Monomial B-spline coefficients 2026-10-06
For order B-splines, comparison of coefficients in the Marsden identity giveson the basic knot interval. Here is the elementary symmetric polynomial, with . The case is partition of unity; the coefficients are the Greville abscissae.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 3 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The coordinate ring is . The induced action is contragredient on functions:It is a group action by degree-preserving algebra automorphisms, extending the dual action on linear polynomial functions. Its polynomial invariant ring isFor a monic polynomial , its polynomial discriminant is . This is symmetric in the roots, hence polynomial in the coefficients, and is zero exactly when a root is repeated.
For the alternating group action, let be the elementary symmetric polynomials and put . If is -invariant and is any transposition, decomposeNormality and index two of show that is symmetric and transforms by the sign character of . Any alternating polynomial vanishes when , so every divides it. These pairwise nonassociate prime factors have product , so with symmetric. The Fundamental theorem of symmetric polynomials yieldsThe sum is direct, since a polynomial that is both symmetric and alternating is zero in characteristic zero. Also , where is the discriminant polynomial ofThus, more precisely than the requested quotient assertion,Surjectivity follows from the direct-sum expression. Divide any putative kernel element by the monic quadratic in ; its remainder is . The direct sum forces , and algebraic independence of the gives . Hence the displayed relation is the entire kernel. The argument also covers , where is trivial.
Now let be finite with no nontrivial linear characters, and write , . The polynomial ring is a unique factorization domain. Factor a nonzero invariant in ; invariance permutes the associate classes of its irreducible factors and makes their exponents constant on each orbit. For an orbit , choose representatives and form its orbit product of polynomial factorsFor every , for a nonzero scalar . Applying two group elements proves that is a homomorphism. The hypothesis forces , so .
This orbit product is prime in . If it divides with , one factor divides or in . Invariance of that chosen polynomial makes every factor in the orbit divide it. Their product therefore divides it in , and the quotient is invariant because numerator and denominator are invariant and cancellation is valid in the integral domain . Thus divides or in . Every nonzero is a scalar times a product of these prime orbit products, and the only units of are nonzero constants, as they are units in . Therefore is a unique factorization domain. This gives a direct proof, without assuming a divisor-class-group theorem.
For a failure in characteristic zero, let the cyclic group of order two act on by . Its coordinate invariants areEvery invariant monomial has even total degree: its exponents are either both even, or both odd, giving the indicated generators. Reducing powers of to at most one shows that is the only relation, since and map to distinct monomials. The three quadratic invariants are irreducible in : each nonconstant invariant has degree at least two, so a product of two nonunits has degree at least four. They are pairwise nonassociate, butgives two different irreducible factorizations. Hence this invariant ring is not a unique factorization domain. The nontrivial sign character is precisely the kind of character excluded in the preceding theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 69 5 b Solution 2026-10-06
Set and let be the elementary symmetric polynomial of degree in the interior knots, with . Expand the Marsden identity in powers of . The coefficient of on the left is ; that coefficient in is . Comparing and cancelling the sign proves the monomial B-spline coefficients:For this gives partition of unity on the basic interval. For it gives the Greville abscissae, the arithmetic means of the interior knots. For the top degree it gives their product. When , only occurs and the empty symmetric polynomial is one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 4 17F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Take the Vandermonde determinant . Its square is a symmetric polynomial, hence a polynomial in the elementary symmetric polynomials and belongs to . It is nonzero because the variables are algebraically independent. A transposition of two variables fixes every and therefore fixes , but sends to in characteristic zero. Thus .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 125 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Work first where all three coordinates are finite and the joining line is not vertical. By the chord-and-tangent group law, the third intersection of with the elliptic curve is , whose first coordinate is also . Substitution gives the monic polynomialIts roots are , counted with intersection multiplicity. Comparing its coefficients with the elementary symmetric polynomials provesThis symmetric-coordinate identity for elliptic-curve addition is an identity of rational functions. It includes tangent cases by specialization. Literally assigning finite when a point is would be meaningless; such cases must be interpreted on the projective curve. A nonsingular equation in the printed short form has characteristic different from two.
Here is how the identity yields the quadratic form for the degree of an isogeny. With , , write and . As an equation for , it becomesBoth and satisfy it, because replacing by does not change . Thus its two branches are the sum and difference maps. Their common denominator is the square of . The following divisor on an algebraic curve calculation keeps track of cancellations and exceptional points rigorously, instead of assuming degrees of displayed numerators always add.
On , equality of the two first coordinates means or . Each coordinate has a double pole at . Consequently the principal divisor identity iswhere is the diagonal and is the graph of negation. Equivalently, the two zero divisors are the inverse images of under difference and sum, exactly the two branches identified above. Their generic multiplicities are one; the divisor identity also accounts for their intersections at 2-torsion points.
For nonzero isogenies of elliptic curves with , pull this identity back by . Taking degrees of the resulting principal divisor on gives the divisor proof of the degree parallelogram law:If one map is zero, this is immediate. If , it follows from . This also proves the parallelogram law for a general Weierstrass equation of an elliptic curve in characteristic two: the same divisor identity uses the quotient by negation, even though the particular symmetric-coordinate formula above is unavailable.
Put and . Applying the parallelogram law to gives the recurrence , and hence for every integer . Its polarization is symmetric and integer-valued. For fixed , the parallelogram law makes odd and gives . Interchanging and adding proves additivity, since integers have no two-torsion. Thus has bilinearity, and is a positive quadratic form on , with whenever .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 136 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A suitable version of the Hensel lemma is this: if is a complete discrete valuation ring, , and is a root of with , there is a unique reducing to with . Starting with any lift, Newton iteration over a valued field keeps the derivative a unit and doubles the error valuation, giving convergence. Uniqueness follows by factoring when two roots have the same residue.
The field in the rest of this question is not assumed complete, so that version cannot simply be applied to it. Instead use the stated uniqueness of the extension of an absolute value. Let be any two roots of a polynomial , which is irreducible. The field embedding sending to identifies with . Pulling the latter field's absolute value back gives an extension on , which must coincide with the given one. More generally, for every ,This proves equal absolute values of algebraic conjugates without assuming separability or a transitive action of a Galois group; repeated roots cause no difficulty.
Every root of the monic has absolute value at most one. Indeed, if , then each lower term satisfies . The ultrametric inequality makes the leading term dominate their sum, contradicting . Thus
All roots lie in the valuation ring , so their residues are defined in the residue field . Let be the monic minimal polynomial of an algebraic element of ; this residue is algebraic because it satisfies the monic . Choose a coefficientwise lift . Then , and the conjugacy argument gives for every . Hence every is a root of .
Reduction of the splitting-field factorization, with multiplicities, givesEvery monic irreducible factor of over has a root among these residues. That root also satisfies , so its minimal polynomial is . Unique factorization therefore proves the pure-power reduction of a monic irreducible polynomial:This does not assert that is separable or that the reduction is square-free.
Finally, factor the monic over as with distinct monic irreducible polynomials . The same leading-term argument bounds every root of by one. Coefficients of any are elementary symmetric polynomials in some of these roots, so they lie in . By the preceding result each is a power of a single monic irreducible residue polynomial .
Since the prescribed are coprime, every occurs on exactly one side. Assign the entire factor to that side and form the two products. Comparing irreducible-factor multiplicities in the reduction proves the coprime factor lifting from valuation-extension uniqueness:Empty products are one, covering constant prescribed factors. The construction proves the required factor-lifting form of the Hensel lemma directly from extension uniqueness, without adding completeness as an unstated hypothesis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 142 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For the First Chern class identity, use finite-dimensional classifying maps. A complex line bundle on a compact Hausdorff space embeds in a finite-dimensional trivial vector bundle, so it is a pullback vector bundle of the tautological bundle on some Complex projective space. For the two complex line bundles, the universal tensor product of vector bundles is classified by the mapIts restriction to either factor pulls the tautological bundle back to the tautological bundle on that factor. The degree-two cohomology of the product is the direct sum of the degree-two cohomology of its factors, so these two restrictions determine its First Chern class. Pulling back to provesThis proves the integral identity, including possible torsion elements in the cohomology of ; an argument using only curvature forms would not detect those torsion elements.
The splitting principle for complex vector bundles says that for a vector bundle there is an iterated projective bundle for which is injective on integral cohomology, and is a direct sum of complex line bundles. The same assertion holds with rational coefficients, and a common such space can split any finite collection of vector bundles. The injectivity follows at each stage from the projective bundle formula for complex vector bundles; a Hermitian metric splits the resulting filtration into a direct sum.
Write for the Chern roots of the pulled-back vector bundle. Define the degree- component of its Chern character byThe Fundamental theorem of symmetric polynomials expresses each power-sum symmetric polynomial uniquely as an integral polynomial in the elementary symmetric polynomials, which are the Chern classes of . Thus the definition makes sense on itself, without choosing actual Chern roots there. On a compact Hausdorff space, each vector bundle is classified by a finite-dimensional Grassmannian; its high-degree Chern character components therefore vanish. Hence this defines a class in the direct sum even if has no finite dimension. On more general spaces an infinite Chern character is instead interpreted in the product of the even-degree cohomology groups.
On a common splitting space, the Chern roots of a direct sum are the combined root lists, whereas the First Chern class identity makes the Chern roots of a tensor product of vector bundles the pairwise sums . ConsequentlyThe injectivity in the splitting principle for complex vector bundles descends both identities to . Additivity extends the Chern character to the Grothendieck group by . Multiplicativity and then show that the Chern character is a unital ring homomorphism.
For Complex K-theory of complex projective space, let be the tautological bundle, put , and set . The cohomology ring of complex projective space is . The CW filtration gives a cofibrationThe K-theory six-term exact sequence and Complex K-theory of a sphere give, inductively,Here is the image of a Bott element from , normalized so that . This normalization follows from the multiplicative form of Bott periodicity: the Chern character of the degree-two Bott element is an integral generator, and multiplication yields the top-degree generator on . In particular, the abelian group is a free abelian group of rank .
Assume inductively that form an integral basis on . Their lifts, together with , form an integral basis on . Sincethe Chern characters of this basis are linearly independent over : their first nonzero degrees are . Thus the Chern character is injective on . By induction restricts to zero on , so for an integer . Comparing Chern characters gives . Also , so . This proves the integral answer, rather than merely its rationalization:The induction begins with a point and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 142 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let have rank , let be its projectivization of a real vector bundle, and let be its tautological bundle. Put . The Projective bundle definition of Stiefel–Whitney classes starts from the isomorphismIn particular, is injective. Expand uniquely in this basis. The coefficients define the Stiefel–Whitney classes through the relationSet and for ; for a rank-zero vector bundle set . Uniqueness also proves naturality of the Stiefel–Whitney classes under a pullback vector bundle.
To prove the Whitney product formula for Stiefel–Whitney classes, apply the splitting principle for real vector bundles simultaneously to and . Its injective pullback on mod-two cohomology follows by iterating the Projective bundle definition of Stiefel–Whitney classes. It suffices to compute for a split vector bundle . Put .
On , the coordinate projections of the tautological inclusion give sections of the real line bundles with no common zero. The mod-two Euler class of a real line bundle is its first Stiefel–Whitney class, and the First Stiefel–Whitney class of a tensor product of real line bundles gives . Multiplication of Euler classes under a direct sum, and vanishing of the Euler class of a vector bundle with a nowhere-zero section, therefore giveComparing with the unique monic relation defining the Stiefel–Whitney classes shows that is the th elementary symmetric polynomial in the . Thus . A direct sum joins the two lists, so injectivity of the splitting pullback gives
For the immersion obstruction, use the notation : the printed here means the map from one copy of Real projective space into the product. Write and let be the mod-two reduction of . The mod-two cohomology ring of real projective space and the cohomology ring of complex projective space giveNontriviality in degree two forces . Necessarily , since the degree-two cohomology of vanishes.
The standard tangent bundle identities for Real projective space and Complex projective space areFor the underlying real vector bundle of a complex line bundle, its total Stiefel–Whitney class is . HenceIf is homotopic to an immersion , its normal bundle has rank , andThe Whitney product formula for Stiefel–Whitney classes and homotopy invariance of cohomology yieldThe division is legitimate in the truncated cohomology ring, since is a unit. The degree- component isIt must vanish because , while . Therefore must be odd.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 142 2 Solution 2026-10-03
For variables , the elementary symmetric polynomial and power-sum symmetric polynomial arePut . Its logarithmic derivative isComparing the coefficient of in gives the Newton identities
The given Bockstein homomorphism is the first Steenrod square. A real line bundle is pulled back from the universal line bundle over , where the degree-one generator satisfies . By naturality,
Apply the splitting principle for real vector bundles, writing the pulled-back bundle as and . The pullback in cohomology is injective, , and the Bockstein derivation rule givesIn , the terms for which the index from already lies in the -element subset give this sum, while each square-free monomial of degree occurs times. Over this yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ib Paper 2 10G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
The implicit function theorem states that if and the partial derivative is an invertible linear map, then near the zero set of is uniquely the graph of a continuously differentiable function.
If is a differentiable bijection with differentiable inverse , the chain rule applied to and givesThus is an isomorphism with inverse .
If a continuously differentiable map has invertible derivative everywhere, the inverse function theorem makes it a local diffeomorphism. In particular it is an open map, so its image is open. Its image need not be closed: has nonzero derivative everywhere and image .
For the given map of elementary symmetric polynomials,and direct evaluation of the determinant givesHence the critical set isIts complement is the Zariski-open set on which the three coordinates are pairwise distinct. Each point has one of the six possible strict coordinate orderings, and each ordering defines a nonempty convex open region. A continuous path cannot change an ordering without crossing . Therefore has exactlyconnected components.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 3 19H Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Let be the space of homogeneous degree- polynomials in . For and a column vector , defineSubstitution preserves degree, andso is a continuous representation of a topological group. This is the homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2.
To prove irreducibility, restrict to the diagonal circleThe monomials are its one-dimensional weight spaces, with distinct weights up to our harmless inverse-action convention. If is invariant, Fourier projection along this circle shows that contains a monomial. Differentiating the action of and complexifying gives the operatorsRepeated applications of and connect every monomial to every other one. Hence contains the entire monomial basis, so .
Every is conjugate to with . Reading the eigenvalues on the monomial basis gives the character of the homogeneous polynomial representation of SU2For this iswith the values at obtained by continuity.
For completeness, let be any finite-dimensional irreducible continuous complex representation of . Its restriction to the diagonal circle splits into integral weight spaces. Choose a vector of largest weight . The raising operator kills it, and the commutation relations show that is a nonnegative integer and that successive applications of the lowering operator form a string of weightsTheir span is an invariant copy of ; irreducibility forces it to equal . Thus the classification of finite-dimensional representations of SU2 says
If the eigenvalues of are , then the eigenvalues on are for . Therefore the character of an exterior square isThe exterior square of an SU2 irreducible representation or the Clebsch-Gordan decomposition for SU2 with flip parity givesThe dimensions check the result.
The third elementary symmetric polynomial in the , together with Newton identities, givesFor the five-dimensional representation , the canonical dualityfinishes the decomposition. The weights sum to zero, so is trivial, and every irreducible is self-dual. Consequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 312 1 iv Solution 2026-09-28
At late time and . Define the elementary symmetric polynomialsThen part ii reduces towhere a prime removes the momentum-conserving Dirac delta distribution andExpanding the product givesRepeated integration by parts reduces every negative power to the supplied logarithmic integral. The power divergences are real and disappear when the imaginary part is taken. Writingone obtainsConsequently the late-time parity-odd primordial trispectrum isIts factor of is required by reality of a momentum-space scalar correlator: reversing all momenta complex-conjugates the correlator, while the scalar triple product changes sign.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 318 4 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let denote the th elementary symmetric polynomial of . Expanding both sides of the Marsden identity in powers of and equating the coefficient of givesThus , while and are respectively the means of the interior knots and of their pairwise products.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 101 3 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Put , letbe the minimal polynomial of an algebraic element over , and let be the integral closure of in a finite normal extension containing all roots of . Since is integral over and is integrally closed domain, every belongs to .
Write with and . Every -embedding into the normal extension fixes the and sends each to an element integral over . Thus every conjugate of lies in the extended ideal . Each nonleading coefficient of is, up to sign, an elementary symmetric polynomial in those conjugates, so it lies in .
For an integral extension, extension followed by contraction preserves a prime ideal:Indeed, the determinant trick gives for , and primality then gives . Hence for every .
On in characteristic of a field other than two, take the elementary symmetric polynomials of . If the line through is , its third intersection is , so coefficient comparison gives , , . Hence . This is an identity of rational functions; tangent cases follow by specialization, and coordinates at infinity are handled through the projective addition map.
Symmetric polynomial 2026-10-06
A symmetric polynomial is unchanged by permutations of its variables. The Fundamental theorem of symmetric polynomials expresses it as a polynomial in the elementary symmetric polynomials. The square of the Vandermonde determinant is an important example.