero. Conversely, suppose a linear functional fails to be continuous. For each , it is unbounded on ; otherwise scaling would give a continuity estimate. We can therefore choose withFor each fixed , once . This contradicts the assumed null-sequence property. Hence sequential continuity characterizes the continuous dual:This is the sequential continuity criterion in a metrizable vector space applied to a linear functional.
Continuity also yields one compact , an integer and a constant such that . Thus has compact support in and finite order of a distribution. Conversely, a compactly supported distribution extends to by , where a cutoff function equals one near its support of a distribution. The local finite-order estimate makes this extension continuous and independent of . This identifies the dual definition with compactly supported distributions.
Here is an explicit compact continuous-derivative representation of a distribution. Extend by zero to using a cutoff function inside , retaining finite order . Put andThis locally function satisfies . Indeed, each one-dimensional factor has th distributional derivative equal to the Dirac delta distribution. The convolution is continuous: the finite-order estimate extends to functions near its compact support, and translated varies continuously in their norms. Equivalently, mollify and use the estimate to obtain local uniform convergence of the convolved functions. Distributional differentiation gives .
Choose equal to one near . Since , repeated Leibniz rule givesEvery coefficient function on the right is continuous and compactly supported in . Thus the required representation is finite:The equality first holds on test functions and then on all smooth functions after inserting a common cutoff, so it holds in .
A general distribution need not admit one finite such sum, even if compact support is not required of the continuous functions. On , considerThe sum is locally finite, so it defines a distribution. If it were a finite sum with all continuous, then on every fixed compact set its action would be bounded by test derivatives through order . Near an integer , however, it is exactly , whose order is . To see the contradiction directly, choose a test function with and put . All derivative norms through order tend to zero, while . This is a distribution of unbounded order. In dimensions , the same example uses point masses at and derivatives in the first coordinate.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 71 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
We place the definitions and the unheaded preliminary requests here before addressing the first labelled property. The Schwartz space consists of smooth functions with finite seminormsfor every pair of multi-indices. Convergence means convergence in each seminorm. The tempered distribution space is its continuous dual space, with weak convergence tested against every Schwartz function. A continuous functional satisfies a bound by finitely many of these seminorms, equivalently by one sufficiently large weighted derivative seminorm.
Use the Fourier transform conventionDifferentiation under the integral and integration by parts express as a constant of modulus one times the Fourier transform of . Its supremum is bounded by the norm of that function. For , this norm is at most a constant times finitely many Schwartz seminorms, using the integrable weight . Thus is continuous.
For completeness, Fourier inversion follows by inserting in the inverse integral and using Fubini's theorem. The result is convolution with the Gaussian approximate identityIt tends to , while integrability of allows the damping factor to be removed by dominated convergence theorem. Consequently . Reflection preserves every Schwartz seminorm, so the inverse transform is continuous as well. This proves the Fourier transform isomorphism of the Schwartz space.
Define the Fourier transform of a tempered distribution by transposition,The Schwartz-space continuity just proved makes this a tempered distribution. Its inverse is , where . These maps are continuous for weak convergence, since each pairing is a pairing with a fixed transformed test. They are also continuous for the strong dual topology, because the Schwartz-space maps take bounded sets to bounded sets.
The convolution of a tempered distribution with a Schwartz function isSmooth dependence of translated Schwartz functions gives . The finite-seminorm estimate and show that each derivative has at most polynomial growth. In particular, is a smooth function defining a tempered distribution. It need not itself be a Schwartz function; for example .
Writing , its distributional pairing is . The inner convolution is a Schwartz function, and this identity follows by integration in the Schwartz topology, justified by the weighted seminorm estimates. A direct Fubini's theorem calculation gives . HenceMultiplication is well defined because multiplication by acts continuously on .
Now write the Hilbert transform as convolution with , the principal-value reciprocal distribution. The given Heaviside function transform, together with , yieldsThe value of the sign function at zero is irrelevant to its regular distribution. Thus the Hilbert-transform Fourier multiplier isApplying Plancherel theorem, whose normalization here is , proves the isometry:The principal-value integral agrees with this convolution: near its singular point subtract , and use odd cancellation; at infinity the Schwartz decay gives convergence. The Hilbert transform has domain , but generally does not take values in , as the tail in part (c) demonstrates.