Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 33C b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For the odd channel, solve on with . Inside , write ; outside write , respecting the outgoing odd-channel minus sign. Continuity at and the delta-potential derivative jump areEliminating yieldsThe equations remain valid when by taking the limiting value, rather than dividing blindly. For real , numerator and denominator inside the fraction are complex conjugates and the prefactor has unit modulus. Thus . This is conservation of flux in the odd parity channel: the real potential causes only a phase shift there, not absorption. It does not assert unit left-to-right transmission in the usual incident-from-one-side basis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 36D b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Using the stipulated point-mass quadrupole, take and . The only nonzero components areSince , its third derivative is . Thereforeand the total outward radiated power isQuadrupole radiation oscillates at twice the motion frequency. The approximation assumes slow motion and a prescribed motion relative to the rest of the source. A lone freely moving point mass cannot execute this oscillation; a physical conserved source includes the accelerating apparatus or other matter, whose quadrupole would also need specification. The displayed value is the point-mass contribution requested by the supplied formula.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 37B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume incompressible inviscid layers, gravity , no surface tension, and irrotational perturbations of the uniform base flows. The full bulk equations are and . At the rigid walls . At the material interface each layer obeys , and . There is no tangential-velocity matching condition across this vortex sheet.
Write , with , . Then , and the wall conditions are . Linearizing the interface conditions at zero givesThe second follows from linear Bernoulli pressure and the hydrostatic pressure shift .
For , use amplitudes and . Kinematics gives and . The dynamic condition becomesCompleting the square yieldsA positive real part occurs precisely whenThe function decreases strictly from at to zero at infinity. Indeed its derivative has numerator , since . Therefore the minimum speed producing instability at every finite nonzero wavenumber isAt equality every still satisfies the strict growth inequality, since ; the limiting infinite-wavelength mode is marginal. A strict uniform long-wave margin requires .
Normalized finite-depth shear-instability threshold
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 38B i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For there are two positive solutions and , together with their negatives. The second derivative isEach negative stationary point has the conjugate contribution of its positive partner, because is real even and is odd. ThereforeIf a leading amplitude vanishes, this gives a zero coefficient and a higher-order term supplies that branch's first nonzero contribution.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 7E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Substitute the Laplace contour-integral method for a linear differential equation into the differential equation and use . Integration by parts around a closed contour avoiding singularities givesIt suffices to solve , givingNonzero contour integrals arise by enclosing one or both double poles . At , the residue isThe conjugate pole gives the conjugate expression for real . Taking real and imaginary linear combinations yields the real solutionsTheir derivatives are , , and their Wronskian is , so they are linearly independent on every interval avoiding zero. Both extend analytically across zero and remain independent as functions; the vanishing Wronskian at zero reflects the singular leading coefficient of the printed differential equation there.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 213 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the finite, nonempty set of available routes for source-sink pair , and write for a route flow. The link-route incidence matrix has when route uses link , and zero otherwise. The source-sink route incidence matrix has when . Thus gives link throughputs and gives aggregate source-sink flows. A route's delay isA Wardrop equilibrium uses only routes of minimum delay for their source-sink pair:An infinitesimal user cannot improve its delay by changing route.
For fixed , the feasible route flows form a nonempty compact convex set: for each , and . Define the Beckmann potentialIt is continuous, so the extreme value theorem gives a minimizer. Since every is strictly increasing, is a strictly convex function of . Its route-flow gradient is .
If an occupied route has greater delay than another route , moving a small amount of flow from to gives a negative directional derivative, contradicting minimality. Conversely, at a Wardrop equilibrium, for any feasible ,The first-order condition for convex optimization therefore proves optimality. ConsequentlyIf two minimizers had different , their midpoint would give a strictly smaller Beckmann potential. Thus the equilibrium link throughputs are unique. The route flows need not be unique, since need not be a strictly convex function of .
For a concrete example, take two successive stages of parallel links: in the first stage and in the second, with one source-sink pair and four routes . Put on every link and total flow . All allocationshave the same link throughputs and every route has delay two. These distinct allocations are all Wardrop equilibria.
For elastic demand, use the standard physical convention that and is finite, continuous, and strictly decreasing. Set and , and define the inverse demand function on . It is continuous and strictly decreasing, with and as . Choose any reference value and setEach summand of is a strictly convex function. The reference values only add a constant to the objective. In the usual case , one may use a lower limit zero whenever the improper integral is finite; that integrability is not guaranteed merely by continuity of .
Minimize over the compact feasible set , , interpreting the objective at by its one-sided limit, which can be . This extension is sequentially lower semicontinuous, and an interior-demand feasible point has finite value, so a minimizer exists. It cannot have : adding a small amount on any route for has bounded marginal link cost, whereas its marginal demand benefit tends to infinity. Thus .
For , the route-flow partial derivative is . The first-order conditions for convex optimization giveIf , reducing any occupied route cannot improve the objective only if that route has zero delay; nonnegative link delays then give . Therefore the conditions in every case areConversely these conditions give the nonnegative directional derivative for every feasible competitor and hence minimize the convex function . Allowing explicitly yields the stated form with and , with inverse-demand endpoint conventions understood. In particular, is defined on its demand range, rather than evaluating outside that range.
Strict convexity in the pair proves that the equilibrium aggregate source-sink flows and link throughputs are unique. Individual route flows may still be nonunique. Nonnegative, finite demand, nonnegative delays, finite route sets, and a usable route for each source-sink pair are the implicit modeling assumptions needed for the existence assertions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 308 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A Bogomolny bound expresses a static field energy as nonnegative squares plus a term fixed by the topological charge or boundary data. Setting the squares to zero gives the first-order Bogomolny equations. Their solutions minimize the energy in that sector and satisfy the second-order Euler-Lagrange field equations, although a general stationary solution need not attain the bound.
For one real scalar in one spatial dimension, take the Lagrangian densityA finite-energy field configuration in this static sector must approach scalar-field vacua with at the two ends. Completing the square gives the square completion for a one-dimensional kink:Choose the sign for which the boundary term is nonnegative. ThusTaking the derivative of the equality equation gives , the static Euler-Lagrange field equation. The boundary term is invariant under deformations keeping the asymptotic scalar-field vacua fixed; it is not a contribution from the local shape of the kink.
For a phi-four kink, let , , and select the sector , . Then , and the increasing Bogomolny equation is . Separating variables yieldsThe integration constant is the translational collective coordinate. Directly, and its energy density is , whose integral is . The decreasing antikink has the reversed boundary values, profile , and the same energy. A Lorentz boost produces the exact uniformly moving kink , with Lorentz factor and energy .
In two spatial dimensions, choose the Abelian Higgs model at critical coupling, with , , and energyThe gauge covariant derivative is used throughout this normalization. Integration by parts, using , gives , with a vanishing boundary divergence for the decaying vortex fields. Combining this identity with the magnetic and potential terms gives the Bogomolny square completion for an Abelian Higgs vortex:Finite-energy field configurations have at infinity, and makes the magnetic flux equal to the phase winding . For ,These are the Bogomolny vortex equations for an Abelian Higgs vortex. Opposite signs give antivortices and the bound . The coefficient follows from the explicit energy normalization above; other conventions can give . Static solutions of fixed positive vortex number have equal energy independent of their positions, giving the Abelian Higgs vortex moduli space used for slow dynamics.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 336 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The solution and its first derivative are continuous at : a jump would create a Dirac delta distribution or its derivative, absent from the forcing. Put , and . The outer expansions, fixed by the respective endpoint boundary conditions, areBalancing diffusion and advection near gives the interior layer at a simple zero of advection with inner variable . The leading inner expansion solves , so matching to and givesFor the next term define the Gaussian drift primitivesWriting for the Heaviside step function, let . Its value and first derivative match at zero and . Thuswhere the logarithmic overlaps fixHere are the constants in the supplied large-positive- limits of . The terms are essential switchback terms; discarding them would not give accuracy through .
Subtracting the common overlap from the inner expansion and outer expansions gives the additive composite expansionThe standard overlap subtraction leaves . Replacing by changes the value only by uniformly and gives a composite with continuous first derivative. The last term restores the endpoint values through the retained order. When , and the order-one error-function jump disappears. An interior adjustment remains to accommodate the leading outer derivative mismatch, together with logarithmic matching when .
Reversing the diffusion sign changes the leading inner equation to . Its nonconstant solution grows like the integral of , so bounded matching forces the same leading value on both sides. The bulk is on the left and on the right; both endpoint conditions are instead supplied by decaying endpoint layers for reversed diffusion, of width . A weaker width- interior adjustment matches derivatives and selects . Indeed, its first-order equation has a non-growing solution only ifThe leading structure is consequentlywith the smaller interior correction understood. Unlike the positive-diffusion case, the endpoint values are not transported into two distinct order-one inner limits.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 3 2F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
One form of the Baire category theorem says that a nonempty complete metric space cannot be a countable union of closed nowhere dense sets.
For each nonnegative integer , putBecause is an entire function, every derivative is continuous and is closed. No is identically zero: if for some , repeated integration shows that is a polynomial. By the identity theorem, the zero set of the nonzero holomorphic function has empty interior. Thus each is nowhere dense.
The complex plane is complete, so the Baire category theorem givesChoose outside this union. Then for every , and hence every coefficient in the Taylor series about is nonzero. Such a point therefore exists.
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 3E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
At a point with , the determinant of the derivative isThe inverse function theorem therefore supplies neighbourhoods on which has a continuously differentiable, hence differentiable, inverse. Concretely, if , the local inverse is the restriction ofwhich is continuously differentiable near the image whenever .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 3 2E b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The function is uniformly continuous on . Its derivative satisfiesso the mean value theorem givesThus the function is Lipschitz, which implies uniform continuity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 328 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Apply the time Laplace transform to the Airy equation. Extend past in any suitable way and writeFor example, setting after makes ; the final solution for is independent of this extension. The Laplace transform of a derivative givesTake the principal cube root for . The three characteristic roots of the spatial ordinary differential equation areSince , only has negative real part. Thus spatial decay leaves just one homogeneous exponential, which the single prescribed Neumann boundary condition determines.
The Airy resolvent kernel on the whole real line isIt decays at both ends, is continuous together with its first derivative, and satisfies . Consequently as a distribution. A particular solution is the Green-function representationAdding the decaying homogeneous mode to impose the boundary derivative givesEvery term is known. If denotes the spatial Laplace transform, thenThe Bromwich inversion formula now gives the required integral representation:Here is to the right of any singularities required by the growth of the data. The usual decay or growth hypotheses are understood for this Laplace transform construction; when absolute inversion is unavailable, the vertical integral is interpreted as the limit of truncated Bromwich contours. The transformed ordinary differential equation verifies the partial differential equation and initial condition, while differentiating at gives exactly and hence . The derivative compatibility makes the two data agree at the corner.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 336 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
There are two positive roots for : the derivative of is , so the function decreases to its minimum at and then increases. Negative cannot solve the equation. For the larger root, expansion of the exponential function in givesso series reversion yieldsFor the smaller root, set and take a logarithm. Then , so successive substitution gives andThese are the first two nonzero terms of the two asymptotic expansions. Equivalently, the roots are and , from the real branches of Lambert W.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 336 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
The three fixed- estimates below cease to be uniform as the minimum of the phase approaches the endpoint. For the cubic endpoint-to-saddle transition, writeThe Taylor series of the hyperbolic sine gives, for bounded and fixed ,The cubic term controls the tail, so localization of the Laplace integral gives the uniform leading formulaHere is the cubic Laplace transition integral, equal to in terms of the Scorer Hi function.
To recover the endpoint regime, let . Scale in ; the cubic term becomes negligible and . Thereforewhich agrees with part (i) in the overlap . At , the Gamma integral gives , recovering part (iii).
For , set . The exponent has its maximum at , with second derivative . Thus Laplace's method givesand the transition formula becomesFor with , part (ii) hasPutting reproduces both the exponential and its prefactor. For relative agreement of these leading exponentials, one may use the overlap , which makes . Thus the same transition integral connects all three regimes.
The cubic endpoint-to-saddle transition
. Direct numerical integration of the original phase approaches the same cubic transition function as the large parameter increases. Negative transition parameter places the minimum inside the interval; positive parameter leaves an ordinary endpoint minimum. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 336 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
At fixed , the leading equation is . Its solution compatible with the eventual decaying far field and the boundary value at one is . This decay implies at distances . Balancing radial derivatives against the linear screening term identifiesThe distant region is governed by the modified Helmholtz equation; its decaying homogeneous profile is .
For a matched asymptotic expansion, write the fixed- approximation as , allowing logarithms of in the coefficients. Successive equations areThe boundary condition imposes and . Before matching, their integrated forms can be writtenIn particular a pure power series with parameter-independent coefficients will be insufficient: the logarithmic overlap creates a switchback term.
In the distant region set . The scaled equation is , soDecay and leading matching give . The radial modified Helmholtz equation gives the supplied particular integral in terms of the exponential integral:As , the small-argument expansion of the exponential integral yieldswhere is the Euler--Mascheroni constant. Substitute to compare the two expansions in :The constant at order fixes . Its coefficient then fixes , and the constant at order fixes . HenceThe required inner expansion at fixed isAt fixed positive , the outer expansion isBoth display every term through the requested order, including the switchback term in the fixed- region.
To form an additive composite expansion, subtract the common overlap from the sum of the inner and outer expressions. Their retained common part isThus one composite is . The last term can be screened by multiplying it by without changing either retained expansion. This gives a useful exponentially decaying version:Its boundary value is . If exact satisfaction of the boundary value is desired, use insteadThe small-argument expansion of the exponential integral shows that this normalized composite has the same two retained expansions; it equals one at and tends to zero at infinity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 338 3 c i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let the two internal angles be and , since the optical prism geometry gives . By Snell's law, the corresponding external angles are and , where . The deviation isOn the transmitted branch with and ,Thus is strictly increasing. The stationary condition forces , and the positive second derivative makes this the unique minimum deviation. ConsequentlyThe argument assumes a transmitted ray is possible; the symmetric internal angles must lie below the critical angle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 346 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The shell equation is conservative because its radial acceleration is the negative derivative of the specific potential energyMultiplying the equation of motion by givesHenceThis is energy per unit shell mass. The total energy of a uniform sphere requires integrating the energies of its shells.
For a sphere of physical radius , the shell theorem gives and . Assemble the sphere shell by shell to obtain its Newtonian gravitational potential energy:The cosmological constant contributes a prescribed one-body potential , rather than a pair interaction, so there is no additional factor :Evaluating at the turnaround radius givesAs in the question, here includes the factor that would multiply the geometrical cosmological constant in SI units.
For the final equilibrium apply the scalar virial theorem. The gravitational virial is , whereas the cosmological constant force contributesThus, neglecting a surface-pressure term,At fixed , a positive cosmological constant reduces the kinetic energy needed for virial equilibrium because its outward acceleration partially offsets self-gravity.
For the uniform-sphere collapse with a cosmological constant, assume a uniform final sphere of the same mass, with no energy loss or escaping matter. PutThe sphere has no bulk kinetic energy at turnaround, so . The final virial theorem givesSince ,Conservation of energy therefore givesSelect the collapsing branch continuous from at , rather than an unrelated root of the cubic equation.
For , the root lies close to . Linearize there:Substitution into the cubic equation gives , whenceThe rational expression is an approximation, not an exact solution of the cubic equation. In fact both it and the exact collapsing root agree through order ; their first difference is of order .
With zero cosmological constant, spherical collapse gives . For small positive , the same sphere with the same turnaround radius reaches a smaller final radius. This does not mean that repulsion promotes collapse: as the sphere contracts, becomes less negative, so some released gravitational binding energy pays the energetic cost of moving inward against the repulsive force. Combined with the modified virial theorem, energy conservation requires a more compact endpoint. Positive can prevent turnaround altogether; an inward acceleration at requiresThe perturbative radius formula applies well inside this limit, for spheres that actually turn around. A small negative cosmological constant instead gives at fixed turnaround data.

