Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 2 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A composition series is a subnormal chain whose nontrivial successive quotients are simple. The Jordan–Hölder theorem asserts that any two composition series of a finite group have the same length and the same multiset of simple factors, up to isomorphism. Existence follows by successively choosing maximal proper normal subgroups until the identity is reached.
For uniqueness, induct on the group order. Let be the penultimate terms of two series. If , apply induction to that subgroup and add the common top factor. If , their normality and maximality give . Put . The isomorphism theorems giveBoth are simple. Take any composition series of . Appending to it gives a series for , so induction identifies the factors of the original series inside with the factors of together with . Similarly the factors inside are those of together with . Adding the respective top factors produces the same multiset in both cases. This proves uniqueness, including multiplicities and length.
A normal subgroup of order two is central because its automorphism group is trivial. By Jordan–Hölder, a composition series through leaves the simple quotient . The image of in this quotient is central and hence trivial, since is nonabelian simple. ThusThe symmetric group has trivial group center: conjugation of each transposition by a central permutation must preserve its two-element support, forcing the permutation to fix every point. Since its Jordan–Hölder factors are and , a normal subgroup of order two would equal that trivial group center, a contradiction.
Identify and put in . Its three maximal normal subgroups areThey are the three kernels of nonzero maps from the abelianization to . There is no quotient : a central must map trivially, while has no quotient . The latter follows from its normal subgroups , which can themselves be obtained by intersecting with the simple subgroup and using its trivial centralizer. The complete list of composition series isWithin the two direct factors are the only maximal normal subgroups; within each of the only such subgroup is its copy of . Hence there are exactly four series.
For , put , , andAgain these are exactly the maximal normal subgroups: they are the three cyclic quotient kernels, and there is no simple quotient of the whole product. All series aretogether withTo verify exhaustiveness, has maximal normal subgroups and , and has and . A quotient of a direct product can receive a nontrivial image from only one simple factor, since the images commute and has trivial group center. The remaining maximal-normal possibility is . Its derived subgroup is , because both alternating factors are perfect. A hypothetical quotient would project one alternating factor isomorphically and kill the other, but conjugation by an odd diagonal element induces an outer automorphism on that surviving factor, impossible inside . Odd conjugation is outer because otherwise an odd permutation times an even one would centralize ; a permutation commuting with every three-cycle fixes every three-element support and is the identity. Thus is the only maximal normal subgroup of . Finally the only maximal normal subgroups of are : normal subgroups of a product of two centerless simple groups are products of the factors, as follows by commutating with each factor. This proves exactly eight series and the classification of composition chains in products with S5.
For , commuting with both elementary upper and lower transvections forces a central matrix to be scalar. A scalar has determinant , soIf , characteristic five makes diagonalizable with eigenvalues in . Determinant one rules out one of each, so the unique nonidentity involution is . An index-two subgroup would have order and, by the Cauchy theorem for groups, contain that involution and hence the group center. Its image in would have index two. The simplicity and identification are established by the independent matrix argument in Solution 4; a simple group has no proper index-two subgroup. Therefore has no subgroup of index two.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 23 8 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume the coequalizers from part (b) exist and write them . The underlying arrow of the comparison-adjunction unit isWe first relate it to the monad algebra action. Naturality of , the coequalizer equation and a monad unit law giveIn , is itself a split coequalizer of . Indeed,For an explicit universal-property proof, if satisfies , then obeysIts uniqueness follows by composing any equation with .
Now equalizes and . If it is a coequalizer, then and are coequalizers of the same pair. Their unique comparison map is , since , and is therefore invertible. Conversely, if is invertible, is an isomorphic copy of the coequalizer , so it is a coequalizer too.
The forgetful functor reflects isomorphisms: if an monad algebra morphism has an inverse as an underlying arrow, the equation rearranges to , making that inverse an monad algebra morphism. Thus underlying invertibility here is exactly invertibility of the unit component. For all monad algebras together, the comparison-adjunction unit criterion isEquivalently, the necessary-and-sufficient conditions for a left adjoint with invertible unit are existence of the coequalizers in part (b) and their preservation by . No preservation of arbitrary coequalizers is required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 2 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The special linear group over a finite field consists of the determinant-one invertible matrices over . Counting an ordered basis givesThe determinant map is onto , soA transvection has the form , where , the linear functional is nonzero and . It has determinant one, fixes the hyperplane pointwise, and its displacement has image the line . In particular for is an elementary transvection when .
Row addition is multiplication by such a matrix. Gaussian elimination reduces a determinant-one matrix to diagonal form using row additions and determinant-one pivot exchanges. The latter, and all remaining diagonal factors, are themselves products of transvections: within two coordinates,A diagonal matrix with product of entries one is a product of these two-coordinate diagonal matrices. Thus transvections generate . This generation statement actually holds for every and every finite field; the exclusions in the question are needed for the subsequent simplicity assertion.
Commuting with all elementary matrices forces the group center to consist of scalar matrices with , so its order is . The projective quotient acts faithfully on the one-dimensional subspaces. Its action is two-transitive: send an ordered pair of independent representative vectors to any other pair and adjust the determinant by rescaling a representative without changing its line. Therefore it is primitive.
The Iwasawa simplicity lemma says that in a faithful primitive action, if a point stabilizer has an abelian normal subgroup whose conjugates generate the group, every nontrivial normal subgroup contains the derived subgroup. In particular a nontrivial perfect group satisfying these conditions is simple. No proof of the lemma is required here.
For the point , the subgroupis abelian, is normal in the line stabilizer, and its conjugates contain all transvections. Its image in the projective quotient has the same properties. Perfectness follows explicitly from elementary commutators. If , choose a third index to obtainIf , choose with and set . ThenEvery upper transvection is a commutator, and conjugation gives the lower ones. The group and its projective quotient are perfect. Iwasawa's simplicity lemma now proves
The order of is . Its faithful projective-line action has degree five, so its image is an index-two subgroup of , necessarily . Thus .
For the order is . We construct a faithful degree-five action. In takeThey satisfy and . Their quaternion subgroup projects to a Sylow 2-subgroup . Its projective centralizer is : a lift of a centralizing element conjugates each of to itself or its negative. In the matrix basis , those four sign choices each leave a one-dimensional space, and determinant one leaves just its two quaternion representatives. The matrixhas order three and cyclically permutes the three nonidentity elements of . The normalizer quotient embeds in and has order dividing both and , so it has order exactly three. Hence and there are five Sylow 2-subgroups. Their conjugation action is nontrivial and transitive, and simplicity makes it faithful. Its image again has order in , proving
Finally,In characteristic two an involutory matrix has form with . Its Jordan blocks have size at most two. A projective involution in has a unique involutory lift to : its square is central, and squaring is an automorphism of the scalar center of order three, allowing a unique scalar adjustment. The nonidentity Jordan form in dimension three is only . This GL-class remains a single SL-class, since the centralizer contains of every determinant . Thus has one involution class.
In there are two forms, and , so there are two involution classes. More concretely, the first group's single class has elements, counting image line, kernel plane through it and nonzero map between the quotient and image. The rank-one class in dimension four over has elements; the rank-two class has . Isomorphisms preserve conjugacy classes, so
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 3 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be a multiplicative subset, containing one and closed under products. On , useThe relation is reflexive and symmetric. For transitivity, if and , then multiplication and addition give . Thus it is an equivalence relation. Write for the equivalence class. The localization of a ring has operationsThey are well defined. For example, replacing by in its sum with gives cross-numerator difference , and in its product with gives . The same annihilating element kills both differences. Replacing the other input works identically. Associativity and distributivity then follow by putting all terms over the product of their denominators and using the ring identities in . Addition and multiplication are commutative, with identities and , and the displayed negative is an additive inverse. Hence is a commutative ring. If , the fraction relation identifies all elements, producing the zero ring.
The canonical ring homomorphism , , makes each a unit, with inverse . The universal property of localization states that any ring homomorphism sending into the units factors uniquely through . Define the factor byIf , then is invertible, so , proving well-definedness. The fraction operations prove that is a ring homomorphism. Its value is forced by , so it is unique. This property characterizes the localization up to a unique compatible isomorphism.
For a prime ideal , its complement is a multiplicative subset, and the localization at a prime ideal is . Fractions with numerator outside are units; those with numerator in form the unique maximal ideal . Thus it is a local ring.
For the nilpotent question, suppose and . Its annihilator is a proper ideal, so it lies in some maximal ideal . The fraction criterion says in only if for some , which is impossible by the choice of . Thus is a nonzero nilpotent element in that localization. This proves reducedness is detected by prime localizations: if every prime localization is reduced, has no nonzero nilpotent elements.
For the domain question take with a field. Its only prime ideals are and : a prime ideal must contain one of the orthogonal idempotents , and the corresponding quotient is . Localizing at makes invertible and kills , giving ; similarly . But with both factors nonzero. Therefore domain prime localizations do not force to be an integral domain, as expressed by domain prime localizations do not imply a domain.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 3 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An algebraic line bundle over is an invertible module: a finitely generated projective module such that for every prime ideal . Define the Picard group of a ring as the set of its isomorphism classes, withThe tensor product of modules of two finite projective modules is finite projective: write each as a direct summand of a finite free module and tensor the two decompositions. Localization gives , so this multiplication stays within the set of invertible modules. It is well defined on isomorphism classes. The associativity and symmetry isomorphisms of the tensor product give associativity and commutativity, and is the identity.
Let be the dual module. A finite direct-summand presentation shows that is finite projective and that localization commutes with this dual. Since is free of rank one, so is . The evaluation homomorphismis an isomorphism after every prime localization. Its kernel and cokernel are therefore zero, by exactness of localization and localization detects zero elements for modules. Thus , proving that is an abelian group.
For a ring homomorphism , tensoring a split presentation gives , so is finite projective. For put . Every element of becomes a unit in , andThis proves base change of invertible modules. Moreover, the canonical mapis an isomorphism, with inverse . It shows that is a group homomorphism. Identity maps induce the identity, and for , the associativity isomorphism proves composition compatibility. Therefore is a covariant functor to abelian groups.
The polynomial ring is a principal ideal domain by division with remainder. A submodule of a finite free module over a principal ideal domain is free: induct on the ambient rank, project onto the first coordinate, and note that the image is a principal ideal, hence either zero or a free rank-one module. This gives a split exact sequence with that image as quotient; the kernel lies in a free module of one smaller rank, completing the induction. A finite projective module is such a submodule, and so is free. An invertible module has rank one after passing to the fraction field, so its free rank is exactly one. Hence every algebraic line bundle over is trivial and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 3 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Here the usual homological algebra convention is that the right-exact functor is additive. Module categories have enough projective modules, because any module is a quotient of a free module. Choose a projective resolutionApply to the unaugmented chain complex and define the left derived functors byAdditivity ensures that preserves zero maps, sums of maps and homotopy identities, so the transformed differentials still compose to zero.
For a module homomorphism , lift it to a chain map between chosen projective resolutions. In degree zero, lift through using projectivity of . In each higher degree, the already constructed map lands in the next kernel; exactness of and projectivity of supply the next lift. Any two lifts are chain homotopic: their degree-zero difference lands in , so it lifts to . Inductively lift the remaining difference after subtracting the preceding homotopy term. This givesApplying preserves this identity, so the lifts induce the same homology map. Identity lifts and composable lifts show that is a functor. Comparison lifts between two resolutions over the identity of are inverse up to chain homotopy; hence the construction is independent of the chosen resolution up to its canonical natural isomorphism.
Right exactness identifies naturally with . For a projective module , the length-zero resolution gives for . For a short exact sequence , the horseshoe lemma builds a degreewise split short exact sequence of projective resolutions. Concretely, lift the projective generators covering into and combine them with generators covering ; repeat on the kernels. The middle projective term in each degree is the direct sum of the two outer ones. An additive functor preserves these split sequences, and lifting cycles, taking their differentials and returning to the subcomplex produces the connecting maps inThis is the natural long exact derived-functor sequence. In particular, if has projective, then for , and . These are dimension-shifting formulas. Positive degrees can be killed by the surjection . If is exact, it preserves every resolution's exactness and all its positive left derived functors vanish. Conversely, if vanishes on all modules, the displayed long exact sequence makes exact. A natural transformation between additive right-exact functors induces transformations on the left derived functors by applying it termwise.
For extension of scalars , these derived functors are the Tor functors . When and is a non-zero-divisor, there is the length-one free resolutionAlthough the construction above resolves , one may instead use this resolution of . To justify that calculation, tensor a free resolution of with the two-term resolution of to form a double complex. Taking homology first along the resolution of leaves ; taking it first along the resolution of leaves . The free terms preserve exactness under tensoring. The double complex is first-quadrant with finitely many terms on each total diagonal, so both filtrations compute the same total homology. This proves the required balancing directly.
The kernel and cokernel of multiplication by now give Tor for a principal non-zero-divisor quotient:These are naturally -modules. For , the degree-one group is zero; for , multiplication by is zero and both degrees zero and one are . Thus, when , degree one explicitly detects the failure of this base-change functor to be exact.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 3 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose a surjection . Since is a Noetherian ring, a finite free module is a Noetherian module, and its kernel is a finitely generated module. Choose a finite free surjection and repeat. This constructs a resolution by finitely generated free moduleswhose terms are, in particular, finitely generated projective modules. It may be infinite; the request is finite generation of every term, not finite length.
Now suppose the nonzero finitely generated module has finite projective dimension . For , its th syzygy in this free resolution is projective. Indeed, dimension shifting along the successive kernel sequences givesfor every module . The vanishing follows by computing the latter Ext functor from any length- projective resolution. Vanishing of makes every short exact sequence ending in split: apply the long exact sequence of Ext groups to a free surjection onto to lift its identity. Thus is a projective module. It is finitely generated by the preceding construction. Truncating giveswith every term finite projective.
Apply the Hom functor and write . At the top degree,If this group were zero, would be surjective. The dual module of a finite projective module is finite projective, so this surjection has a section . Finite projective modules identify with their double dual modules: the evaluation map is an isomorphism for a finite free module and passes to its direct summands. Dualizing therefore gives . Hence splits, and is projective. Replacing the last two terms by this quotient shortens the projective resolution to length , contradicting minimality. This proves top Ext detects finite projective dimension:For , is a nonzero finite projective module and embeds as a summand of . Some coordinate projection restricts nontrivially to , proving as required.
For infinite projective dimension, take the dual-number algebra and . Multiplication by has image and kernel both equal to , giving the periodic resolution over dual numbersApplying makes every differential zero, so for every . A finite projective resolution would force all sufficiently high Ext functors to vanish. Thus .
The finite-generation hypothesis is essential if the middle sentence's “a module” is interpreted as an unrestricted new module. A concrete vanishing top Ext without finite generation occurs for and . This Noetherian ring has the exact free presentationInjectivity of follows by examining the largest index of a finitely supported input, since is a non-zero-divisor. For exactness in the middle, use the relations to move a finite sum to its largest index ; its remaining coefficient is , which is zero precisely when its image in is zero. The map onto is surjective because every Laurent series has a lower bound on its exponents.
Applying gives on products the map . It is surjective: for any , set . These are well-defined formal power series, because each coefficient receives only finitely many contributions, and . Consequently . But : the image of every must lie in , since it is divisible by every power of . A nonzero projective module is a summand of a free module and therefore has a nonzero coordinate map to . Thus is not projective, while its displayed resolution has length one. In particular,The nonvanishing conclusion proved above retains the finitely generated introduced at the start of the question.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 1 5 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Choose a real vector subspace complementary to , so . The smooth maphas differential at , an isomorphism. The inverse function theorem makes a diffeomorphism from a sufficiently small product neighborhood onto an open neighborhood of the identity in .
There is a neighborhood of zero in in which implies . Otherwise choose nonzero tending to zero with . A normalized subsequence tends to a unit vector . The limit directions of a closed subgroup from part (a) give , contradicting . Shrink the product neighborhood so that this exclusion holds throughout its first factor.
If , then by the definition of , and hence . The exclusion forces . Conversely, every belongs to . Thus the local product coordinates for a closed subgroup identify near the identity exactly with the smooth coordinate slice .
Left translation by each element of gives the same description around that element, so is an embedded submanifold of in its subspace topology. The multiplication and inversion maps of restrict to smooth maps on this embedded submanifold, making a Lie group and an embedded Lie subgroup. Its tangent space at the identity is , because is the identity on this coordinate slice. It remains closed by hypothesis. This proves the closed-subgroup theorem, with no prior smoothness assumption on .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 17 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The chain map identity gives, for ,Thus is a chain complex; it is a sign convention for the algebraic mapping cone.
Put with differential . Inclusion into the second summand and projection onto the first give a short exact sequence of chain complexesIts connecting homomorphism is particularly explicit. If is a chain cycle, lift it to and take its boundary. The second component is , so the long exact sequence in homology containsIf every vanishes, the exact sequence makes every both injective and surjective. Conversely, if every is an isomorphism, the map has zero image, while has zero image and zero kernel; hence .
One can also see the converse directly on chain cycles. If is a chain cycle, then and . Injectivity of the induced map on homology gives . Subtracting the chain boundary leaves with . Surjectivity of the induced map on homology lets us choose a chain cycle and such thatThen . Thus every chain cycle in is a chain boundary, proving the mapping cone acyclicity criterion:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 17 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For each prime number , reduction of the mapping cone is the mapping cone of the reduced chain map. Part (a), whose proof works over any coefficient ring, therefore givesEvery is a finitely generated free abelian group. Multiplication by consequently gives a short exact sequence of chain complexesThe neighboring terms and in its long exact sequence in homology both vanish. Thus multiplication by on is an isomorphism for every prime number .
The group is a finitely generated abelian group, since it is a quotient of a subgroup of . Write it, using the Fundamental theorem of finitely generated abelian groups, aswith finite. If , multiplication by any prime number is not surjective. If , choose a prime number dividing its order; multiplication by that prime is not injective. Both contradict the preceding isomorphism. Hence for every .
Applying part (a) integrally now proves the stronger natural conclusionThis is prime coefficient detection of quasi-isomorphisms. The finite-generation hypothesis is used precisely when excluding nonzero groups on which every prime acts invertibly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 17 4 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work with coefficients . For , the mod-two cohomology ring of real projective space and the Künneth theorem givewhere all three generators have degree one. Any induced map on cohomology has , with . By naturality of the cup product, the only possible term in top degree isAll other terms vanish because their exponent of or exceeds . Butis even for every . Thus the displayed top-degree induced map on cohomology is zero for every .
Both top-degree homology groups are one-dimensional over , and their dual cohomology groups pair with them nondegenerately. Naturality of this evaluation makes dual to , so is also zero and cannot be an isomorphism. This is the mod-two degree obstruction for equal projective factors. ConsequentlyIf zero is included among the allowed values, is a point and the unique map is an isomorphism on . In that convention, the only value is .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 21 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The general adjoint functor theorem says that, for a functor between locally small categories, with a complete category, has a left adjoint if and only if it preserves small limits and satisfies the solution-set condition. The solution-set condition means that for each there is a set of arrows such that every factors as for some and some .
Here is the smallness argument behind the theorem. A complete category that is locally small and has a weakly initial set has an initial object. Form the product in a category . It is weakly initial, since a projection followed by a chosen arrow gives an arrow . Take the simultaneous equalizer of all endomorphisms of with ; the family is a set by local smallness. The object is also weakly initial. For parallel arrows , take their equalizer and a map . Since is an endomorphism of , the defining property of gives . Cancellation of the monomorphism gives . Thus the monomorphism has a right inverse and is an isomorphism, so . Existence of arrows out of was already established, proving the initial-object lemma for complete categories with a weakly initial set.
If preserves small categorical limits, the comma category is complete: take the limiting object in , and use preservation to assemble the arrows from . It is locally small, and the solution-set condition provides a weakly initial set. Its initial object is an arrow with a natural bijectionFor a morphism , define by . Uniqueness proves functoriality and naturality, giving a left adjoint . Conversely, a right adjoint preserves categorical limits, because applying the adjunction converts a limiting cone over a diagram into the corresponding limiting cone of hom-sets. Its adjunction unit at is a singleton solution set. This proves both directions of the general adjoint functor theorem.
Apply it to the inclusion , where is the full subcategory of compact Hausdorff spaces. A small product in a category of compact Hausdorff spaces is again compact Hausdorff by the Tychonoff theorem. An equalizer of two continuous functions into a Hausdorff space is closed, hence compact Hausdorff. Products and equalizers construct all small categorical limits, and the inclusion preserves these constructions. Both categories are locally small.
Fix a topological space and a continuous function into a compact Hausdorff space. The closure is compact Hausdorff and has a dense subset of cardinality at most . The permitted cardinal estimate givesFor , use . Choose a set of representatives of all compact Hausdorff topologies on underlying sets of cardinality at most this bound, and all continuous functions from to those representatives. Every factors through one of them, using the inclusion . This is the solution-set condition. Consequently the inclusion of compact Hausdorff spaces has a left adjoint, the compact Hausdorff reflection:The universal arrow has dense image: factoring it through its closed image and applying uniqueness supplies an inverse to that image inclusion. It need not be an embedding when is not sufficiently separated; the assertion is a compact Hausdorff reflection, rather than a claim that every topological space embeds in a compact Hausdorff space.
For completeness, the alternative Special adjoint functor theorem can be proved from the same initial-object argument. Its limit form assumes that is complete, locally small and well-powered, with a small cogenerating family ; then , with locally small, has a left adjoint precisely when it preserves small limits. To prove sufficiency, start with and intersect all subobjects through which factors after applying . Well-poweredness makes this a small intersection of subobjects, and preservation of limits gives a smallest supporting object . For maps , equality makes their equalizer another supporting subobject. Minimality forces that equalizer to be invertible, so . Thereforeis an injective function. The evaluation embedding into cogenerator products embeds in , where is the realized subset of the fixed set . There are only a set of choices of these subsets, only a set of subobjects of each resulting product, and only a set of arrows from to each -image. They give a solution set, so the already proved general adjoint functor theorem applies. Necessity is again preservation of limits by a right adjoint. For , monomorphisms are embeddings onto closed subspaces, and is a coseparator because continuous functions to it separate points. Thus the Special adjoint functor theorem gives the same reflection directly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 21 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A balanced category is one in which every morphism that is both a monomorphism and an epimorphism is an isomorphism. A strong monomorphism is a monomorphism right orthogonal to all epimorphisms: whenever is epic and , satisfy , there is a unique with and . A regular monomorphism is an equalizer of some parallel pair of morphisms. Its equalizer property supplies the indicated lift after epic cancellation, so every regular monomorphism is strong.
If every monomorphism is strong and is also epic, apply strongness to the square whose left and right sides are both , with horizontal arrows and . The lift satisfies and . Thus is invertible and the category is balanced.
Conversely, suppose the category is balanced and has pullbacks in a category. Given the lifting square above, form with projections , . The pair gives with , . The pullback of the monomorphism is monic, so is monic. It is also epic: implies , hence because is epic. Balancedness makes invertible. Now satisfies both required equations, and monicity of proves uniqueness. Hence in a balanced category with pullbacks, every monomorphism is strong.
For the finite example, choose a strong monomorphism that is not regular. It is not an isomorphism, since an isomorphism is the equalizer of an identical pair. It is not epic either, since an epic strong monomorphism is invertible by the first argument. Consequently there are distinct arrows with . Since is not the equalizer of this pair, there is a map with that does not factor through . Monicity rules out failure of uniqueness, so failure of existence is the only possible failure of its equalizer property.
Define to have four formally distinct objects and exactly the following six nonidentity arrows:Their only nontrivial composites areThere are no longer composable strings of nonidentity arrows, so these rules define an associative category. Sending to , respectively, and the six arrows to , defines a functor. It is a faithful functor: every hom-set has at most one arrow except , and their images are distinct. Faithfulness does not require the four image objects to be distinct.
The map is monic, by direct inspection of arrows into . Neither nor is epic, since the distinct pair agrees after either. Every other nonidentity arrow has target and is epic, because there is only one arrow out of . A lifting square against whose left side is one of these epimorphisms would require an arrow , which does not exist. Squares whose left side is an identity have the evident unique lift. Thus is a strong monomorphism.
It is not a regular monomorphism. The only distinct parallel pair out of is , and equalizes it but has no factorization through , since there is no arrow . An identical pair has as its equalizer and cannot have the noninvertible as its equalizer. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 13 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Put . There is an explicit isomorphism from the principal open subset to the affine algebraic setIts inverse is projection, and both maps are regular maps. The coordinate ring isby the universal property of localization. Since regular functions on an affine variety are its coordinate ring, this proves the natural -algebra isomorphism
Now . A regular function on determines one element of the function field , and its restrictions belong to and . Conversely, elements of their intersection glue because they agree on . ThusIf a reduced fraction has denominator dividing a power of and also a power of , unique factorization makes its denominator a unit. Therefore puncturing the plane does not change its ring of global regular functions:If were an affine variety, its inclusion would correspond to the identity isomorphism . The equivalence between affine varieties and their coordinate rings would make an isomorphism, contradicting the missing origin. Hence is not affine. This illustrates regular functions on the punctured affine plane: the coordinate ring alone does not recover a nonaffine variety.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 13 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the dense standard affine charts. Their product iswhich is also a dense affine chart of . The identification of these charts gives a birational isomorphism between the two projective varieties.
To distinguish them, calculate their divisor class groups explicitly. Let be a coordinate hyperplane. Its complement is , whose coordinate ring is a unique factorization domain. Any Weil divisor on restricts on this chart to a principal Weil divisor; subtract that principal Weil divisor on , leaving a Weil divisor supported on . Thus generates . If , then has zero Weil divisor on . A reduced fraction in a unique factorization domain with zero orders at every prime Weil divisor must be a unit, so . It follows that . We have proved
In the product, let and be coordinate hyperplanes in the factors and putThe complement of is , again with a unique factorization domain as its coordinate ring. The same restriction-and-subtraction argument says that generate the divisor class group. Ifthen on that affine chart has neither zeros nor poles along any prime Weil divisor. Unique factorization makes a unit of , hence a constant. It follows that . ThereforeBoth spaces are smooth varieties, so their divisor class groups also equal their Picard groups. An isomorphism preserves the divisor class group; and are not isomorphic. Thus the spaces are birational but not isomorphic. The assumptions ensure that both boundary prime Weil divisors actually occur.