Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 119 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For an adjunction with unit and counit of an adjunction , the monad induced by an adjunction is , with multiplication . Its Eilenberg-Moore comparison functor isHere is the Eilenberg-Moore category. If has reflexive coequalizers, the Left adjoint to the Eilenberg-Moore comparison functor is defined on an algebra for a monad bywhere the last arrow is a coequalizer. The parallel pair has common section , so it is a reflexive pair. The coequalizer property induces on algebra morphisms and gives .
Starting with , iterate this construction: if , put and let be its comparison. The monadic length is the least for which is an equivalence of categories. Thus an equivalence has length zero, and an already monadic adjunction whose right adjoint is not an equivalence has length one. The assumed reflexive coequalizers ensure the needed left adjoints; in the example we identify them explicitly.
For the nested partial unary operation category , writeFor the empty list of operations, take and . We use positive chain indices for new points, so the index zero already labels the copy of . This makes the free-object hint independent of the convention for .
For , the free extension of nested partial unary operations has underlying setKeep the old operations on the zero layer. On new points define onlyand leave every , , undefined there. Define the new top operation byand leave it undefined elsewhere. These are precisely the permitted domains: the first unary operation on every new point moves it, so none of the higher operations is defined there. When , take with . In either case the unit is .
For , let its operations be . Any morphism extends uniquely toThe value is defined because preserves the previous fixed-point equations. The extension respects the top operation at old fixed points and respects the first operation along each new chain; there are no other defined operations on those chains to check. Uniqueness follows from the same forced formulas. For the formula is . These extensions are natural and proveOn a morphism the free functor sends to .
Crucially, the top operation of has no fixed points: its defined old values move to new points, and it has no defined new values when ; for it is the shift. The next free extension therefore adds no points and equips the object with an everywhere-undefined next operation. The same remains true at every subsequent free extension. Hence, for , the composite left adjoint has the same first operations and underlying set as .
This agreement includes the monad structure, not just its underlying endofunctor. The units are the same zero-layer inclusions. The composite counit on an object of is the same forced extension formula, depending only on its first operations. Applying the composite forgetful functor therefore gives the same multiplication . Thus
Next prove creation of the required split coequalizers. Suppose are arrows in and their images have a split coequalizer in . Choose the splitting orientationwith , morphisms in . Denote the top operations on by . For defineSince preserves the lower operations, and this value exists. For , , so preservation by givesThus respects the top operation. The splitting and also show that this is the unique operation on its prescribed domain for which is a morphism. For all these domains mean the whole underlying set.
If is a morphism equalizing , its unique factor in satisfies, on ,where is the top operation of . Hence is a morphism. This proves creates coequalizers of -split pairs.
Moreover, reflects isomorphisms: an isomorphism of the first operations reflects their fixed-point conditions, hence the domain of the next operation; the inverse of a bijective top-operation-preserving map then preserves that operation too. The Beck monadicity theorem now givesUnder this equivalence, the first Eilenberg-Moore comparison functor for the long composite is exactly forgetting all operations after the st: its algebra structure is the top-operation extension formula already computed. Repeating the argument identifies its monadic tower with the successive categoriesAt each stage the corresponding comparison has the remaining composite of the already constructed free extensions as a left adjoint.
No earlier stage can be an equivalence of categories. For , take the two-point set with its first operations all identities. One extension to has every later operation the identity; another has its st operation interchange the two points, and all subsequent operations undefined. Both have the same image in , but the identity function between those images is not a morphism between the extensions. Thus forgetting from to is not full. The final comparison at is an equivalence. This proves the monadic tower for nested partial unary operations has
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 119 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
First supply the unlettered preliminaries. Assuming the relevant categorical limits and colimits exist, limits of shape commute with colimits of shape when for every functor the canonical mapis an isomorphism. To construct this map, for each compose the limiting projections with the th colimit injections. They form an -cone, giving a map into the right-hand categorical limit; these maps form a -cocone, giving the comparison. This specifies the actual comparison required for commutation of limits and colimits.
A group regarded as a one-object category has its group elements as arrows, with composition given by multiplication. A functor from it to the Category of sets is a group action. For a -set , a cone consists of a map into whose values are fixed by every . Hence its categorical limit is the set of fixed points of a group action. A cocone is a map out of constant on orbits of a group action; its universal quotient is the orbit set. Thus
A diagram in a category is a set with commuting group actions of and . Its limit–colimit comparison isCommutation makes stable under . The comparison is always injective: if two -fixed representatives are in the same -orbit in , they already determine the same orbit in .
For surjectivity under the finite coprime hypotheses, let be an -orbit fixed setwise by . Its size divides by the orbit-stabilizer theorem. Since the group actions commute and is transitive on , all -orbits inside have the same size : the bijection identifies the -orbits of and . Thus divides , while the orbit-stabilizer theorem also gives . The orders are coprime, so . Every point in is therefore -fixed, and lies in the image of . We have proved commutation of fixed points and orbit quotients for coprime groups:The bijection is the canonical comparison and is natural in the set with commuting group actions, so it proves the requested commutation of limits and colimits in the Category of sets.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 119 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let and be the two quotient homomorphisms. On the underlying set , define the commuting group actionsThe inverse is essential for the right multiplication formula to define a left group action: . Left and right multiplication commute.
Because is onto and is nontrivial, there is no fixed point of a group action for : if every , cancellation would make every element of the identity. Thus . Because is onto, the -action is transitive and is a singleton. The induced -action on that singleton is trivial. Consequently the comparison iswhich is not an isomorphism. This proves the common quotient obstruction to commutation of fixed points and orbits, so limits of shape do not commute with colimits of shape in the Category of sets.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 3 1E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
If generate the module , define the R-module homomorphismThis is a surjection by the definition of generation. Conversely, an R-module homomorphism that is a surjection sends the standard basis vectors of the free module to a generating family, since every vector in is their linear combination. ThusThis is the finite generation as a quotient of a finite free module criterion. The zero module causes no exception: it is generated by the empty family, or by one zero element.
For the requested example, take , with the usual integer scalar action. Reducing both coordinates modulo two gives an R-module homomorphism that is a surjection with nonzero kernel , so it is not an isomorphism. Every image of is a cyclic module, whereas every element of has additive order at most two and has four elements. Hence admits no such surjection from .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 10F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The dual space here is the algebraic dual space , consisting of every linear functional; no topology or boundedness is imposed. For a basis , define . These are linear functionals satisfying . Evaluating on each gives , proving linear independence. Conversely, for every ,This proves spanning and hence proves, without assuming a dimension theorem, that the dual basis is a basis and .
The canonical bidual evaluation map isIts definition makes no choice of basis and it is linear. If , one coordinate functional is nonzero on , so is injective. For any , choose . Expanding in the dual basis gives , proving surjection explicitly. Thus is an isomorphism.
If is any basis of , its dual basis in exists by the result just proved. Put . These vectors form a basis of , and . Every basis of the finite-dimensional dual is a dual basis, of a uniquely determined basis of .
For a separating subspace of an algebraic dual , choose a basis of . The linear map is injective because separates nonzero vectors. The rank-nullity theorem implies ; but implies . HenceThe zero-dimensional case also has this conclusion.
For , the monomials form an infinite basis, each polynomial using only finitely many of them. The map identifies with all real sequences, because any sequence defines . The linear subspace of finitely supported sequences is proper (it excludes ) and separating (one coefficient functional detects any nonzero polynomial). Thus
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 4 11E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain applies in particular to a Euclidean domain : every finitely generated module has an isomorphismwith each nonzero and a nonunit. The rank of a free module and the invariant factors of a finitely generated module are unique up to multiplication by units; empty sums are allowed. This is the classification theorem being used, without a proof of that theorem.
The rational canonical form theorem states that for a linear operator on a finite-dimensional vector space over any field , there are unique monic nonconstant polynomials such that some basis givesHere, for , the companion matrix has ones on its subdiagonal and last column . The empty matrix covers a zero-dimensional space. Two linear operators have matrix similarity exactly when they have the same invariant factors of a linear operator.
For the proof, make an -module by . It is a finitely generated module, since a vector-space basis also generates it as a module. It is a torsion module: the powers of have linear dependence in the finite-dimensional space , so some nonzero polynomial annihilates every vector. Because is a Euclidean domain, the classification theorem givesThere is no free summand, since a nonzero free module over is not a torsion module. Choose monic generators of the ideals. On , the classes of form an -basis by polynomial division. Multiplication by is exactly in that basis, proving existence. Uniqueness in the classification theorem proves uniqueness of the rational canonical form. Finally, an -module isomorphism is precisely an invertible -linear map intertwining the operators, establishing the assertion about matrix similarity. In particular the characteristic polynomial is and the minimal polynomial is for nonzero .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 102 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For the finite-dimensional Lie algebra representation specified in the PDF, a Lie-invariant bilinear form satisfiesThe dual Lie algebra representation has action , so the map defined by is an intertwining operator. If is irreducible and , its kernel is zero. Since have equal finite dimension, is an isomorphism, and is a nondegenerate bilinear form.
For , the composition is a representation endomorphism. Over an algebraically closed field, the Schur lemma makes it scalar, provingTransposing gives another Lie-invariant bilinear form. For , write ; transposing twice gives . In field characteristic different from two, this means or . Thus the form is a symmetric bilinear form or an alternating bilinear form, respectively. The zero form has both properties. In the second case forces , using the same characteristic assumption.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 102 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let be a four-dimensional symplectic vector space. The symplectic contraction of an exterior square splits into its five-dimensional primitive exterior square and the invariant line spanned by the inverse symplectic bivector . Choose . Exterior multiplication defines a symmetric bilinear form on by ; it is symmetric because both degrees are two. In a symplectic basis, , and , so the restriction to is nondegenerate.
The symplectic Lie algebra preserves this form, giving a homomorphism . It is injective: an element acting trivially on also acts trivially on , hence on all of . In a four-vector basis, the identities first force every off-diagonal coefficient of to vanish, then force for every pair. Over these equalities imply .
Both Lie algebras have dimension ten: and . The injective map is therefore an isomorphism, proving the exceptional isomorphism between sp4 and so5:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 113 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Take the dual numbers over any field , let , and let send to zero. Its kernel is the nonzero ideal , but both spectra of rings have exactly one point: every prime ideal contains the nilpotent element , and the only prime of is . Consequently the induced map is a homeomorphism for the Zariski topology, although it is not an isomorphism of schemes:More generally, quotienting by a nilpotent ideal gives a nilpotent thickening with unchanged underlying topology. The structure sheaf retains information that the topology alone cannot recover.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 114 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use integer coefficients. The mapping-torus homology from Mayer–Vietoris works for every continuous map , without assuming that the mapping torus is a fiber bundle. Project to the time circle and choose two open arcs, one containing the seam and one away from it. The inverse image of the seam arc is a mapping cylinder neighborhood with a deformation retraction to its target copy of ; the inverse image of the other arc is a product with a deformation retraction to . Their intersection has two components, each with a deformation retraction to . Label the upper component first. With the convention that the second inclusion in the Mayer–Vietoris sequence has a minus sign, its homology map isIndeed, the upper component includes into the seam neighborhood by the identity, while retracting the lower component across the seam applies . Put and , and replace target coordinates by . The map becomes . Negating gives a direct sum of and an isomorphism. Canceling the latter summands in the long exact sequence yieldsIn particular, there is a short exact sequenceNo splitting of this short exact sequence is assumed at this stage.
For the torus, take the coordinate loops and as the basis of . Their lifts to have endpoint displacements . Applying changes those displacements to its columns, soThis also follows from the identification of the first homology group with the abelianization of the fundamental group. The Künneth theorem gives , with generator the product orientation class. If are the dual degree-one cohomology classes, then evaluates to one on this generator, andThus the degree-two homology map is multiplication by , as in homology of an integer torus endomorphism. The claim that the torus map is a homeomorphism requires to be a unimodular matrix, equivalently an integer inverse or ; nonsingularity over alone would only give a covering map of finite degree. The particular matrix here is unimodular.
For this matrix, andIts kernel is zero and its Smith normal form is , so its cokernel is . The maps on and are zero. Substituting into the short exact sequences, and splitting the degree-one extension because its quotient is free, gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 114 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The real tautological line bundle has total space and projection . On the open chart , the vector is a continuous nowhere-zero section of a vector bundle, independent of the representative of . The explicit local trivialization iswith inverse . Both maps are continuous and linear on each fiber. The charts cover the base, proving the existence of the required local trivializations.
Let be a rank- vector bundle oriented over a commutative ring , with . An -orientation is a coherent choice of generator of each fiber's top relative cohomology, or equivalently a Thom class . The Thom isomorphism theorem identifies with by . The disk bundle retracts to , and the relative-to-absolute map becomes multiplication by the Euler class . The pair's long exact sequence therefore becomes the Gysin sequence of a sphere bundle:With real coefficients, the bundle must be oriented in the usual sense. For the computation here use , over which every real vector bundle is oriented, including the nonorientable real tautological line bundle when .
The unit sphere bundle of is : a unit vector determines its line. Put . For , the pullback is an isomorphism, so the next connecting homomorphism is zero and multiplication by is injective on . Since the sphere's cohomology vanishes strictly between degrees zero and , exactness makes multiplication by an isomorphism for , and injective for . For these assertions also use the just-noted vanishing of the connecting homomorphism from .
The standard -dimensional CW complex structure of Real projective space gives for . Consequently the segment makes at most one-dimensional. The preceding injectivity makes it exactly one-dimensional, generated by . This includes ; is a point separately. We have derived the multiplication, not just the dimensions:
An odd map between spheres descends to . The odd maps pull back the real tautological line bundle argument gives : with a unit vector the fiber map is , unchanged when is replaced by . Naturality of the first Stiefel–Whitney class gives . If , the relation would imply in a ring where this power is nonzero. Hence . The case is immediate, and the same argument rules out .
For the map with separate oddness, pass to . Let be the degree-one classes from its two domain factors and the target class. There is an isomorphismgiven on fibers by ; flipping either unit representative leaves this map well defined. The First Stiefel–Whitney class of a tensor product of real line bundles gives . By the Künneth theorem,Pulling back shows that . The two end monomials already vanish, while every interior monomial , , is a distinct nonzero basis element. Therefore all interior binomial coefficients in row are even. To identify such rows, write . In repeated squaring gives . If has at least two elements, the coefficient of is one and its exponent is strictly between zero and , a contradiction. Thus is a power of two, as in binomial coefficients with even interior terms, andThis is the necessary cohomological obstruction to separately odd sphere multiplication; it does not assert existence in every dimension of this form.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 114 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use coefficients throughout. Write on Complex projective space and on Real projective space. We use the standard cohomology ring of complex projective space , with , and the real projective calculation from the preceding solution. The complex projective calculation follows, for example, from its one cell in each even dimension together with the fact that transverse projective hyperplanes represent the powers of ; such hyperplanes have one intersection point.
For the standard inclusion , the restricted complex tautological line is . As a real vector bundle it is , whose total Stiefel–Whitney class is . The Stiefel–Whitney class of the underlying real bundle of a complex line identifies its degree-two class with its First Chern class reduced modulo two. Passing to the dual line defining changes only a sign, which disappears modulo two. Thus mod-two restriction from complex to real projective space gives . In particular the answer for dimension two is the ring mapIt sends to , is an isomorphism in degree two, and sends to zero.
Now assume and put , , , with inclusions and . The real dimensions are and , respectively. A tubular neighborhood and excision identify the cohomology of with that of the normal disk bundle relative to its sphere bundle. Every real normal bundle is oriented over , so the Thom isomorphism theorem givesUnder this identification the relative-to-absolute map is the cohomological Gysin map of an embedding . The exact sequence of the pair is thereforeHere denotes the ordinary connecting homomorphism followed by the inverse of the isomorphism supplied by the Thom isomorphism theorem.
To compute , use mod-two Poincare duality and its evaluation formulaFor , take and . The right side is . Since the target group is generated by and , this provesOdd-degree classes have zero image because has no odd-degree cohomology. Exactness now givesFor precision, below degree the restriction map is an isomorphism. In degree the next map is , an isomorphism, so the complement group is zero. In even degrees , , the preceding is an isomorphism and the following odd-degree is zero; consequently is an isomorphism. The intervening odd groups and the top group vanish.
It remains to establish multiplication. Put . Since , exactness gives . Choose with , which is possible by the just-computed isomorphism. Naturality of the relative cup product, and the module property of the Thom isomorphism theorem, giveThus for . Each class is nonzero and generates its upper-half group, while generate the lower-half groups. Also because . These classes account for every group, so there are no further relations:By the field-coefficient Künneth theorem this is precisely the cohomology ring of . For the relation leaves the sphere's ring. The calculation identifies rings and does not claim a homotopy equivalence of the spaces; is outside the expression involving .