Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 4 14A c ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Rewrite the ratio of hyperbolic sines asFor , expand the denominator by the geometric series. Part (a) inverts each delayed exponential:At each finite time only finitely many terms are nonzero, so this reflected-step solution of the wave equation is locally a finite sum. The first front travels from ; the second is its sign-reversed reflection from the fixed endpoint, with repeated round trips. At the delays coincide and cancel. At the sum telescopes to for .
An equivalent standing-wave Fourier series isIts static ramp has exactly the sine coefficients , so cancellation gives the zero initial displacement in the interior. Both representations solve the equation away from the fronts and in the distributional sense across them; the convention agrees with Fourier midpoint values.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 107 6 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put , where . Since , part (ii), followed by a -th root, gives the Moser iteration stepAfter steps,The geometric series and its differentiated form giveIn particular the exact convergent product isThe printed hint's equality to a single power of is not correct in general; its claimed finiteness is correct and the displayed expression supplies the correction.
On a finite-measure domain, Lp norms converge to the supremum norm for a bounded continuous function. Indeed, the upper bound is ; for every , the set has positive measure, giving . Let in the iteration and use part (i), which gives . The Dirichlet eigenfunction supremum estimate isThe eigenvalue exponent is exactly . The constant depends only on : the supplied zero-boundary Sobolev inequality has a dimension-only constant, and every product factor above depends only on .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 108 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A continuous map of a compact metric space is uniquely ergodic if it has exactly one invariant measure that is a Borel probability measure. The uniqueness requirement ranges over all invariant Borel probability measures.
For an irrational rotation of the circle, let on , and let be any invariant Borel probability measure. For each integer , set . Invariance givesFor , irrationality forces , so the corresponding Fourier coefficient is zero. For it is one. These are exactly the Fourier coefficients of normalized Lebesgue measure . By the Stone-Weierstrass theorem, trigonometric polynomials are uniformly dense in the continuous functions on the circle group; hence and integrate every continuous function equally and are the same Borel probability measure. Since is invariant, the irrational rotation of the circle is uniquely ergodic, with unique measure .
For the irrational skew shift on the two-dimensional torus, writeThe map is invertible, with modulo one, and it preserves as allowed in the question. We first prove the ergodic transformation property by the invariant-function characterization of ergodicity.
Let satisfy . Its expansion in the Fourier basis is in . Direct calculation of the Koopman operator givesUniqueness of the Fourier coefficients therefore impliesFor , the magnitudes of the Fourier coefficients along all distinct indices , , are equal. By the Bessel inequality they are square summable, so every such coefficient must be zero. When , the relation becomes , which forces for . Only remains. Thus every invariant function is constant, and
To prove unique ergodicity, we will establish uniform averages for every continuous function directly. No theorem on unique ergodicity of skew products is needed. Induction on , using the old first coordinate in the second coordinate of , yieldsIn particular, for a Fourier basis element,If and , this is a geometric series in , anduniformly in .
For , we give the finite Van der Corput inequality for finite scalar sequences and its proof. For , extend by zero outside . Fix an integer and set . Every original summand appears times in the identityThe Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, followed by expansion of the squared window sums, givesConsequently the Van der Corput inequality for finite scalar sequences isThe finite prefactor is important; the order of limits will be with fixed, followed by .
For the irrational skew shift character sequence above, differencing cancels the quadratic term:For every fixed , is irrational, so another geometric series estimate givesuniformly in . With fixed , the Van der Corput inequality for finite scalar sequences therefore impliesLetting proves that the averages of every nonconstant Fourier basis element converge uniformly to zero. The constant character has average one. This establishes uniform equidistribution of an irrational skew shift on all trigonometric polynomials.
The Stone-Weierstrass theorem makes these trigonometric polynomials uniformly dense in . If approximates a continuous with , thenTaking and then proves uniform convergence to for every continuous .
Finally, if is any invariant Borel probability measure for the irrational skew shift, invariance and this uniform convergence giveThus , since continuous functions determine Borel probability measures on a compact metric space. We concludeThe uniform-average proof also shows that every starting point has the same limiting continuous-function averages, a stronger conclusion than the almost-everywhere assertion provided by the pointwise ergodic theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 124 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The Möbius function has , when is divisible by a prime square, and when is a product of distinct primes. The Riemann zeta function is initially the Dirichlet series for . Both this Dirichlet series and have absolute convergence, because and .
For a finite set of primes , multiplication of absolutely convergent geometric series and unique prime factorization giveEvery omitted integer has a prime factor exceeding , so it exceeds . The difference from has absolute value at most . This proves the Euler product, with the product interpreted as the limit of its finite products:
For the reciprocal identity, absolute convergence justifies multiplying and regrouping the two Dirichlet series by their product index. Their Dirichlet convolution coefficient at isThe coefficient calculation uses only the squarefree integers dividing . Consequently the reciprocal identity is an identity of absolutely convergent series:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 208 1 1 7 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The printed strong white noise assumption does not imply a normal distribution or even a finite fourth moment. Thus it does not, by itself, determine the covariance of a quadratic transform. We give the intended Gaussian calculation, and then the general finite-fourth-moment answer.
If is Gaussian, is a centered Gaussian process. Put and . Since and , the centered transform isThe supplied Hermite polynomial identity makes the cross terms vanish and givesEquivalently,The constant has no effect on covariance.
For a general iid noise with , put and , its fourth cumulant. Independence and expansion of third and fourth moments give, for ,whereSumming the geometric series explicitly givesThe covariance of quadratic transforms of a linear process follows from a fourth-moment expansion consisting of the three Isserlis theorem pairings, plus the fourth-cumulant contribution when all four noise indices coincide. The third-moment contribution similarly requires three coincident indices. This proves the general formula without assuming a normal distribution. For Gaussian white noise , recovering the simpler answer. If and the noise has infinite fourth moment, need not have finite variance, so an autocovariance function may not exist.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 321 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Set . For the discrete Fourier mode, the displacement difference in the th neighbor pair carries , andThus the infinite system reduces toThe gravitating lattice Fourier kernel is nonnegative, even and -periodic, with . The uniform convergence and absolute convergence of its differentiated series givesTo prove the maximum, it is not sufficient to maximize each cosine term separately: the even terms do not reach their individual maxima at . Instead use the convergent integral representation . Summing the geometric series for sines givesFor , the denominator is positive and , so . For , . The interchange is justified by . HenceTheir value iswhere is the Riemann zeta function. This maximizing Fourier mode alternates the signs of neighboring particle displacements.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 1 11F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
If , the terms do not tend to zero, so the series diverges by the term test for divergence. If , the terms form a nonnegative decreasing sequence, and the Cauchy condensation test gives the condensed seriesThis geometric series converges exactly when . Hence the p-series criterion is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 1 4E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Convergence at implies that the terms form a bounded sequence: for some . If and , thenComparison with the convergent geometric series proves absolute convergence. The case is vacuous.
The radius of convergence is the number such that a power series converges absolutely for and diverges for , with boundary behavior considered separately.
TakeThen is the convergent alternating harmonic series, whereas is the divergent harmonic series. Thus converges at a point of modulus one and diverges at another point of modulus one. It follows that
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 8D b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For the example, take . Every term is positive and different from , andThe bounding geometric series converges, so the comparison test for series proves that the partial sums converge.
In general, if converges, the necessary condition for a convergent series gives . Since ,Apply the Cesaro theorem for convergent sequences to these summands:Equivalently, . The series of the differences may converge while the series of the positive sums still diverges linearly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 102 4 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Take an integer , so is a dominant integral weight. Apply the dilation to the Weyl denominator formula:This is exactly the numerator of the Weyl character formula for . Divide by its denominator and use a finite geometric series in each root direction:This character of a Weyl-vector multiple also gives by evaluating every formal exponential at one. This evaluation is safe in the final polynomial expression, without dividing by a zero denominator.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 304 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For , the quantum harmonic oscillator has energies , , in units . For positive inverse temperature , taking the trace in the energy basis and summing a geometric series givesThis is the thermal partition function of a quantum harmonic oscillator, including its zero-point energy. The assumptions ensure convergence; at the free particle on the noncompact line instead has an infinite spatial-volume factor.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 4 1G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
Expand the finite Euler product into geometric series. By unique prime factorization, it is the sum of over positive integers whose prime factors do not exceed , and hence contains every term up to . The harmonic sum satisfiesThe last inequality uses , including when is an integer. For each prime number ,The telescoping series over all integers bounds the sum of these remainders by . Taking logarithms of the product bound therefore givesThis explicit constant suffices; no asymptotic theorem about the distribution of prime numbers is needed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 1 4D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The radius of convergence of the power series isIf , choose with . Since , those terms are bounded, say . Thereforeand comparison with a geometric series proves absolute convergence. If , convergence would imply absolute convergence at every smaller modulus by the same argument, contradicting the definition of .
If , convergence of implies absolute convergence of whenever . Letting approach the radius of the -series shows that .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ib Paper 4 12F b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Choose and iterate . The contraction mapping estimatemakes Cauchy by a geometric series. Its limit satisfies because is Lipschitz. Two fixed points would satisfy , so they coincide. This proves the Banach fixed-point theorem.
Now suppose the final assertion failed. There would be with . Since and is continuous, the two sides tend respectively to and , so . Uniqueness would give , a contradiction. Hence the required and exist.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 108 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For an increasing sequence of nonnegative integers, full-density sequence means that its range has natural density one:For a sequence in a metric space, convergence in density of a sequence to means that, for every ,In particular, a bounded nonnegative scalar sequence converging to zero in density has averages tending to zero: the average is at most plus its bound times the proportion of indices above .
Here is a Hilbert space form of the Van der Corput lemma, including the density version. Suppose , and putThenSince , it suffices for to converge to zero in density. A frequently used special case is that the correlation average tends to zero for every fixed .
To prove the lemma, extend the finite list by zero outside this range, and write . For ,The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for this sum, followed by expansion of the squared Hilbert space norm, givesThe coefficient counts the pairs of shifts separated by . Dividing by , bounding real parts by absolute values, and first taking the limit superior in for fixed yieldsThe right side tends to zero as under the stated hypothesis. This proves both the lemma and its density consequence.
For the polynomial application, fix a nonzero integer and let . For each fixed , the correlation phase is linear:Thus, with ,The coefficient is irrational, so . This geometric series is bounded in modulus by and tends to zero. All vanish, so the Van der Corput lemma gives
The Weyl criterion now shows that the fractional parts form an equidistributed sequence. For completeness, its sufficiency here follows directly: the displayed limits give the correct average for every trigonometric polynomial, including the constant term. The Stone-Weierstrass theorem extends this to every continuous function by uniform approximation. Approximating an interval's indicator function above and below by continuous functions gives its length as the limiting frequency. HenceThis proves the equidistribution of a quadratic polynomial with irrational leading coefficient using the required correlation argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 142 3 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For the K-theory transfer of a finite covering, let be a vector bundle and defineOn an evenly covered neighborhood the sheets identify this with a direct sum of local vector bundles. On overlaps the identifications permute the sheets and apply the transition maps of , so these local descriptions glue to a vector bundle on . This operation respects direct sums, hence extends to a homomorphism of Grothendieck groupsIt obeys the projection formula for the K-theory transfer:For actual vector bundles, this follows fiberwise by distributing the tensor product of vector bundles over the direct sum; it then extends to their Grothendieck groups.
Let be the permutation vector bundle of the covering. It has rank on every connected component, but need not be a trivial vector bundle; in particular one cannot replace by multiplication by integrally. Instead writeThe componentwise nilpotence result from the preceding solution gives for some . In the localization of a ring , the finite geometric seriesis an inverse. The projection formula for the K-theory transfer givesThus implies after inverting . More explicitly, is a left inverse, proving
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 335 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Write and retain the Landweber relaxation parameter . The printed allows the fixed choice , since then . It does not justify a unit step: the scalar linear operator has norm below , but unit-step error is multiplied by and diverges. We use throughout.
From the recurrence and , induction yields the closed formFor the compact operator in part ii, take a singular system of a compact operator with , and . Thus are the eigenvalues of ; this fixes the notation implicit in the printed hint. In the singular component , the recurrence isSumming the geometric series gives the Landweber spectral filterThere is no contribution from data in or from in the reconstruction. Starting at zero is what selects the minimum-norm least-squares solution.
For fixed , , so the numerator tends to . The assumption is the Picard criterionwith an arbitrary additional component in . The squared reconstruction error isEach term tends to zero and is bounded by a summable term from the Picard criterion. The dominated convergence theorem therefore proves , where is the Moore–Penrose inverse of an operator.
For each finite , the regularization of an inverse problem is stable. Set . The geometric series and implyConsequently the Landweber noise amplification bound in this general step-size convention is . If additionally , the sharper numerator bound gives .
To see the regularization parameter directly, put . Modes with have numerator approximately , so their inverse coefficient is approximately rather than . Each fixed nonzero mode is eventually restored as . ThusThe finite iterates suppress unstable small singular values; infinitely many iterations remove this suppression. For noisy data , the noise-bias decomposition for linear regularization givesChoosing and proves noisy-data convergence. The reciprocal iteration index is a regularization parameter, and early stopping controls noise amplification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 3 36A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For each one-particle state , a boson occupation number can be any . Its contribution to the grand canonical partition function is the geometric seriesThe noninteracting modes factorize, soConvergence requires . Since the lowest energy is zero, the limiting maximum chemical potential is