Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ib Paper 3 3F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Differentiability means existence of a linear map such thatThis is the Fréchet derivative. Substituting increments on the coordinate axes shows . For the unit direction , the remainder is . Dividing the increment by proves differentiability of the restricted function and gives its directional derivative:For the supplied rational function, both coordinate-axis restrictions are zero, so . Any Fréchet derivative would therefore be the zero map. But , and hence for nonzero . This contradicts the required vanishing remainder. ThusIn fact every directional derivative exists: along it equals . These values do not depend linearly on the direction, illustrating why existence of directional derivatives is weaker than differentiability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ib Paper 3 13E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A function is Fréchet differentiable at when there is a linear map such thatThis linear map, which is unique, is the derivative .
For the chain rule, if is differentiable at and is differentiable at , then is differentiable at and . Indeed write and , where , . Since , substitution giveswhich proves the assertion, including paths on which .
For , write . Away from the two diagonal lines, and the formula is a composition of smooth functions, hence differentiable. At the origin, , so its ratio to the displacement length tends to zero. Its derivative there is therefore zero: this is quadratic damping restores differentiability at the origin.
At a nonzero point with , necessarily . Along the direction,The denominator inside the sine is locally an invertible function of , with nonzero derivative . Choose sequences tending to zero for which its reciprocal equals and . The quotients tend to and . Thus even this directional derivative fails to exist, and the function is not differentiable there. ConsequentlyFor , the formula is smooth away from zero. At zero, , so the same remainder estimate gives zero derivative. HenceNo limit of the sine factor itself is needed for either derivative at the origin.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 10 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Fix , and take sufficiently small that . For , convexity along the line segment givesThus the positive secant slopes are nondecreasing in their parameter, and have a limit as the parameter decreases to zero. The local Lipschitz continuity from part (a) bounds their absolute values by , where . Hence the directional derivative exists as a finite real number andFor it is zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 10 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write . Rescaling the parameter in the directional derivative gives for , and handles . For sufficiently small , convexity givesSubtract , divide by , and let . The finite limits from part (b) giveThese are exactly the defining conditions of a sublinear functional. In particular, a directional derivative of a convex function is sublinear; it need not be linear.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 2 6A b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
At the gradient is . The outward radial unit vector is when . Taking its scalar product with the gradient gives the radial directional derivativeEquivalently, on this plane . At the origin the radial unit vector is undefined, but every unit directional derivative is zero. Differentiating along the unnormalized scaling path instead gives at ; that is a rate per scaling parameter, not per unit radial distance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 39 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the usual probability-kernel convention: , , and , in addition to symmetry and compact support. These conditions are needed for the stated finite bound; symmetry and compact support by themselves do not impose normalization or nonnegativity. Interpret the differentiability assumption in the usual Sobolev space sense , or assume classical regularity sufficient for the integral Taylor remainder. The kernel density estimator isThe bias-variance decomposition of mean squared error, followed by Tonelli theorem, yieldsIndependence and a change of variables give the exact integrated variance of a kernel density estimatorAll changes of integration order are justified either by nonnegativity or by the displayed finite integrals.
For the bias of a kernel density estimator, symmetry gives . Taylor's integral remainder, with translations understood in , givesThe Minkowski inequality and translation invariance of the L2 norm implywhere . Consequently we obtain the slightly stronger conclusionSince , this proves the requested bound. For signed kernels, the same argument has in place of ; the printed bound is not generally justified merely by signed-kernel symmetry. For example, let and . This symmetric compactly supported signed kernel has integral one and , but its fourth moment is nonzero. For a normal density its convolution has nonzero bias at any fixed positive bandwidth. Sending would therefore contradict a bound containing only the integrated variance term.
Writing the requested bound as , differentiation gives when . Thus gives mean integrated squared error of order . With the sharper constant one instead has ; the rate is identical.
A direct heuristic for is to choose a twice differentiable pilot kernel , estimate by the second derivative kernel density estimatorand integrate its square. Its integrated variance contains a diagonal term , which should not be mistaken for the target. A useful corrected U-statistic removes that diagonal:Its expectation is . Thus smoothing bias of an estimator, rather than the diagonal contribution, remains. For a smooth compactly supported probability pilot kernel, the same variance calculation givesThe second term tends to zero because convolution with a shrinking probability kernel approximates every function. Thus and make the raw squared pilot estimate consistent for the quadratic density derivative functional. If , thenso the diagonal-corrected U-statistic is consistent under the same choice. Consistency already uses the assumed ; the additional third-derivative hypothesis is relevant to more ambitious rate heuristics.
Three bounded continuous derivatives do not justify a general root- estimation rate for . For a smooth perturbation with compact support, the directional derivative iswhere the last expression requires a fourth derivative in the appropriate weak sense. A regular root- argument would need an influence function proportional to , with finite variance under . Three derivatives do not supply that condition.
For a more quantitative heuristic, impose the additional assumption , use a smooth Fourier cutoff of width , and estimate the quadratic functional by its off-diagonal U-statistic. The tail bias of an estimator is because the Plancherel theorem weights this functional by frequency to the fourth power. The degenerate part of its standard deviation is : the squared norm of the quadratic kernel scales as . At , these two terms balance at and have size , already slower than ; any additional first-order variance cannot improve that balance. To make both terms requires and , which are compatible only when . This is an illustrative smoothness calculation under extra Sobolev and moment assumptions, not a rate theorem asserted solely from bounded third derivatives. Particular much smoother probability density functions may of course permit root- estimation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 309 3 b i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Lie derivative of a function is differentiation along the flow, while the Lie derivative of a vector field compares a vector with its pullback by that flow. Their index-free expressions areHere is the directional derivative of the smooth function, and is the Lie bracket of vector fields, characterized by . To see the second expression directly, if is the local flow of , differentiating at gives . This uses the flow definition of the Lie derivative of a tensor field.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 3 11B c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The directional derivative along the specified vector field givesUse the magnitude formula for the curvature of an integral curve of a vector field:It vanishes on the plane and on the axis away from the origin, consistent with straight field lines there. At the origin the vector field vanishes, so it fails the nowhere-zero hypothesis and this field-line curvature is not defined.
As an independent geometric check, an integral curve of a vector field satisfies , , , giving . Its velocity is and acceleration ; the ordinary curvature of a space curve formula gives the same expression.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 323 3 ii c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For , positive homogeneity and concavity giveAfter subtracting , dividing by , and taking the one-sided directional derivative at zero,
Quadratic density derivative functional Created 2026-10-07 Updated 2026-10-14
The squared L2 norm of a probability density function derivative measures roughness and appears in optimal smoothing constants. For , its directional derivative along a smooth compactly supported perturbation is . When integration by parts is valid twice, this equals . Thus regular root- estimation requires substantially more regularity than merely estimating a smooth probability density function.
Total differential Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The total differential is the linear map that combines the first-order responses to simultaneous changes in all coordinates. For a differentiable real-valued function at , it can be writtenHere is an input vector; denotes the coordinate linear functional . The coordinate formula and the Fréchet derivative describe the same linear map. The defining approximation isThe little o notation says the remaining approximation error becomes small relative to the input norm, across every direction of approach.[ref]
4.4 Tangent Planes and Linear Approximations. Calculus Volume 3, §4.4, differentiability definition (4.26) and total differential (4.27)
For at , . A simultaneous change gives the linear approximationThe exact algebra isConsequently the exact change is , and the approximation error is . If both input changes are halved, the linear prediction becomes and the error becomes : the first-order response halves, while the quadratic error falls by a factor of four. The right panel under directional derivative displays this comparison as the displacement is scaled.
For a quick check of differentiability, givesDividing by makes this bound tend to zero. The same calculation proves that the tangent plane to the graph of a function at is . It approximates the entire local surface, rather than only two coordinate slices.
The total differential is useful for estimating the combined effect of small input changes without reevaluating a complicated function. For example, if and , then . The exact remainder bound from the displayed polynomial is at most , so this example has throughout that input rectangle. These are deterministic bounds; a variance calculation additionally needs a joint probability distribution and its covariances. A first-order estimate is also local: large changes require control of the remainder, not merely knowledge of the partial derivatives at one point.