Hadamard finite-part reciprocal-power distribution Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the symmetric Hadamard finite-part integral defining subtracts the Taylor polynomial through degree from a test function before division by . It has finite order of a distribution and satisfiesThe lower-order subtraction terms are integrable at infinity, while the remaining odd singularity cancels under symmetric truncation.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 76 3 b iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The locally integrable logarithm has distributional derivative . By the Fourier transform of a derivative and the previous result,For , this gives . At zero the expression must be extended as a Hadamard finite-part integral, not treated as a locally integrable function. For example, define the finite-part inverse-absolute-value distribution byThen . Different reference cutoffs change only by a multiple of the Dirac delta distribution. The general solution of the transform equation is consequentlyIndeed multiplication by annihilates only a delta term among distributions supported at zero; delta derivatives would generate additional nonzero terms. This supplies the precise interpretation of the paper's formula, and the convention-dependent constant need not be found.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 7E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
There is an important convention issue in the printed statement. The ordinary Cauchy principal value exists only for . Closing the Fourier contour in the lower half-plane, with a small indentation above the real-axis pole, givesEquivalently, the odd cosine contribution cancels and the Dirichlet integral supplies the imaginary part.
For , the paired integrand near zero is if is even and if is odd. Its leading even power is nonintegrable: in the first case and in the second. Thus the ordinary principal value diverges for every .
If the intended convention is the Hadamard finite-part integral, define it consistently by distributional differentiation,Integration by parts in this distributional pairing, or regularized Fourier transformation, then givesThe distinction is essential: subtracting the divergent local Taylor terms supplies a finite part, but symmetric exclusion alone does not.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 327 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let denote the Taylor polynomial at zero. On , the integrand defining the Hadamard finite-part reciprocal-power distribution isThe first term is odd, so it cancels under symmetric truncation. The Taylor remainder in the second term has absolute value at most . The integral near zero therefore has a finite limit. For , the original terms are integrable: has compact support, and each subtracted power has exponent .
This proves existence and linearity. It also gives the global estimateThusIn particular the order of a distribution is bounded by one integer on all compact sets, not merely separately on each of them.
For the recurrence, write the truncated Hadamard finite-part integral aswhere parity evaluates all subtraction integrals explicitly:Set and . On the two truncated intervals, integration by parts givesThere are no boundary contributions at infinity. The coefficients of the subtraction terms satisfyThis is exactly the negative of the boundary term's Taylor polynomial through degree ; the degree- term itself vanishes by parity. HenceTaking the limit proves the full distributional identityThe same calculation includes . Starting with the distributional derivative of the logarithmic modulus from part (i), induction yieldsThis identity holds on all of as a distributional identity. It is stronger than matching the ordinary derivatives away from zero, which would leave possible differentiated Dirac delta distributions at zero undetermined.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 327 1 Solution 2026-09-29
The space of test functions isA sequence converges to in when all supports lie in one compact set andfor every nonnegative integer . The distribution space is the continuous dual space of , and in meansfor every test function .
If a linear form is continuous, it clearly maps every null sequence to a scalar sequence tending to zero. Conversely, suppose it has this sequential property. For each compact , its restriction to the Fréchet space must be continuous: otherwise, for every one could choose such thatThen in but its images do not tend to zero, a contradiction. Continuity on every is precisely continuity for the strict inductive limit topology of , so .
Use the convention . Translation and the distributional derivative are defined byTranslation, differentiation, and multiplication by are continuous maps on , so these formulas define continuous linear functionals and hence distributions.
For , integration by parts after subtracting the value at zero givesThe subtraction makes the integrand locally integrable at zero, and handles the other boundary.
The analogous Hadamard finite-part integral isIndeed, integrating from and combining the boundary term with the divergent constant part of the integral gives this limit.
Because is a locally integrable function, its first distributional derivative has order at most one. It is not of order zero. Choose with and put . The sup norms stay bounded whileis unbounded as . This contradicts the local sup-norm estimate required of an order-zero distribution. Hence has order exactly .