Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 7 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
First we prove the Krein-Milman theorem in the required setting. If is empty the conclusion is immediate, so assume it is nonempty. A face of a convex set is a convex subset with the property that an interior point of a segment in belongs to only if both endpoints do. Consider all nonempty weakly compact faces of , ordered by reverse inclusion. A chain has a nonempty intersection by compactness and the finite intersection property; that intersection is again a compact face. The Zorn lemma gives a minimal compact face .
If contained distinct points, a bounded linear functional separating them would be nonconstant on . Its maximizer set is a nonempty proper compact face of , hence a face of , contradicting minimality. Therefore is a singleton and its member is an extreme point of . The same reasoning applies to each nonempty compact face of , so each such face contains an extreme point of .
Let be the norm-closed convex hull of the extreme points of . A weakly compact subset of a Banach space is weakly closed, hence norm closed, so . If , the Hahn-Banach separation theorem gives with . The maximizer face of on contains an extreme point of . Then , contradicting . We concludeNorm and weak closed convex hulls coincide by the same separation theorem. The printed phrase “closed convex cover” is understood in this standard closed-convex-hull sense.
Now work in the real space of continuous functions on a compact space on the Cantor set. The extreme points of a real continuous-function unit ball are exactly the continuous sign functions:If , continuity supplies a neighbourhood where . The Cantor cylinder sets form a clopen base, so choose a nonempty cylinder inside that neighbourhood. Its indicator function is continuous, and are distinct members of with midpoint . Hence is not extreme. Conversely, if is pointwise sign-valued and with , equality at the endpoint of the scalar interval forces at every point.
To prove the closed-hull assertion without assuming weak compactness, take and . A sufficiently fine finite partition of into Cantor cylinders has oscillation of less than on each cell, by uniform continuity. Choose a value on each cell and let be the corresponding continuous step function. Then . For each sign vector , let take value on cell , and assign the weightThese weights are nonnegative, sum to one, and satisfy . Thus is a convex combination of extreme points. This is clopen sign approximation in the real Cantor unit ball, provingNevertheless is not weakly compact. The suggested functions lie in and converge pointwise to the function equal to zero at and one at every other point of . It is discontinuous at zero, since tends to zero. If were weakly compact, the sequence, viewed as a net, would have a weakly convergent subnet with limit in . Point evaluations are bounded linear functionals, so that subnet would have the same pointwise limit; its indices are cofinal in the original sequence. The limit would therefore be the discontinuous function just described, a contradiction. This discontinuous pointwise limit obstruction to weak compactness gives the required failure of weak compactness, despite the closed-hull equality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 6 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem says that a positive linear functional on has the form for a unique finite positive regular Borel measure , with norm . Its complex form says that every bounded complex linear functional is represented by a unique finite regular complex measure , andThe extension from positive to arbitrary linear functionals follows by positive/negative decomposition of real linear functionals and then real/imaginary decomposition. The last quantity is the total variation norm of a measure, so this identifies the dual isometrically.
An extreme point of a convex set cannot be written as with and distinct . The Krein-Milman theorem, applied with the underlying real locally convex weak-star topology, states
We next prove Milman's converse to the Krein-Milman theorem. Suppose an extreme point were outside the weak-star closure of . A basic weak-star neighborhood of disjoint from uses finitely many real coordinates: real and imaginary parts of evaluations at elements of . Its complement is the union of finitely many closed half-spacesIntersect these with , discard empty intersections, and call the resulting compact convex sets . They cover , and none contains .
The convex hull of their union is compact. Every point in it can be written with in the finite simplex and , by combining terms from the same convex set. The map from the simplex times to that sum is weak-star continuous, so its image is compact and closed. It therefore contains , in particular . But extremality forces every having a positive coefficient in a representation of to equal , contradicting . Hence
Assume . We claim that the extreme points of the dual unit ball of C(K) areA measure of norm less than one is not extreme, since it admits a small nonzero perturbation within the ball. For a measure of norm one, suppose is not a point mass. There is a Borel set with : if the measure support has two points, choose disjoint neighborhoods of positive mass; a regular probability measure supported at just one point is the corresponding point mass. Thenis a convex combination of distinct norm-one measures. Thus an extreme measure must have variation concentrated at one point, and must be with .
Conversely, if with , thenEquality throughout forces both measures to have all their variation at , and forces their phases to be . Hence , proving extremality. If , the dual ball is and its sole extreme point is .
Every finite Borel measure on is regular, so the given belongs to the dual unit ball of . Apply Banach-Alaoglu theorem and Krein-Milman theorem to that ball. It is the weak-star closed convex hull of these phased point masses. The unit ball of the finite-dimensional vector subspace is norm compact. Choose a finite -net in it. There is a convex combinationwhose integrals differ from those of by less than on every . Put . Then and . For any in the unit ball of , choose with . The linear functional has norm at most two, soScaling yields the requested estimate for every . This is atomic approximation on finite-dimensional spaces of continuous functions. Repeated nodes are allowed: keeping their individual terms preserves the exact sum of coefficient magnitudes even if their phases cancel. If , one point with coefficient one suffices.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 8 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the standard setting of a compact metrizable convex set in a Hausdorff locally convex real topological vector space, with its metrizable topology. Write for the continuous affine real functions on . The affine upper envelope of a bounded real function isConstants make this infimum finite, and . An infimum of affine continuous majorants is concave and upper semicontinuous, hence Borel. For continuous it is the upper concave envelope appropriate to barycentric measures; it is not the pointwise maximum of and a selected affine function.
For a fixed probability , define on real . Affine majorants showThus is sublinear and for affine . On the span of , the linear functional taking to is dominated by : the negative-scalar condition follows from . For start from the zero subspace. The Hahn-Banach theorem extends it to a linear functional on with and .
If , then , so . Also and , forcing . Positivity gives , and the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem produces a Borel probability with . ThereforeFor affine , testing both and gives : the two measures have the same barycenter. This proves the requested supporting measure lemma for affine upper envelopes.
Choquet's theorem: every has a Borel probability measure concentrated on the extreme points of whose barycenter is ; equivalently,Concentration is a measure-one assertion, not a claim that the topological support must be a closed subset of .
To prove it, let be the measures satisfying all the displayed affine equalities. It is nonempty because it contains , and it is weakly closed in the compact space , hence compact. Let be strictly convex, as permitted. Choose maximizing . Apply the supporting measure lemma with and . It gives with the same affine integrals, so , andThus has integral zero. If is not extreme, write with and distinct . Strict convexity and every affine majorant giveTherefore the nonnegative gap is strictly positive at every nonextreme point. It is Borel, and is Borel by the allowed G-delta set assertion. Its zero integral forces , proving Choquet's theorem by strict convexity. No uniqueness is asserted for the representing measure.
For the real example, give its closed unit ball the weak-star topology , not the norm topology. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes it compact, and separability of makes this ball metrizable. Its extreme points are exactly the classes satisfying almost everywhere. Indeed, if on a positive-measure set, adding and subtracting times its indicator decomposes nontrivially inside the ball. Conversely, if almost everywhere and with , pointwise equality at the endpoints of forces almost everywhere. This is the extreme-point criterion for the L-infinity unit ball.
For the hinted case , put and . Then are extreme andhas barycenter . If is null, the two point masses coincide.
For a general real , choose a measurable representative in and set, for ,Every is extreme. The map into the weak-star compact ball is Borel: for each , the function is measurable by joint measurability and integration; a countable dense family of such tests generates the ball's topology and Borel sigma-algebra. The measure is independent of changes to on a null set. For each ,The integrand paired with is dominated by , so Fubini's theorem yieldsThese continuous linear tests define the weak-star barycenter, hence that barycenter is . Together with , this is the required threshold Choquet representation in L-infinity.
If is instead taken over complex scalars, its extreme points satisfy the same unit-modulus condition. Write , with and , choosing where . Replace the threshold family by . Its members have unit modulus and its average is , so the same pushforward and Fubini argument gives a representing measure in the real locally convex interpretation of the complex ball.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 6 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
All vector spaces in this solution are complex, while convex combinations use real coefficients. An extreme point of a convex set is one for which , and , forces . Equivalently, is not the midpoint of two distinct points of .
The Krein-Milman theorem says that every nonempty compact convex set in a Hausdorff locally convex space is the closed convex hull of its extreme points. Here is a proof. A face of a convex set is a convex set such that whenever an interior point of a segment in belongs to , both endpoints belong to . Consider nonempty compact faces, ordered by reverse inclusion. A chain has nonempty intersection by compactness and the finite intersection property; that intersection is again a compact face. The Zorn lemma therefore gives a minimal nonempty compact face .
If contains distinct , a continuous real linear functional on the underlying real locally convex space distinguishes them. Such a linear functional exists because the space is Hausdorff and locally convex, by the Hahn-Banach theorem. The maximizers of on form a nonempty proper compact face of . A face of a face is a face of , contradicting minimality. Therefore is a singleton, yielding an extreme point. The same argument inside any nonempty compact face of supplies an extreme point of lying in that face.
Let be the closed convex hull of the extreme points of . It is a nonempty closed subset of compact , hence compact. If , the Hahn-Banach separation theorem provides a continuous real linear functional with . Its maximizer set on is a nonempty compact face, which contains an extreme point of . But and , a contradiction. Thus , proving Krein-Milman theorem.
For a nonempty compact Hausdorff space , the extreme points of the dual unit ball of C(K) areThis is the permitted description without proof, with denoting the complex space of continuous functions on a compact space equipped with the supremum norm. If is empty, and the closed unit ball of its continuous dual space has the single extreme point instead.
The complex Banach–Stone theorem states that a surjective complex-linear isometric isomorphism of normed spaces has the formwhere and is a homeomorphism. Conversely, every such map is a surjective complex-linear isometric isomorphism of normed spaces for the supremum norm.
To prove this, suppose first that are nonempty. The Banach-space adjoint is a bijective isometric isomorphism of normed spaces on the continuous dual spaces, so it bijects their closed unit balls and preserves extreme points. The displayed extreme point description gives uniquelyUniqueness follows by evaluating at the constant function , and then using that continuous functions separate points of a compact Hausdorff space. Evaluation gives the required formula for , and is continuous. Surjectivity of on extreme points proves surjectivity of : the preimage of any is for some . If , every function in the range of has equal values at these two points after division by ; surjectivity of and separation of points force . Thus is bijective.
For every , is continuous. The evaluation map , , is a continuous injection of a compact Hausdorff space into a Hausdorff product topology, hence a homeomorphism onto its image. Continuity of every coordinate proves continuity of . A continuous bijection between compact Hausdorff spaces is a homeomorphism. Conversely the weighted-composition formula plainly preserves the supremum norm, and its inverse isIf one compact space is empty, a surjective isometric isomorphism of normed spaces forces the other to be empty, and the empty homeomorphism gives the corresponding trivial case. This completes Banach–Stone theorem.
Neither the space of sequences converging to zero nor can be isometrically a continuous dual space of a Banach space. Indeed, every nonzero continuous dual space has a nonempty weak-star compact closed unit ball by Banach-Alaoglu theorem, and Krein-Milman theorem then guarantees an extreme point. A bijective linear isometry preserves extreme points of closed unit balls.
The closed unit ball of has no extreme points. Given with , choose with and . The two distinct elements remain in that closed unit ball and have midpoint .
The closed unit ball of the complex Lp space also has no extreme points. An element of norm less than one can be perturbed by a sufficiently small nonzero Lp space element in both directions. If , the non-atomic measure admits a measurable set of mass ; for example the continuous function attains . Put . For , the distinct functions both have Lp normwith the two coefficients interchanged for the minus sign. Their midpoint is . Thus neither proposed space is isometrically a Banach dual.
Finally, is a connected space, whereas is disconnected. They cannot be homeomorphic. By Banach–Stone theorem, and are not isometrically isomorphic as complex Banach spaces.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 4 20H b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
An extreme point of a convex set cannot be written as a nontrivial convex combination of two distinct members. If a permutation matrix with and doubly stochastic, each zero entry of forces the corresponding entries of to be zero by nonnegativity. The unique possible nonzero entry in each row must then be one by the row sum. Thus , proving that every permutation matrix is extreme.
Conversely, let be a doubly stochastic matrix that is not a permutation matrix. At least one entry lies strictly between zero and one. Form a bipartite graph whose two vertex classes are rows and columns, with edges precisely at these fractional entries. Every incident row has at least two fractional entries: a single fractional entry, with all other entries zero or one, could not give row sum one. The same holds for columns.
A finite nonempty graph whose incident vertices all have degree at least two contains a cycle. In a bipartite graph that cycle has even length. Assign alternating signs to its entries, giving a nonzero matrix with every row and column sum zero. Choose smaller than the distance of each cycle entry from both zero and one. Then and remain doubly stochastic matrices, are distinct, and satisfySo is not extreme. ThereforeThis alternating-cycle perturbation of a doubly stochastic matrix proves the extreme-point part of the Birkhoff-von Neumann theorem directly.