Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ii Paper 2 36E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For and an orthonormal trial set,Stationarity subject to givesThe finite-subspace variational method, equivalently the Rayleigh-Ritz variational principle, says that the minimum quotient is the smallest eigenvalue of . It is therefore the optimal upper bound on available from this span.