Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 216 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the shape-rate convention for every gamma distribution, with . Let and . The Poisson distribution likelihood and the Gamma–Poisson hierarchical model giveAll factors involving the coordinate being updated must be retained, including from the conditional gamma distributions. The full conditional distributions areFor a blocked Gibbs sampler, draw from the second full conditional distribution, then redraw all the independently from the first ones. Repeating these two steps preserves the joint posterior distribution; observing after each complete sweep gives the Markov chain used in the next part. Standard gamma distribution sampling works for noninteger as well as integer shapes. The positive observation-period convention is used for the subsequent geometric drift condition.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 216 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Take observation periods to have positive lengths , and let be the Markov kernel of a sweep which first draws given the current and then draws the new vector . Write . Conditional on , independence and the gamma distribution mean and variance giveAveraging over the full conditional distribution of preserves this bound, uniformly in the current state. Therefore . This is the mechanism in bounded conditional moments imply a geometric drift.
Choose , , and . Outside , ; inside , . HenceFor completeness, is a small set, even though it approaches the boundary of the positive orthant. Choose small enough that . On , . The conditional gamma distribution of has fixed shape and rate in a compact positive interval. Its probability density function therefore has a positive common lower bound on . For those , the product probability density function of similarly has a positive common lower bound on , since every shape is positive and every rate lies in a compact positive interval. Integrating over gives on , where is the uniform distribution on and .
The transition probability density function is positive throughout the positive orthant, giving an irreducible Markov chain. Since , the box minorization includes starts in the same box, which gives an aperiodic Markov chain. The proper prior distributions and bounded Poisson distribution likelihood have positive finite evidence, so the invariant posterior distribution is proper. Together with the geometric drift condition, these hypotheses imply geometric ergodicity. In particular, the argument proves the required drift rather than assuming that every Gibbs sampler is geometrically ergodic.
The positive-period convention matters. If zero lengths are allowed, the printed assertion can fail: take , , . Then and , soThis example has a proper posterior distribution but cannot satisfy a finite quadratic geometric drift condition. Thus the proof establishes the intended claim for positive observation periods, not an unrestricted extension to zero exposure.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 345 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use a two-sided top-hat line plume with full width , upward speed , and reduced gravity uniform across the plume. Fluxes are measured per unit span along the line source: the volume flux is , the kinematic momentum flux is , and the buoyancy flux is . If the inward edge speed is , where is the entrainment coefficient, the two exposed edges giveThese are the volume conservation, momentum conservation, and buoyancy flux balances for a Boussinesq approximation plume in an unstratified ambient. Entrained ambient fluid supplies neither vertical momentum nor reference buoyancy.
A pure plume has no persistent source length scale. Since a line-source has dimensions , dimensional analysis gives constant , , and . Substituting constant into and the momentum balance determines the coefficients:Thus and when width is full width and velocity and buoyancy have top-hat profiles. If width means half-width, instead. Other prescribed profile shapes change these numerical factors; the linear growth laws remain the same. The point-source in Question 1 has different dimensions, so its law must not be used here.
Let be local contaminant concentration and let be horizontally integrated plume concentration. Its conserved amount per unit span is . The dilute contaminant is a passive scalar; the maintained plume is unaffected by its impulsive release. A one-dimensional effective transport closure takes the integrated scalar flux to beThe constant advective speed and the eddy diffusivity scaling follow from the line-plume scales. The entrainment coefficient alone does not determine the scalar dispersion coefficient: this Fickian closure for the integrated variable is an additional modelling assumption. Mass conservation then gives the displayed transport equation in the PDF. With this effective closure and advective speed chosen as , ; if , then , with independent dimensionless mixing coefficient .
There is a second possible closure convention. If one instead applies local diffusive flux to horizontally averaged plume concentration , its integrated diffusive flux is . For , the total scalar flux is then . The same printed equation is obtained with , rather than . Thus the printed and should be regarded as effective coefficients unless the averaging and closure conventions are specified; no equality between and the velocity prefactor is universal.
Assume , , an initial impulse at the origin, no further contaminant input, and zero endpoint scalar flux for . For a similarity solution, putSubstituting into the advection-diffusion equation givesDecay at infinity makes the integrated constant zero. Hence , and normalization with the gamma function gives . The resulting gamma impulse solution for linearly increasing diffusivity isIts integral over is . Its flux is , which vanishes at both endpoints for . The scale shrinks to zero as , so the normalized solution has weak convergence of probability measures to the required unit source impulse. The mass at the boundary is a full unit impulse on the half-line, not half of a whole-line impulse.
For the integrated quantity, , and consequentlyThis verifies the printed location for horizontally integrated plume concentration. It is a maximum because the derivative changes from positive to negative there. The normalized profile is a gamma distribution with shape : its expected value is and its variance is , so neither the mean position nor the spread should be mistaken for the modal position.
The PDF changes from “integral” to “averaged” concentration in its final request. A genuine horizontally averaged plume concentration divides by the growing width , and is thereforeIt is normalized by , not by . When , its interior maximum isWhen it decreases from a finite boundary supremum; when it is singular at the ideal point source and has no positive interior maximum. A finite source regularizes that singularity. Thus the final printed maximum is correct for the integrated variable , or for an “average” using a fixed reference width, but is not generally the maximum of the local mean . Both quantities have been given rather than silently identifying them. If , the smooth similarity formula is replaced by the advected impulse ; positive eddy diffusivity is essential to the gamma profile.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 210 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For independent and identically distributed random variables with distribution function , let be the sample maximum. In extreme value theory, belongs to the maximum domain of attraction of a nondegenerate distribution function when there exist and such thatat every continuity point of . Thus the normalized sample maxima have convergence in distribution to .
A positive measurable function has regular variation at infinity with index , written , ifThe case defines a slowly varying function; equivalently a regularly varying function is with a slowly varying function.
Write for the survival function and for the right endpoint of a distribution. For , use the following standard extreme value theory normalization conventions:They are respectively the Fréchet distribution, the negative Weibull distribution, and the Gumbel distribution for maxima. The negative Weibull distribution is supported to the left of its finite endpoint; it is not the usual positive Weibull distribution.
The necessary and sufficient maximum domain of attraction criteria are:
- For the Fréchet distribution,Equivalently for every .
- For the negative Weibull distribution,Equivalently as , for every .
- For the Gumbel distribution,Here is a Gumbel auxiliary function, and can be finite or infinite. For each fixed , the shifted argument lies below eventually. This exponential tail-ratio condition, rather than regular variation with a fixed finite index, characterizes this case.
For the corresponding sufficient hazard function conditions, assume is absolutely continuous near , its survival function tends to zero there, and its probability density function is positive there. Write . The Von Mises conditions for extreme values giveThe last condition additionally assumes that the reciprocal hazard function is continuously differentiable near the endpoint. It concerns the derivative of the reciprocal hazard function, not the derivative of the hazard function itself. Equivalently, when is differentiable, it is .
To see the connection, taking an integral of the hazard function givesThe first two limits make the logarithmic tail ratios over multiplicative or endpoint-distance intervals tend to or , giving the required regular variation. For the Gumbel distribution, set . The derivative condition makes uniformly on bounded -intervals, soThe endpoint assumptions ensure these shifts are admissible: at an infinite endpoint , and at a finite endpoint . These are sufficient smooth-tail conditions; the tail-ratio characterizations above are necessary and sufficient without differentiability assumptions. For a source using the same reciprocal-hazard convention, see Smith and Weissman's university lecture notes, equations (2.18)–(2.24).
For the Gamma distribution with integer shape and rate one, let . The base case is , and integration by parts givesInduction provesThis survival function has the asymptotic form ; for the relation is exact. Put . For every fixed real , and . The proposed centering satisfiessoOnly the highest-degree term contributes to the limit, with the same reasoning covering . The Taylor expansion now givesbecause . Therefore the Gumbel limit for gamma maxima isEquivalently, has convergence in distribution to the standard Gumbel distribution, with scale .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 338 3 a ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be the input photoelectron count and its mean, with quantum efficiency and mean incident photon count . Independent arrivals give a Poisson distribution, so . Conditional on , the preceding gamma distribution gives and . The law of total variance therefore yieldsOne contribution is the ordinary photon shot noise; the other is multiplication excess noise. Thus, neglecting read noise and backgrounds,This is an excess-noise factor in analog operation: actual photon conversion efficiency has not been halved. At low occupancy, thresholding each pixel as zero or one event can avoid most multiplication noise, but high arrival rates produce coincident events that cannot be counted separately. That is why the high-rate result concerns charge measurement rather than ideal binary photon counting.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 338 3 a i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
First include the mean-gain calculation preceding the numbered clauses. At each electron-multiplying CCD stage one electron contributes an expected electrons to the next stage. If is the charge after stage , conditional expectation gives . Iteration from input electrons yieldsFor small , if corrections of order are negligible.
In the high-gain approximation the output from one input electron has an exponential distribution of scale . Independent input electrons produce independent cascades, and their charges add. By convolution of independent random variables, assuming the formula for inputs,Together with the single-electron base case this provesIt is a gamma distribution with shape and scale , so it is normalized and has expected value and variance . The formula is a continuous approximation to discrete output charge, not an exact integer-valued branching distribution; for there is a point mass at zero instead.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 1 19H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The Neyman-Pearson lemma says that for simple hypotheses with densities , a size- test that rejects where and accepts where , with possible randomization on equality to attain size , is most powerful among all tests of size at most . To prove it, let be this test and any competing test. Pointwise,After integration,which proves maximal power.
For the exponential sample, with ,Since , this ratio is increasing in . The likelihood-ratio test therefore rejects for large :where is the distribution function of the rate-parameterized Gamma distribution .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 350 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the shape-rate convention for the Gamma distribution. DefineThe zero null space assumption makes a positive-definite matrix, and is the unique ordinary least squares solution. The Gaussian likelihood contributes , which must be retained because is unknown. Multiplying it by the improper prior and the Gamma distribution gives the normal-gamma posterior with a flat prior:Here the constant density of the improper prior cancels on normalization. PutThe normal equation makes the residual orthogonal to the range of . The orthogonal decomposition by a closed subspace into that range and its orthogonal complement givesIntegration over by the Gaussian integral, followed by integration over using the Gamma distribution, yieldsThus the posterior distribution is proper, despite the improper prior; here follows from the zero null space assumption.
Completing the square in and collecting the powers of give the two conditional distributions:Explicitly their probability density functions areFor a joint maximum a posteriori estimate relative to , first fix . The unique maximizing is . The remaining log density is plus a constant. Consequently, if ,The stated assumptions do not always imply . If , the supremum occurs as but is not attained on ; if , the density is unbounded there. In either case there is no joint maximum a posteriori estimate in the stated parameter space. Calling zero a boundary mode does not make it an admissible positive precision.
If “MAP estimators” instead means separate modes of the marginal distributions, integration givesThus the marginal maximum a posteriori estimate of is always , and that of is when , with the same nonattainment at zero when . Joint and marginal maximization are different operations; the usual joint interpretation gives the preceding boxed pair.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 5J Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
An exponential dispersion family has densities of the formwhere is the canonical parameter, is the dispersion parameter, and the support does not depend on . Its mean and variance are
For the given Gamma distribution, setThengivesThus the gamma laws form the Gamma exponential dispersion family.
Directly integrating, or using the cumulant-generating function of a gamma distribution,soDifferentiation at zero yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 26K e Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The displayed density is that of a gamma distribution with shape and rate one. PutBy the additivity of independent gamma distributions with a common rate,Equivalently, the independence of random variables makes the Laplace transform of a nonnegative random variable of the sum equalTherefore the required probability density function is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 28J b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Multiplying the likelihood by the gamma distribution prior density givesThus Gamma-exponential conjugacy giveswhere the second parameter is the rate. Under squared-error loss, the Bayes estimator under squared error loss is the posterior mean, hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 4 27K c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Here is planar Lebesgue measure. For a Borel set , polar coordinates giveThe pushforward is therefore locally finite and atomless. By the mapping theorem for Poisson point processes, is a homogeneous Poisson process on with constant intensity . This is the two-dimensional radial volume transform of a homogeneous Poisson point process.
Put . The variable is the th arrival time of that rate- Poisson process, hence has the gamma distribution with shape and rate :Since and , the change-of-variables formula for a probability density gives the Kth-nearest-neighbour distance in a homogeneous Poisson point process
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 1 13J iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
A suitable generalized linear model is a Gamma regression with logarithmic link:withThe gamma distribution is appropriate for a positive, continuous, right-skewed payment, and its variance function allows the conditional variance to grow like the square of the conditional mean instead of assuming constant variance. The logarithmic link function also guarantees positive fitted means and represents covariate effects multiplicatively, which accords with the Box–Cox transformation evidence for a logarithmic scale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ib Paper 1 18H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The moment-generating function of isIndependence makes the moment-generating function of the sum equal the product:This is the moment-generating function of the gamma distribution , and moment-generating functions determine distributions in a neighbourhood of zero. Hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 219 1 a Solution 2026-09-28
The expected number in a spherical shell is . Sincethe normalized radial density is the Gamma distribution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 218 1 e i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The stated mean and variance identify as a gamma distribution with shape and scale . A Poisson-gamma mixture is negative binomial, withWhen , this is exactly the constant-shape variance model fitted by the negative binomial regression, so the most appropriate printed p-value is from model3.