Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 27 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An ultraproduct assembles a family of nonempty first-order structures in one fixed language, using an ultrafilter to specify which coordinate statements hold almost everywhere. Its universe isFunctions are interpreted coordinatewise, and an -ary relation holds on when its coordinate truth set belongs to . Changing representatives changes such a truth set only off a -large set, so these definitions are well defined. A principal ultrafilter simply recovers its distinguished factor; a nonprincipal ultrafilter can produce new elements and structures.
The fundamental result is the Łoś theorem:Prove it by structural induction on first-order formulas. Atomic formulas are the definition. Intersections handle conjunction, while exactly one of a set and its complement belongs to an ultrafilter, handling negation. For the existential step, if the coordinate existential truth set is in , use choice to select witnesses there and arbitrary values elsewhere; their product function is an ultraproduct witness. Conversely a product witness makes the coordinate existential truth set contain a -large set. Other connectives and universal quantification follow.
In an ultrapower, all factors are one structure . The diagonal map is an elementary embedding by the Łoś theorem. For a nonprincipal on , the class of in an ultrapower of the standard natural numbers is larger than every constant natural number, since each tail belongs to . This gives a nonstandard model of Peano arithmetic. Similarly, an ultraproduct of finite fields with distinct primes tending to infinity has characteristic zero: for every fixed positive integer , the equation fails in all sufficiently late factors. An infinite structure can therefore arise from finite factors.
Ultraproducts prove the compactness theorem. If each finite subset of a theory has a model , index these models by . The cones have the finite intersection property. Extend their filter to an ultrafilter using the ultrafilter lemma. The Łoś theorem makes the resulting ultraproduct satisfy every . This construction also gives elementary extensions realizing prescribed finitely satisfiable types.
A useful stronger property is countable saturation of an ultraproduct over omega. Let a countable type be finitely satisfiable in an ultraproduct over a nonprincipal on . Choose coordinate representatives of its parameters. Let be the coordinates where the first formulas have a simultaneous witness; then , the decrease, and we can replace by . At coordinate , choose a witness to the first formulas, where is the largest with , taking an arbitrary value if there is none. For each fixed , the set where is -large. Its class realizes the entire type. This proof uses countable incompleteness of , not arbitrary completeness or automatic saturation at larger cardinals.
Finally, complete ultrafilters connect ultraproducts to large cardinals. A countably complete ultrafilter prevents an externally infinite descending membership chain in an ultrapower of a well-founded universe: intersect the countably many coordinate truth sets and obtain an impossible descending chain at one coordinate. A kappa-complete nonprincipal ultrafilter on consequently supplies the ultrapower embedding associated with a measurable cardinal. Thus the same construction supports both elementary compactness arguments and large-cardinal embeddings, with the completeness hypothesis deciding which well-foundedness and closure properties survive.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 6 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A point of a convex set is an extreme point if with and forces . It is enough to test midpoints: a nontrivial interior point of a segment is the midpoint of a smaller nontrivial segment.
Here is a proof of the Krein-Milman theorem. The empty-set case is immediate, so take . A face of a convex set is a convex subset such that an interior convex combination lying in has both endpoints in . Consider nonempty compact faces. They include . Every inclusion chain has nonempty intersection, because its closed subsets of the compact set have the finite intersection property. The intersection remains a compact face. The Zorn lemma, ordered by reverse inclusion, therefore supplies a minimal nonempty compact face .
If contains two distinct points, the Hausdorff locally convex hypotheses and the allowed separation theorem supply a continuous real linear functional taking different values there. Its maximizer set in is nonempty and compact. It is convex, and if a convex combination attains the maximum, both endpoint values attain it too; hence it is a face of . A face of a face is a face of , by applying the defining endpoint property twice. This maximizer face is proper because is nonconstant, contradicting minimality. Thus is a singleton, whose point is extreme in . The same minimal compact face argument inside any nonempty compact face shows that each such face contains an extreme point of .
Let . Since is compact, hence closed in the Hausdorff space, and convex, . It is nonempty, closed and convex. If , the allowed strict separation theorem supplies a continuous linear functional withThe maximizer face of on contains an extreme point by the preceding argument. Then but , a contradiction. ThereforeAll closures refer to the given locally convex topology, and compactness is what justified both maxima and chain intersections.
For the real l-infinity sequence space, if for any coordinate, choose . The two distinct sequences belong to the closed unit ball and have midpoint , so is not extreme. Conversely, if every is one or minus one, writing for unit-ball sequences forces at every coordinate, because an endpoint of cannot be a nontrivial convex average of its points. ThusFor the space of sequences converging to zero, every unit-ball sequence has some coordinate with , since its coordinates tend to zero. The same opposite single-coordinate perturbations still belong to , givingThese are extreme points of real sequence-space unit balls. There is no conflict with Krein-Milman: the norm-closed unit ball of is not compact in the norm topology, as the coordinate vectors have mutual distance one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 14 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An ultrafilter on is a family satisfying the proper filter axioms: , , closure under finite intersections, and upward closure under inclusion. In addition, for every , exactly one of and belongs to . Equivalently, an ultrafilter is a maximal proper filter. The principal ultrafilter at consists of all subsets containing ; an ultrafilter not of this form is a nonprincipal ultrafilter.
To prove existence, start with the cofinite filter and order the proper filters containing it by inclusion. The union of a chain is still a proper filter: finitely many of its members lie in one filter of the chain, and no constituent contains the empty set. Thus Zorn lemma supplies a maximal such filter . If , adjoining cannot generate a proper filter; otherwise maximality fails. Consequently some has , so by upward closure. This proves the ultrafilter alternative. No finite can belong to , because is cofinite and already belongs to . In particular contains no singleton and is a nonprincipal ultrafilter. The same argument, starting from any proper filter, proves the ultrafilter lemma used below.
Define to be the set of all ultrafilters on , with basic open setsThey form a topological basis because and . Moreover , so they are clopen sets. This is the compact Hausdorff topology on ultrafilters. If , some belongs to but not , and then and are disjoint open neighbourhoods of the two points. Thus is Hausdorff.
For compactness, take an open cover and refine it by basic open sets . If no finite subfamily covers, then for every finite collection of indices the intersection is nonempty. Indeed, if that intersection were empty, the corresponding would cover , and every ultrafilter would contain at least one of them by the finite ultrafilter alternative. The complements therefore have the finite intersection property and generate a proper filter. Extend it to an ultrafilter by the proved ultrafilter lemma. Then for every , so belongs to none of the covering , a contradiction. A finite basic subcover lies inside a finite subcover of the original cover. HenceThe map , where is the principal ultrafilter at , identifies the discrete natural numbers with a dense subset: any nonempty has and contains for .
Hindman theorem states that every finite colouring of the positive integers admits an increasing sequence whose finite-sums setis monochromatic. We now give the Idempotent-ultrafilter proof of Hindman's theorem. For , write . The addition on is defined byTake an idempotent ultrafilter on the natural numbers , whose existence is allowed, so . It is a nonprincipal ultrafilter: addition of principal points is , whereas no positive integer satisfies .
Exactly one colour class belongs to . DefineBy idempotence, . The idempotent-ultrafilter star-set lemma needed for the recursion is that whenever . To prove it, put . Idempotence again givesFor , we have and , hence . Thus , proving the lemma by upward closure.
Choose . Suppose has been constructed. Every factor ofbelongs to : the translate factors do by the just-proved lemma, and the last factor does because it is cofinite and is a nonprincipal ultrafilter. The finite intersection is therefore nonempty. Choose in it. Then and every with lie in , so . This constructs a strictly increasing sequence, indeed , and proves Hindman theorem.
Finally apply Hindman theorem to obtain a monochromatic finite-sums set . We construct a divisibility chain inside a finite-sums set using disjoint successive blocks of indices. Start with . If , take unused terms after all indices used so far, and split them into two groups of consecutive terms. In each group its partial sums, including , contain two in the same congruence class modulo by the pigeonhole principle. Their difference is a nonempty consecutive sum divisible by , and positivity makes it at least . Let be the sum of these two selected sums. Then and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 5 1 Solution 2026-10-14
A topological group is a group with a topology for which multiplication and inversion are continuous. A profinite group has either of the following equivalent descriptions: a compact Hausdorff totally disconnected topological group, or an inverse limit of finite discrete groups. Totally disconnected means that every connected component is a singleton.
For clarity, an inverse system over a directed set consists of groups and maps for , with and . Its inverse limit iswith coordinatewise multiplication and the subspace topology. Equivalently, it is a group with compatible continuous projections such that every other compatible family of maps into the factors uniquely through it.
The displayed limit is a closed subgroup of the compact Hausdorff product of the finite groups, and is totally disconnected, since two different tuples are separated by a clopen coordinate condition. Conversely a compact Hausdorff totally disconnected group has a neighbourhood basis of open normal subgroups. One way to see the group part of this standard clopen-basis fact is to choose a clopen identity neighbourhood inside a prescribed neighbourhood. Compactness of and continuity give a symmetric identity neighbourhood with . The stabilizer contains , is open, and is contained in because . Its index is finite by part (ii); its normal core is the intersection of finitely many conjugates and is open and normal. The canonical mapis injective because these separate points, and surjective because compatible cosets have the finite intersection property and is compact. It is a homeomorphism by compactness and the Hausdorff property. This explains the equivalence of the two definitions.
The profinite Frattini subgroup is , where ranges over all maximal proper open subgroups; for the trivial group the empty intersection is . For a pro-p group,Here powers and group commutators mean generated subgroups and the bar supplies closure. Every maximal open subgroup in a pro-p group is normal of index , as follows by passing to the finite p-group quotient by its normal core. Such a subgroup therefore contains all powers and group commutators. Conversely the quotient by is an abelian pro-p group of exponent . If an element of this quotient is nontrivial, some finite elementary abelian quotient detects it; a linear functional to then detects it as well. Its group homomorphism kernel pulls back to a maximal open subgroup of . Thus the intersection of these kernels is exactly .
We also use the topological generation criterion: a subset generates topologically if and only if its image generates topologically. To prove the nontrivial direction, a proper closed generated subgroup lies in a proper open subgroup for a suitably small open normal , and hence in a maximal open subgroup obtained from the finite quotient . Since that maximal subgroup contains , the image of cannot generate the Frattini quotient.
Now suppose is a nontrivial procyclic pro-p group. If it had distinct maximal open subgroups , the homomorphism to induced by the two quotient maps would be onto: its projections are onto, and a proper such subgroup would be a one-dimensional graph, forcing the two kernels to coincide. Hence , contradicting procyclicity. Thus there is exactly one maximal open subgroup , and . Any generates , so the criterion givesFor the trivial group use its identity as generator. The additive group is an infinite example, topologically generated by : its finite continuous quotients are cyclic .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 11 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Give , the space of continuous functions on a compact space, its uniform norm. The left regular action is . The group law gives and , and each translation is a linear isometry because is a bijection of .
For fixed , the map is continuous. Compactness of the -space makes this dependence uniform: for a given and , continuity gives a neighbourhood of and a neighbourhood of each on which the difference from is less than ; a finite cover of permits one common neighbourhood of . Hence . The estimatethen proves the joint continuity of the action on .
For a left action on the continuous dual space, use the contragredient conventionIt satisfies and preserves the dual unit ball . If the printed prime denotes the literal transpose , these maps instead satisfy and form a right action; replacing by gives the left action above. Their invariant functionals are the same.
For and in the weak-star topology on , every satisfiesThe first term uses strong continuity of translation and ; the second uses weak-star convergence at one fixed function. This proves the requested joint weak-star topology continuity.
To obtain Haar measure, consider the set of positive linear functionals on with . Such functionals have norm one: for complex , choose a phase making real and nonnegative and use ; this gives , with equality on the constant-one function. Thus . Evaluation at the identity belongs to , and positivity and normalization are weak-star closed conditions. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes a nonempty compact convex set. Each is a continuous affine self-map of it.
Here is the fixed-point step, including why no commutativity assumption on is needed. For any finite list , the Schauder-Tychonoff fixed-point theorem gives a fixed point of . Let be the closed subgroup they generate and, for real , set on . It is continuous and satisfiesAt a maximum point , every summand must have the same maximum value. Iteration gives that value at all inverse-generator words times . The closure of their positive-word monoid is a closed subsemigroup of a compact group, hence is the entire generated subgroup . Density and continuity make constant on . Therefore is fixed by each of , first on real functions and then on complex functions by linearity. The closed fixed-point sets consequently have the finite intersection property in , so compactness gives a common fixed functional for every .
The Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem converts this positive functional into a regular Borel probability measure with . Its invariance gives left translation invariance of the measure. It has full support: if a nonempty open set had measure zero, a finite collection of its left translates would cover the compact group and force , contradicting normalization. Thus it is a normalized left Haar measure. The right translation action gives a normalized right Haar measure by the same argument.
For uniqueness and equality, take any and apply the Fubini theorem toFor fixed , left invariance of makes the inner integral . Reversing the order, for fixed , right invariance of makes the inner integral . Since both total masses are one,Uniqueness in the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem gives . Comparing any normalized left Haar measure to this fixed right Haar measure proves uniqueness as well. The conclusion is uniqueness of normalized Haar measure. Without normalization, the printed uniqueness claim is false: even on the one-point group, and are distinct Haar measures. In general the result is uniqueness up to a positive scalar, and left and right probability normalizations coincide.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 5 1 Solution 2026-10-14
A topological group is a group equipped with a topology for which multiplication and inversion are continuous maps. The product uses the product topology. Translation and inversion are therefore homeomorphisms. Hausdorffness is sometimes included in the definition; the two open-subgroup arguments below do not require it.
For the inverse system, take a directed set , topological spaces , and continuous maps for , with and . An inverse limit is a space with compatible continuous maps such that every compatible family factors uniquely as through a continuous map . Existence follows from the concrete constructionwith the subspace topology of the product topology. The only possible map is . Compatibility puts its image in , and coordinatewise continuity makes it continuous. This proves the universal property of an inverse limit, even when is empty. Given two inverse limits, their universal properties supply maps each way; the composites have the same coordinates as the identity, so uniqueness makes them identities. The inverse limit exists and is unique up to the unique homeomorphism respecting its projections.
A profinite group can be defined as an inverse limit of finite discrete groups, or as a compact Hausdorff space that is a totally disconnected space, equipped with continuous group operations. For the first implication, use the Tychonoff theorem. The compatibility equalities define a closed subgroup of the compact Hausdorff product. Two distinct points are distinguished by a finite discrete coordinate, so no connected subset contains both. Consequently the inverse limit is a compact Hausdorff totally disconnected topological group.
For the converse, use the topological result that a compact Hausdorff totally disconnected space has a basis of clopen sets. Choose a clopen set containing inside any specified identity neighbourhood. For each , continuity gives an identity neighbourhood and an open neighbourhood of with . Finitely many cover the compact set . Intersect their and its inverse to obtain a symmetric identity neighbourhood with . Symmetry also gives , and hence for every . The setis a subgroup containing , so it is open. It is contained in , since and . By part (ii), has finite index. Its normal core of a subgroup is a finite intersection of conjugates of , hence an open normal subgroup contained in . This proves the open normal subgroup basis of a profinite group.
The natural group homomorphismis injective because the intersection of these is . For a compatible family of cosets, any finitely many have nonempty intersection: their intersection subgroup is another indexing subgroup, and its prescribed coset lies in each. The finite intersection property and compactness give a point belonging to all the cosets, proving surjectivity. Finally a continuous bijection from a compact space to a Hausdorff space is a homeomorphism. The two definitions of profinite group are equivalent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 5 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a profinite group, its profinite Frattini subgroup isUse for an empty intersection. This is a closed normal subgroup, invariant under continuous group automorphisms, since these automorphisms permute the maximal open subgroups. Let . If , its image certainly topologically generates . Conversely, suppose . For , the open normal subgroup basis of a profinite group gives with : choose a sufficiently small neighbourhood disjoint from the closed subgroup . The proper subgroup of the finite group lies in a maximal proper subgroup. Its preimage is a maximal proper open subgroup of , contains , and contains . Since is compact and therefore closed, density of the image of in would force , contradicting . Generation can therefore be tested modulo the profinite Frattini subgroup.
For a finite p-group, every maximal proper subgroup is normal and has index . One proof uses the normalizer condition for finite p-groups: maximality forces its normalizer to be the whole group, and its simple -group quotient has order . Therefore every such maximal subgroup contains powers and group commutators. Conversely, the quotient by the algebraic is an elementary abelian p-group; its nonzero elements are separated by linear maps to . Their kernels give maximal subgroups. This proves the finite Frattini subgroup formula.
Now take a pro-p group and put , retaining the closure of the algebraically generated subgroups. A maximal open subgroup is the preimage of a maximal subgroup of a finite -group quotient, so it contains . If , some finite quotient of the profinite group detects . That quotient is elementary abelian, and a linear functional nonzero at gives a continuous group homomorphism whose kernel is a maximal open subgroup missing . HenceThe closure bar is present in the original PDF; the converted TeX fraction is an extraction error.
For the finite-index assertion, first pass from the arbitrary abstract subgroup to its normal core of a subgroup . The action on the finitely many cosets of shows , without assuming that or is closed. Write with , and let . By Lagrange theorem, . For , the quotient is a finite p-group of order, say, . Choose an integer with . Thenso for every such . The set is the continuous image of the compact space , hence is closed. Consequently . Every element of the abstract finite quotient thus has order dividing . By Cauchy theorem for groups, no prime other than divides its order. Therefore , and its divisor , are powers of . This proof does not assume continuity of the finite quotient map.
To prove openness under finite generation, first establish commutator collection with fixed generators in nilpotent groups. If a nilpotent group is generated by , every element of isInduct on the nilpotency class . The assertion is trivial for . Apply the induction hypothesis in ; the remaining error lies in the central subgroup . Since commutators in this last layer are central, collecting against words in the expresses the error as with . Also . Thus replacing each by multiplies the desired product by precisely that central error, proving the formula.
Let now topologically generate . Every finite continuous quotient is a nilpotent group, so the formula holds there with these fixed generators. For , the sets of tuples solving are nonempty closed subsets of a compact space. They have the finite intersection property, by replacing finitely many by their intersection. A common tuple solves the equality in . It follows that the algebraic commutator subgroup is the compact image of under this product map, and is closed.
Its quotient is a topologically finitely generated abelian pro-p group. The continuous map taking to is onto, because its compact image contains a dense generating subgroup. Therefore is generated as an elementary abelian group by at most elements, and is compact. The preimage of is closed of finite index, hence open: its complement is a finite union of closed cosets. The finite-index result and the maximal-subgroup property of finite p-groups show that any abstract index- subgroup of is normal. It contains this open subgroup, so is itself open.
Finally, a finite-index normal subgroup has finite -group quotient. If , choose a normal index- subgroup in that quotient and call its preimage . The preceding argument makes open. An open subgroup of a finitely generated pro-p group is finitely generated: intersect a finitely generated dense abstract subgroup with , use the Schreier lemma, and observe that the intersection is dense in the open subgroup . Induction on now makes open in , hence in . Returning to the normal core of a subgroup, is a union of open cosets of . Every finite-index subgroup of a finitely generated pro-p group is open.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 6 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume the finite-generator identity holds whenever there is no common zero. Let . For every finite family , their zero sets must have nonempty intersection: otherwise an identity would give . These zero sets are closed in compact . The finite intersection property therefore supplies at which every member of vanishes. For any , the element is in that kernel, so . Thus , proving
For , the identity is explicit. If the have no common zero, the continuous function is strictly positive on compact . SetThen . The equivalence just proved shows that is natural.
Next consider the disc algebra , the continuous functions on the closed unit disk that are holomorphic in its interior. We show directly that each algebra character is evaluation. Polynomials are uniformly dense in this algebra: for , tends uniformly to as , by uniform continuity. The function is holomorphic on , so its Taylor polynomials converge uniformly on .
Every algebra character of a unital Banach algebra is bounded, with : if were invertible, applying would contradict invertibility, so belongs to the spectrum of an element, which is contained in the disk of radius by the Neumann series. For the coordinate function , put ; then . Multiplicativity gives for every polynomial. By polynomial density and continuity, for every member of the disc algebra. Hence
Finally consider the algebra in the last request. For each , its holomorphic extension from the boundary is unique by the maximum modulus principle. Define . This is a surjective unital algebra homomorphism, since it restricts to the identity on the disc algebra. AlsoThe algebra is closed: if uniformly, the associated are uniformly Cauchy by this bound, so their limit belongs to the closed disc algebra and agrees with on the boundary. Constants and the coordinate function belong to , so it is itself a uniform algebra on the disk. Its idealis contained in , and is the disc algebra.
If a algebra character on vanishes on , it factors through and the preceding result givesIf does not vanish on , choose with . For , defineThe product is in , so this is well defined. It is unital and linear, andshows multiplicativity. Since is natural, is evaluation at a point of the closed disk. The equality places in the open disk. On , , so itself is evaluation at that interior point.
We therefore obtain two families: actual evaluations on one closed disk, and analytic-extension evaluations on a second closed disk. They agree on the boundary. They are distinct at interior points: functions in distinguish actual interior evaluations from every analytic-extension evaluation, and the coordinate function distinguishes points within each family. ThusThis is also a topological identification. Each disk family is continuous in the Gelfand topology, and they agree along their boundary, giving a continuous bijection from the glued disks to . The glued disks form a compact space, explicitly homeomorphic to the sphere by sending in the two copies to . Since the character space is Hausdorff, the continuous bijection is a homeomorphism. This boundary-analytic disk algebra with doubled character space has more algebra characters than evaluations on its original disk.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 9 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Call an IP set when it contains an infinite finite-sums set with all . We first need the relative consequence of the Hindman theorem: a finite union can be an IP set only if one of its constituents is an IP set. This does not follow by simply applying the theorem to a coloring of all integers, because its monochromatic finite-sums set might lie outside the given set.
Here is a reduction that proves the partition regularity of IP sets. Suppose and is finitely colored. Index the generators by . For , let be the set of positions of the nonzero digits in its binary expansion, and color by the color of . By the Hindman theorem, there are with monochromatic in this new finite coloring.
We can take disjoint, successively later finite blocks of the whose sums have separated binary expansion supports. Start with . Having chosen finitely many blocks, take larger than every binary position used in their sums. On a fresh tail of the , consider partial sums, including the zero partial sum. Two have the same residue class modulo , by the pigeonhole principle. Their positive difference is a consecutive block sum divisible by . Discard all indices up to that block's end and repeat. Thus every bit of is above every bit in the preceding block sums.
There are no carries in a sum of distinct , soAlso , since the underlying blocks are disjoint. Consequentlysatisfies , with all these sums the same original color. This proves the relative assertion. In particular, if contains an infinite finite-sums set, color its points by the first constituent containing them and apply this argument; one is an IP set.
Let be the family of sets that are not IP sets. It is closed under subsets and, by the preceding argument, under finite unions. It contains every finite set, since positive successive partial sums of an infinite sequence are unbounded. It does not contain . Thereforeis a proper filter on a set: it contains , excludes the empty set, is upward closed, and is closed under finite intersections. Its members are exactly the IP-star sets, the sets meeting every IP set. Indeed, failure to meet an IP set is equivalent to having an IP complement. This identifies the sets that must belong to the required ultrafilter.
Apply the ultrafilter lemma to extend the IP-star filter to an ultrafilter . For completeness, Zorn lemma applies to its proper filter extensions ordered by inclusion, because the union of a chain is still a proper filter on a set. A maximal extension decides every set : if cannot be adjoined while keeping the filter proper, some filter member is disjoint from , forcing into the filter. This is the defining ultrafilter property.
If were not an IP set, then , contradicting properness. Hence every member of contains an infinite finite-sums set. Conversely, any ultrafilter with finite-sums members must contain every IP-star set, since it cannot contain such a set's non-IP complement. Thus this construction captures precisely the forced filter, without making an unnecessary claim about idempotence.
To prove nonuniqueness, putFor a nonempty finite set of exponents with largest exponent , the associated sum of distinct powers of four satisfiesThus . Doubling the inequality givesso . These alternating dyadic intervals contain disjoint IP sets.
Every member of meets and also , because it meets every IP set. A finite intersection of members of is again a member, so both and have the finite intersection property. Extend the proper filters they generate to ultrafilters and . Each extends , so the previous argument makes each an ultrafilter with finite-sums members. But and , so
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 83 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put , an infinite cardinal number. The original PDF has the double exponent ; the single-exponent expression in the TeX aid is a transcription error.
We explicitly construct an independent family of subsets with members on a set of size . LetFor each finite there are finitely many possibilities for . The collection of finite subsets of an infinite cardinal has size , so ; the points give the reverse bound. Thus .
For every defineTo verify independence, take distinct and bits . For each pair , choose a point of and let contain all these finitely many points. The traces are pairwise distinct. SetThen exactly for those with . Every finite Boolean pattern is therefore realized. The cases work by the same definition, allowing . In particular the sets are all distinct, so the finite-trace independent family construction gives exactly independent members.
For each function , prescribe when and when . Independence gives the finite intersection property. Their finite intersections generate a proper filter on a set: its members are the subsets of containing one of those intersections.
To extend this to an ultrafilter, order its proper filter extensions by inclusion. The union of a chain is again a proper filter, so Zorn's lemma supplies a maximal one, . If neither a subset nor its complement belonged to this filter, adjoining would still generate a proper filter: otherwise some existing member would be disjoint from and force its complement into the filter already. Maximality therefore gives the ultrafilter dichotomy. Using the ambient axiom of choice, choose such an extension for every .
Distinct functions differ at some . Their ultrafilters respectively contain and its complement, and cannot be equal. There are such functions. Transporting the ultrafilters along a bijection proves the lower bound. The upper bound is immediate because every ultrafilter is a subset of :Thus the number of ultrafilters on an infinite set is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 9 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A proper filter on a set on contains , excludes the empty set, is closed under finite intersections and is upward closed under inclusion. An ultrafilter is a maximal proper filter. Equivalently, for every it contains exactly one of . To see maximality implies this dichotomy, if is absent then adjoining it must make the generated filter improper; hence some filter member is disjoint from , forcing into the filter. Conversely, a filter with this dichotomy cannot be properly enlarged without acquiring disjoint members.
Extend the cofinite filter to a maximal proper filter using Zorn's lemma. Every chain of proper extensions has its union as a proper filter upper bound: any finite collection of its members lies in one member of the chain, and the empty set never enters. The resulting ultrafilter contains no finite set, because it already contains that set's cofinite complement. It is therefore a free ultrafilter, or nonprincipal ultrafilter. This proves the required existence with the usual choice principle explicit.
Define the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers as the set of all ultrafilters, with basic open setsThey form a basis because is the whole space and . Also , so each basic set is clopen. Distinct ultrafilters disagree on some , putting them in the disjoint open sets and . Thus this space is Hausdorff.
To prove compactness, suppose an open cover has no finite subcover and refine it by basic sets . Their complements have the finite intersection property: otherwise finitely many would cover every ultrafilter. Here a nonempty finite intersection of the has a principal ultrafilter containing it, whereas an empty intersection cannot belong to any proper filter. The therefore generate a proper filter, which extends to an ultrafilter by the same Zorn argument. That ultrafilter lies outside every , contradicting the cover. Hence is compact and Hausdorff. Natural number is identified with its principal ultrafilter.
Hindman's theorem asserts that every finite colouring of the positive integers has an increasing sequence for which all nonempty finite sums of distinct terms have one colour. Let be the given idempotent ultrafilter. Since is positive, a principal ultrafilter cannot be idempotent: its sum with itself is principal at , not . Thus is nonprincipal and contains every cofinite tail. In a convention including zero, one instead uses an idempotent in the nonprincipal part, excluding the trivial principal idempotent at zero.
For define . Addition on the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers is characterized byOne cell of the finite colour partition belongs to . PutIdempotence makes . Moreover, if , then . Indeed, write so . We have , and idempotence applied to that set givesTheir intersection is . This is the idempotent-ultrafilter star-set lemma.
Choose . If the finite-sums set of the first choices lies in , selectEvery factor belongs to , so this finite intersection is nonempty. Its choice preserves . ThereforeThis proves the requested Idempotent-ultrafilter proof of Hindman's theorem, without assuming an idempotent-existence proof.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 23 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Stone topology on a type space has basic open setswhere ranges over formulas with parameters in and free variables. Here points are complete types consistent with . Arbitrary open sets are unions of these basic sets.
The identitiesshow that the basic sets are clopen sets and form a basis. Distinct complete types contain opposite choices for some formula, so this topology is Hausdorff. The compactness theorem gives compactness: a family of basic closed sets with the finite intersection property determines a consistent set of formulas, which extends to a complete type. Thus logical formulas provide a basis of clopen tests for distinguishing points of the type space.
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 2015 ii Paper 4 2I Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For nonempty compact sets, define the distance from a point to a closed set by and the Hausdorff distance byThe minima and suprema exist: the sets are nonempty and compact, and the distance function is Lipschitz continuous. The Hausdorff distance is finite, nonnegative and symmetric. If it is zero, every point of belongs to the closed set and conversely, so ; the converse is immediate.
For , choose attaining and then attaining . The triangle inequality gives . Taking the supremum over , and doing the same with exchanged, proves . Hence this is a metric.
The nested compact sets have the finite intersection property inside , so is nonempty. It is a closed subset of and therefore compact. Because , only contributes to the Hausdorff distance. If this did not tend to zero, some increasing indices and would satisfy . A convergent subsequence in has limit . For each fixed , its tail belongs to the closed set , so . But then , a contradiction. Thus .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 106 2 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Put . The nonemptiness of gives . By Mazur theorem, a norm-closed convex set is weakly closed. This applies to both and every closed norm ball.
For , the sets are nonempty by the definition of the infimum, weakly closed and nested. They all lie in the weakly compact set , by the weak compactness characterization of reflexivity. Hence they have the finite intersection property, and compactness gives . Then and for every , soThis proves the norm minimizer in a closed convex subset of a reflexive Banach space assertion without assuming sequential weak compactness. It includes ; uniqueness is not asserted without an additional condition such as strict convexity of the norm.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 130 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The dynamical proof of Hindman's theorem gives the following result. The Hindman theorem asserts that every finite coloring of the positive integers admits an infinite strictly increasing sequence for which all nonempty finite sums of distinct terms have one color. We will in fact arrange , so all these sums also have unique representations.
Extend the given coloring arbitrarily to a point , retaining the prescribed colors at every positive coordinate. Let be its forward orbit closure under the left shift. The product topology makes a compact metric space, and the left shift is a continuous map. There is a nonempty minimal subsystem : order the nonempty closed forward-invariant subsets by reverse inclusion, use compactness and the finite intersection property to intersect any chain, and apply the Zorn lemma. Minimality also implies . The result permitted in the question now supplies a minimal point proximal to .
We need the joint return lemma for a proximal minimal pair, which we prove here. It suffices to consider an open neighborhood of in . Choose an open neighborhood of with . Every forward orbit in meets , and a finite subcover of on supplies a bound on the needed return index. For a compatible metric , choose smaller than the distance from to when the latter is nonempty. By uniform continuity of the finitely many maps , , some ensuresProximality supplies arbitrarily large with . To see that the times can be large under the definition using an infimum over , either , in which case this is automatic, or injectivity of the left shift makes every finite collection of distances strictly positive, so a sufficiently smaller proximal distance occurs beyond that collection. Some has . Then also. Hence arbitrarily large positive satisfyThis uses the minimal point property for bounded returns and proximality for closeness; closeness alone would not guarantee a return near .
Put . Inductively, let , where denotes the finite-sums set, and maintainThe initial condition at is just ; no condition on is required. The cylinder set is a neighborhood of . Use the proved joint return lemma to choose with both and in . All new sums belong to , and the old sums remain in , so both inductive conditions persist. Every nonzero sum is positive, where agrees with the original coloring. ThereforeThis proves the Hindman theorem using only the permitted proximal-minimal existence result and the compactness and return arguments supplied above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 130 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The ultrafilter space. An ultrafilter on is a proper filter on a set: it is upward closed, closed under finite intersections, excludes , and contains exactly one of for each . The Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers is the set of these ultrafilters, with basic setsThey form a basis since and . Moreover , so each is a clopen set. The principal ultrafilter at embeds in this space; every nonempty contains such a point, so the embedded copy is dense.
Distinct ultrafilters have some with . Then , and are disjoint open sets separating them. Thus the space is Hausdorff.
For compactness, any open set cover can be refined to a cover by basic sets. If has no finite subcover, the sets have the finite intersection property: otherwise finitely many cover , and their basic sets cover every ultrafilter. Extend the proper filter on a set generated by these complements to an ultrafilter . This extension follows from Zorn lemma: unions of chains of proper filters remain proper, and a maximal proper filter decides every versus . Indeed, if adding made the filter improper, some existing filter member would be disjoint from , forcing into the filter. This contains every and misses every , a contradiction. HenceThis proves the compact Hausdorff topology on ultrafilters directly.
An idempotent. The addition on the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers can be defined byAssociativity is supplied. For fixed , the inverse image of under is , so this translation is continuous directly from the definition. This makes a left-topological semigroup in the convention used here.
We prove the Ellis–Numakura lemma in this case. Among nonempty compact subsemigroups choose one, , minimal by inclusion. It exists by Zorn lemma: a descending chain has nonempty intersection by compactness, and that intersection is again a compact subsemigroup. For , the set is a nonempty compact subsemigroup contained in . Compactness follows from continuity; closure under addition follows fromMinimality gives . Hence there is with . The setis nonempty, compact, and a subsemigroup: if , then . Thus minimality gives , and in particular . ThereforeThis is an idempotent ultrafilter on the natural numbers.
Isolating the sequence terms. Now use the hypothetical convergent sequence of distinct ultrafilters. For each , choose with , possible since . Convergence implies for all sufficiently large . Thus only finitely many indices have . Call this finite set .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 3 3G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
First, compactness makes totally bounded: for every positive integer , the open cover by balls of radius has a finite subcover. Given a sequence, repeatedly choose a ball of radius containing infinitely many terms of the subsequence retained at the preceding stage. Taking a diagonal subsequence , any two terms with indices at least lie in one ball of radius , so their distance is below . The diagonal subsequence is therefore a Cauchy sequence.
A compact metric space is complete. To see this without assuming sequential compactness, let be Cauchy and put . These nonempty closed sets are nested and have the finite intersection property; compactness gives a point . Given , a sufficiently late tail has diameter below , and because lies in its closure, every point of that tail lies within of . Thus .
The Cauchy subsequence constructed above consequently converges in . Hence every compact metric space is sequentially compact.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 130 4 Solution 2026-09-28
A filter on a set is a nonempty family that excludes the empty set, is upward closed, and is closed under finite intersections. An ultrafilter is a proper filter that contains exactly one of and for every subset .
To prove the ultrafilter lemma, order the proper filters containing by inclusion. The union of any chain is again a proper filter, so Zorn lemma gives a maximal extension . If neither nor belonged to , adjoining either one would generate an improper filter. There would then be with and . But , contradicting propriety. Hence is an ultrafilter.
The Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers is the set of all ultrafilters on , with basic setsThe identitiesshow that these sets form a basis of clopen sets. Distinct ultrafilters disagree on some ; one lies in and the other in the disjoint set . Thus is a Hausdorff space.
If a family of basic closed sets has the finite intersection property, then the sets have the same property. They generate a proper filter, which extends to an ultrafilter lying in every . The Alexander subbase theorem now implies that is a compact space.
Give each nonempty finite set the discrete topology. The product space is compact by the Tychonoff theorem. For each , the compatibility condition defines a closed subset .
These sets have the finite intersection property. Indeed, for finitely many conditions choose an index above every index occurring in them, choose any , and use the transition maps from to define all required coordinates; choose the remaining coordinates arbitrarily. Compactness therefore givesThis is the nonemptiness theorem for inverse limits of finite sets.