Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 53 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The image of the full interval under the tent map is . Since , this image contains the critical point zero and the right endpoint one; its next image is again . Moreover, any interval with lies inside the image of . Thus the core interval of an expanding tent map isEvery point outside enters after one iterate and then stays there. For there are no points of the domain outside .
To prove interval exactness of a tent-map core, first take a nondegenerate closed interval and put . Each is an interval. If does not straddle zero, the corresponding branch is affine with slope of magnitude , so . If it straddles zero, its image has right endpoint one andIf both and contain zero, then contains , whence . Otherwise at most one of these two steps folds across the critical point. Consequently, unless the full core has already been reached,Since , indefinite failure to reach would give intervals of unbounded length inside an interval of length . This is impossible, proving . For an interval with open endpoints, apply the argument to any nondegenerate closed subinterval inside it; its image already covers , while the image of the original interval cannot leave .
Now let be any nonempty relatively open subset of and choose a closed nondegenerate . Some maps onto , so there are points with and . Therefore and . The intermediate value theorem yields with . This is a periodic point of , of period dividing . Every such contains one, so the periodic points are dense in the whole core .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 53 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the interval exactness of a tent-map core from the preceding part. Choose two separated nondegenerate closed intervals inside . There are integers with . Taking works for both, because :Within each , the continuous function attains both endpoint levels and . Choose a segment between those levels, reversing its orientation if necessary. Starting from a point at level , take the first point at level one, and then the last point at level before it. Between these two points, continuity and the first-passage choice give , with all intermediate levels attained. The interior of that segment therefore satisfies . The intervals are disjoint and lie inside .
Thus interval exactness produces a horseshoe:This is a horseshoe for an interval map for an iterate of , proving Glendinning chaos for every . The proof does not require the same horseshoe iterate to work for every parameter.