Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ib Paper 2 15G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ia Paper 3 1D iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 3 12A b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Let be rotation through about , and let be rotation through about . These generate the order-six dihedral group with relationsnamely . We specify its order explicitly because dihedral notation has two conventions. It is a proper finite subgroup of the full axial rotation group.
To see that it is sufficient, write a general matrix in blocks . Commutation with forces , since a nontrivial planar -degree rotation fixes no nonzero planar vector. Its planar part is , with nonzero sine, so must commute with and has the form . Commutation with again kills . Hence this six-element subgroup has precisely the required invariant tensors.
It is also smallest by order. Groups of orders are cyclic: a nonidentity element has order dividing the prime group order by Lagrange theorem. For a cyclic rotation subgroup, the nonzero antisymmetric tensor representing cross product with its rotation-axis direction is invariant, so it cannot force the symmetric form above. The trivial subgroup plainly imposes no constraint. A group of order four is either cyclic or has three nonidentity elements of order two; in the latter case they commute, since and also equals . Commuting distinct half-turns in three dimensions have perpendicular axes: conjugation by one half-turn must preserve the other's axis, and a distinct preserved axis lies in its perpendicular plane. In the specified axial group, their three axes are consequently and two perpendicular horizontal directions. In coordinates along them every diagonal matrix is invariant, including one with unequal horizontal entries. Such a group again does not force the required form.
Thus the smallest subgroup has six elements, generated by the axial -degree rotation and one horizontal half-turn. It is the smallest axial rotation group forcing second-rank transverse isotropy; conjugating the horizontal axis gives equally valid choices.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 2 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A real Lie group is a group equipped with a finite-dimensional real smooth manifold structure, conventionally Hausdorff and second countable, for which multiplication and inversion are smooth.
Its tangent space at the identity is defined by smooth curves through : two curves represent the same tangent vector when their derivatives in a local chart agree at zero. For , left translation determines the left-invariant vector fieldThe commutator of these derivations on smooth functions is another left-invariant vector field, so define the Lie bracketThis construction supplies the Lie algebra structure. In a Matrix Lie group, and differentiating the two fields gives .
For the special linear group, differentiate the determinant along a curve through . Expansion of the determinant, or its differential , givesThe determinant differential is surjective at , so the level set has tangent space equal to its differential's kernel. Equivalently, every tangent matrix has zero trace, and every zero-trace matrix supplies a curve of determinant . Hencewith the matrix commutator bracket. The same calculation over gives the complex special linear Lie algebra ; as a real group, the complex group has that space viewed as a real Lie algebra.
The matrix exponential is the everywhere-convergent serieswhose inverse matrix is . The matrix logarithm is locally defined near byThese maps are inverse on suitable neighbourhoods of zero and , giving a logarithmic chart of a matrix Lie group. A logarithm is not a globally single-valued inverse of the exponential.
Every invertible complex matrix nevertheless has at least one matrix logarithm. Put it in Jordan normal form. For a block , and , choose any complex scalar logarithm of and setThe finite logarithm and exponential identities in the nilpotent variable give . Combine the blocks and conjugate back. Thus the exponential map is surjective on , by existence of a logarithm for every invertible complex matrix.
A connected counterexample is . It is connected: polar decomposition of an invertible real matrix writes each element as , with and positive definite symmetric of determinant one; is connected and is connected to through .
But belongs to this group and is not for any real . Such an would commute with . Since has two distinct real eigenvalues, direct commutation makes a real diagonal matrix. Its exponential has positive diagonal entries, a contradiction. ThereforeThis is an exponential-surjectivity obstruction from distinct negative eigenvalues; connectedness does not eliminate the obstruction.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 2 11E c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For the general linear group over , choose a nonzero first column in ways and a second column outside its span in ways. ThusSince and , the residue has order three. The nine diagonal matrices , with , form a subgroup isomorphic to . It is an abelian group and a Sylow subgroup for . Every other Sylow subgroup for is conjugate to it by the Sylow theorems, hence is also Abelian.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 326 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For the quadratic case, write and . Since is an orthogonal matrix, the quadratic proximal term becomes . The subgradient optimality condition givesAll , so each diagonal entry is positive, including when . Multiplying by the inverse diagonal matrix givesThe proximal operator of Poisson data fidelity separates pointwise. At each , the scalar optimality equation on isSince , the two roots have opposite signs. Only the positive root is admissible in the logarithm:The negative root is outside the effective domain. The second derivative of the proximal objective is positive, establishing the unique pointwise minimizer. The integral formula is understood on the function spaces where these quantities are admissible.
Finally, for , positive and negative minimizers obey and , respectively. At zero the subdifferential condition is . Combining these cases yields soft thresholding:Thus supplies all three requested closed forms.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 3 2E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
A subgroup of a group is a normal subgroup when for every , equivalently . The quotient group has the left cosets as elements, with , identity and inverse . Normality makes this multiplication independent of representatives.
The first isomorphism theorem for groups says that for a group homomorphism , its kernel of a group homomorphism is normal andThe image is taken with the induced group operation; surjectivity onto all of is not required.
For the given upper triangular matrices, take diagonal entries:The target is a direct product of groups, with multiplication of nonzero real numbers in each coordinate. Indeed the product of two such matrices has diagonal , proving the group homomorphism property. Any pair of nonzero diagonal entries is attained by a diagonal matrix, so is surjective. Its kernel of a group homomorphism consists precisely of the matrices with , namely . Hencewith coordinatewise multiplication, not addition on .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 28K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Conditional on , the holding time has an exponential distribution of rate , and after that holding time the next state is with transition probability . The memoryless property of exponential random variables and the Markov property of therefore make a continuous-time Markov chain.
Moreover , so . The strong law of large numbers gives almost surely, hence and the process is nonexplosive. Its Q-matrix isEquivalently, if is the diagonal matrix with entries , then
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 40C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The Householder-John theorem states: if is Hermitian positive definite and is also Hermitian positive definite, then is invertible and
Now let be real symmetric positive definite and tridiagonal. For the Jacobi splitting, and . Positive definiteness of implies every diagonal entry is positive, so is positive definite. Introduce the alternating-sign diagonal matrixTridiagonality givesSince is orthogonal, is positive definite whenever is. Both hypotheses of the Householder-John theorem hold, and hence the Jacobi iteration matrix satisfies . Therefore the Jacobi convergence for a symmetric positive-definite tridiagonal matrix follows.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 2 39C d Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Each coordinate of the transformed vectors evolves independently because and are diagonal matrices. Reorder the unknowns by collecting the th components across all grid columns:Then system (3) splits into the uncoupled systemswhereThus the original problem reduces to one discrete sine transform followed by independent tridiagonal solves and an inverse sine transform.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ia Paper 1 6A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
If with , thenso every eigenvalue is real. If and , thenDistinct eigenvalues therefore have orthogonal eigenvectors.
The normalized eigenvectors form an orthonormal basis, so the matrix satisfies and is unitary. Withthe equations say , hence . This is the finite-dimensional unitary diagonalization of a normal matrix.
A unitary conjugate of an arbitrary diagonal matrix need not be Hermitian: and give . It is Hermitian exactly when all diagonal entries of are real.
For the displayed matrix, one valid decomposition isThe columns are orthonormal eigenvectors, so direct multiplication gives .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 2 41C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The matrix from part (a) is Hermitian positive definite, while the real diagonal matrix is Hermitian. The stated product theorem, or similarityshows that every eigenvalue of is real. Hence every eigenvalue of is real; this is the real spectrum of a positive-Hermitian times Hermitian product.
Moreover, is invertible and has rank , so for the matrix has nonzero real eigenvalues. If is one of them, the corresponding mode of the semidiscrete equation has eigenvalue . The explicit Euler method has amplification factorfor every . Therefore the explicit Euler discretization is unstable, as in explicit Euler instability on a nonzero imaginary eigenvalue.
Positive diagonal symmetrization of a matrix 2026-10-05
If a real matrix has a positive diagonal matrix such that is a symmetric matrix, then is a symmetric matrix related to by a similarity transformation: gives . Thus is a diagonalizable matrix with real eigenvalues. If for all real vectors , its eigenvalues are nonpositive. This converts symmetry in a weighted inner product into Euclidean symmetry.
Scalar matrix 2026-10-06
A scalar matrix is a scalar multiple of the identity matrix, equivalently a diagonal matrix with all diagonal entries equal. It commutes with every square matrix of the same size. In , the nonzero scalar matrices form the central subgroup removed to define the projective linear group.