Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 1 12 b ii Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 1 12 b i Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Multiply numerator and denominator by the complex conjugate of . For this givesThus its real part and imaginary part are respectively
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 1 12 c ii Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Writing and comparing real parts and imaginary parts gives and . A real solution is impossible since . Thus , and positivity forces . Consequently and , givingThe right Argand diagram in the preceding figure shows representative points on the lines ; each row continues with spacing .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 1 12 c i Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Multiplying by gives . The sixth roots of unity do not solve the original equation, since substituting either gives three. The other four do, because the extra factor is nonzero. HenceTheir real parts are and their imaginary parts are , giving the four corners in the left Argand diagram below.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2008 Paper 2 5 Solution Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Multiply numerator and denominator by the complex conjugate of :Thus the real part and imaginary part are respectively
The logarithm's argument is , with complex modulus one. The principal complex logarithm is therefore , givingIf denotes all logarithm values rather than the principal branch, they are for : the real part remains zero and the imaginary part changes by integer multiples of . The principal value is the conventional single-valued answer.
Multiply numerator and denominator by the complex conjugate :The real part and imaginary part are therefore
The point has positive real part and negative imaginary part. Its complex modulus is , and its principal complex argument is . Hence
The complex sine function identity follows from the exponential definition of sine. With , its imaginary term vanishes, whileConsequently the real part is and the imaginary part is .
Multiply numerator and denominator by the complex conjugate of the denominator:Squaring gives . Thus the real part and imaginary part are
Write a square root as , with real. Equating the real part and imaginary part of its square gives and . Taking complex modulus also gives . ThereforeSince , the signs agree. The two roots areThe changes both signs together, rather than independently.
Multiply by the complex conjugate of the denominator:Thus the real part and imaginary part are respectively
Multiply numerator and denominator by the complex conjugate of the denominator:Thus the real part and imaginary part are .
The complex modulus is a nonnegative real number. Equality therefore requires itself to be real and nonnegative. Its imaginary part gives , and its real part then gives . Conversely every such point satisfies the equality. Hence the complete solution set isGeometrically this is the closed ray on the real axis starting at .
Expand the defining complex exponential functions:Thus the real part and imaginary part of the hyperbolic cosine are
Put and . Taking the real part of in De Moivre's theorem givesTaking the imaginary parts of the second and fourth powers gives and . HenceThe mixed powers cancel exactly.
Take and select a complex argument for . To specify the complex exponentiation, use . Expanding its exponent givesIts complex logarithm therefore has valuesThe continuous logarithm obtained by retaining the displayed exponent uses . If the outer logarithm is the principal logarithm, choose to put the imaginary part in instead; the real part is unchanged. In particular one cannot generally assert without checking its imaginary part.
The condition on the real part gives , so the required logarithmic spiral has polar coordinatesAs increases, it runs from the negative real axis near radius through , and to the negative real axis at radius . The angle increases by one complete turn. Using the conventional principal argument , the inner negative-axis endpoint is excluded and the outer endpoint is included. The convention reverses those endpoint choices. If both limiting arguments are admitted by the paper's wording, both limiting endpoints are drawn; the interior curve is the same. The origin is never included because the complex logarithm is undefined there.
One turn of the logarithmic spiral, with an enlarged view near the origin
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