Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ia Paper 1 7B d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ia Paper 1 8B c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
, so and . Unitary conjugation preserves Hermiticity, trace, and determinant; every traceless Hermitian matrix is with real , and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ib Paper 2 10F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The inverse function theorem says that a map with invertible derivative at restricts to a diffeomorphism between neighbourhoods of and . It makes every zero isolated. Compactness of , together with separation from zero on the boundary, then makes the zero set finite and interior. Continuity of gives the displayed radii. Choose disjoint balls around the zeros and a positive lower bound for on their complement and boundary. A sufficiently small perturbation has no zeros outside, while the quoted local lemma gives exactly one zero in each ball with the same determinant sign. Summing proves .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ib Paper 3 10E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Generators define a surjection , and conversely images of the standard basis generate any quotient. Writing with and applying the adjugate to gives a monic annihilating polynomial whose lower coefficients lie in . Taking when yields with ; for and take . The Jacobson radical criterion follows by placing a nonunit in a maximal ideal. It yields Nakayama’s lemma. Applying the determinant trick to preimages of a finite generating set constructs a polynomial right inverse to any surjective endomorphism, proving injectivity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 111 2 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
PutAfter ordering before , the only nonzero off-diagonal entries between the two blocks occur at and , where they equal . Thuswhere the coordinate vectors in the two blocks are understood. Expanding the determinant according to whether neither or both cross-block entries are selected givesThe minus sign is the sign of the transposition pairing the two cross-block entries. This formula remains valid when either diagonal block is singular, so no inverse or Schur complement is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ii Paper 1 6C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
At the origin the Jacobian isThus it is a saddle and unstable. At the positive equilibrium the trace is negative. The product of the off-diagonal entries is by the nullcline identities, while the product of the magnitudes of the diagonal entries is strictly larger, so the determinant is positive. Both eigenvalues therefore have negative real part and the endemic equilibrium is stable.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ii Paper 3 11G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ii Paper 3 31B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Fixed points have and . They coalesce on , the saddle-node curve. Away from it, ; the Jacobian has trace and determinant , so is stable and a saddle. At the branches and cross in a transcritical bifurcation.
Planar rotation 2026-10-07
A planar rotation about the origin is the linear map represented by the rotation matrix . It preserves inner products, lengths, oriented angles and area, with positive angles measured anticlockwise. Its inverse is and its determinant is one.
Principal minor 2026-10-05
A principal minor is the determinant of a square submatrix selected using the same index set for rows and columns. For a three-by-three matrix, the coefficient of in its monic characteristic polynomial is the sum of its three principal minors of order two.
Projection kernel determinant integration 2026-10-07
Suppose an integral kernel reproduces under convolution and has integrable diagonal with integral , and the displayed single-variable integrals exist. In the determinant , permutations fixing contribute after integration. For every permutation on letters there are ways to insert into a cycle; convolution contracts the two adjacent factors, and insertion reverses the permutation sign. These terms contribute . This proves the formula without a symmetry assumption on the kernel.
For any finite-index subgroup and rational positive-determinant , the intersection has finite index. Multiply by a positive rational scalar to obtain an integral matrix with positive integer determinant . For , is integral, so lies in . This intersection has finite index. Its further intersection with has relative index at most . No assumption that itself is a congruence subgroup is needed.
The matrix coefficients of a rational action belong to its coordinate ring . Multiplying the action by a sufficiently large determinant twist clears all determinant denominators and produces a polynomial representation. Irreducible rational actions are indexed by decreasing integer highest weights, with negative coordinates allowed.
Reduced norm 2026-10-07
The reduced norm of an element of a central simple algebra of degree is its determinant after any splitting isomorphism to . Inner automorphisms of a matrix algebra preserve that determinant, while Galois invariance descends its polynomial coefficients to the center. It is a multiplicative homogeneous degree- polynomial, vanishing exactly on noninvertible elements. On a central division algebra it is anisotropic.
Rotational symmetry group of a cube Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
The orientation-preserving symmetries of a cube are the signed permutation matrices with determinant one. There are of them. Their group action on the four body diagonals identifies this group with the symmetric group . Indeed choose diagonal directions , whose sum is zero and whose only linear relation has all coefficients equal. A rotation fixing every diagonal sends each direction to itself or its negative; the relation forces all four signs equal. All negative would give , which has determinant , so the kernel of a group homomorphism is trivial. Both groups have order 24, giving the identification. Its face permutations have cycle types , , , and , occurring times respectively.
The determinant transformation formula for the Levi-Civita symbol shows that it is invariant under every proper rotation matrix, for which . Under an orthogonal reflection its sign reverses. This distinguishes proper-rotation isotropy from the pseudotensor transformation convention when both orientations are included.
Routh-Hurwitz stability criterion 2026-10-06
The Routh-Hurwitz criterion tests whether all roots of a real polynomial have negative real part, by sign conditions on determinants formed from its coefficients. Applied to a characteristic polynomial, it gives an algebraic test for strict linear asymptotic stability.
Row Hermite normal form in rank two 2026-10-05
For a finite-index subgroup , its projection to the first coordinate is and its intersection with the second axis is , with . Choose , reducing modulo . Together with it is a basis of this row lattice: subtracting a multiple of from any vector leaves a vector on the second axis. These parameters are unique, and reduction of the two coordinates shows . Consequently an integral matrix of positive determinant has a unique representative of this form under left multiplication by , with . This proves the lattice facts underlying determinant-n matrix representatives for Hecke operators.