Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 4 18H i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 2D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
A cyclic group has one generator of a group: . An abelian group has for every pair of elements. Powers of one element commute because , so every cyclic group is Abelian. The Klein four-group is Abelian but is not a cyclic group: every nonidentity element has order two, whereas a generator of a group for a four-element cyclic group would have order four.
Fix a generator of a group of . A group homomorphism is determined by because , and the relation forces . Conversely, such a defines : exponents differing by a multiple of give the same value, and addition of exponents verifies the group homomorphism law. Thus the homomorphism from a finite cyclic group correspondence isFor , the order of a permutation is the least common multiple of its disjoint cycle lengths. The condition allows identity, transpositions, two disjoint transpositions, and four-cycles. The sixteen homomorphisms are , with the full list of possible generator imagesThe remaining eight elements of the symmetric group are three-cycles and do not qualify.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 1 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Here a reduced root system is crystallographic, as appropriate to a semisimple Lie algebra. It is a finite spanning set in a real inner-product space of dimension , invariant under each Weyl reflectionwith for every pair of roots and . A base of a root system is a basis such that the coefficients of every root are integers that are either all nonnegative or all nonpositive. These define the positive system of a root system. We use the existing Cartan matrix conventionUsing the alternative denominator transposes all the matrices below.
The classification of rank-two root systems gives , , , and . In orthonormal coordinates we may choose the following simple roots and Cartan matrices:
- For , take , and . The positive roots are .
- For , take , and . The positive roots are .
- For , take the long root and short root , giving . The positive roots are . Interchanging the long and short convention gives type , which is the same rank-two classification up to the usual identification.
- For , take the short root and long root , giving . The positive roots are .
Each complete root system consists of these positive roots and their negatives. To see why the list is exhaustive, the off-diagonal Cartan matrix entries of two distinct simple roots are nonpositive integers, and their product is . Thus the product is or , corresponding to simple-root angles or . These determine the four systems and their length ratios.
The Weyl group of a rank-two root system is generated by the two simple Weyl reflections. Their product is a rotation of order , respectively, so the groups are the dihedral groups of order . The first is also the Klein four-group and the second the symmetric group . The root-orthogonal lines cut the plane into Weyl chambers, each of angle . A chosen fundamental chamber of a root system is , ; its walls are the two root-orthogonal lines. The Weyl group acts simply transitively on these open chambers.
Roots, reflecting lines and a fundamental chamber for the four crystallographic rank-two root systems
. The crystallographic hypothesis matters: if the integer-pairing condition is dropped, reduced noncrystallographic systems of type also occur. They are not additional Lie-algebra root systems.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 308 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the coefficients in the authoritative PDF, including their factor . Write andThe numerator and denominator are coprime: a common zero would, by subtraction, require , where both equal one. Therefore the degree of a rational map of the Riemann sphere is four. Direct algebra givesThe domain transformations and are sphere rotations as special-unitary Möbius transformations: respectively a quarter-turn about the third axis and a one-third turn cycling the three coordinate axes. In particular the latter sends , the north, first-axis and second-axis directions. They generate the order-24 rotational symmetry group of a cube, isomorphic to the symmetric group . Their target transformations are rotations: is a half-turn about the first target axis and is a one-third turn about the third target axis. This proves whole-map combined equivariance, not just symmetry of selected roots.
The target rotation image is the order-six dihedral group . The spatial half-turns about all three coordinate axes act trivially on the map: and generate a Klein four-group kernel. Thus the full Skyrmion symmetry combines the spatial cubic rotations with compensating isospin rotations, while its angular energy and Skyrme baryon density have pure spatial cubic symmetry.
The critical directions make the geometry explicit. Its Wronskian of a rational map isThe five finite ramification points are ; infinity supplies the sixth, since in the local coordinate the map starts with . These are the six coordinate-axis directions, or face centres of a cube. The angular Jacobian of a rational map vanishes there, consistent with a cube-shaped shell whose density is concentrated away from its face centres. Any further rotational equivariance would have to preserve this set, so the spatial proper rotation group is exactly the cubic group already generated above.
There is also a reflection relation . Together with the proper rotations, it makes the angular density invariant under the full order-48 symmetry group of a cube, usually denoted . The target operation in this reflection relation is orientation reversing; it should not be mistaken for a proper isospin rotation. In the full Skyrme model, reflections are expressed using the field parity operation together with a compensating isospin rotation.
This is the cubic charge-four rational-map ansatz:The cubic rational-map ansatz for four Skyrmions is a useful approximation and starting point for the cubic four-Skyrmion, whose lowest spin-zero, isospin-zero quantized state models an alpha particle. A radial minimization and, for precision, unrestricted field relaxation are still required. The TeX's missing changes this map; the six critical directions alone would not detect the error, because the same Wronskian zero set persists when is real. The actual rotational equivariance identities are the stronger check.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 1 18I Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let be the Galois group of a polynomial of the irreducible quartic. Irreducibility makes a transitive subgroup of . The three roots of the given cubic resolvent of a quartic correspond to the three partitions of the four quartic roots into two unordered pairs, and the kernel of the -action on these partitions is the Klein four-group . If the resolvent has Galois group , the image of in this action is all of . Among the transitive subgroups of the symmetric group on four points, only has this image. Hence
Now put . The Eisenstein criterion at proves that is an irreducible polynomial, and its cubic resolvent isIts discriminant of a depressed cubic isFor odd , the -adic valuation of is three because ; for , . Thus is never a square in .
By the rational root theorem, a reducible has an integer root among . Reduction modulo shows that the root is divisible by ; writing it as , with , givesThe only possibilities are and , corresponding to roots and . For every other prime, is irreducible with nonsquare discriminant, so its Galois group is and the criterion above gives the quartic group . For or , the reducible resolvent makes the quartic group a proper subgroup. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 19I c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The normis a positive integer, because it is the sum of the squares of the multiplicities of the irreducible constituents. The character restriction norm bound and make it at most three. It is therefore , , or .
All three values occur:
- In with , the trivial character remains irreducible on , giving norm .
- For the same pair, the two-dimensional standard representation of the symmetric group restricts to the sum of the trivial and nontrivial linear characters of , giving norm .
- In with its normal Klein four-group , the three-dimensional irreducible representation of the alternating group on four letters restricts to the sum of the three nontrivial linear characters of , giving norm .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 4 18F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
If , thenLetThis is the nonidentity automorphism of . By extending an embedding that sends to , and composing with if necessary, chooseThenThe eight elementsare distinct, and exhaust the Galois group. Thus the dihedral Galois action on four radical roots gives
Now suppose is a square in . Then , so every automorphism fixes . We are in case (i) with , and therefore
Conversely, suppose the group is the Klein four-group. Label the rootsThe three nonidentity elements in its transitive action are the three double transpositions. Each fixes : they send the ordered pair respectively towhose products all equal . Hence every element of the Galois group fixes . By the Artin fixed-field theorem,Therefore is a square in . This proves the Klein-four criterion for an irreducible even quartic:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 2 18G c i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
A group is solvable when its derived serieseventually reaches the trivial group; equivalently, it has a subnormal series with abelian quotients.
The symmetric group is solvable becausehas abelian quotients , , and , where is the Klein four-group. Thus
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 18G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The symmetric group acts on the three partitions of four roots into two unordered pairs. The resulting homomorphism has kernel the Klein four-group . If is a square and the characteristic is not two, the discriminant criterion for an alternating Galois group gives , and its image on the three resolvent roots lies in .
For an irreducible quartic, is transitive on four roots, and its only possibilities inside are and . The resolvent is irreducible exactly when the image acts transitively on its three roots, equivalently when that image is . ThusThe printed statement omits the needed irreducibility hypothesis on . Literally it is false: has square discriminant and Galois group , and its resolvent is irreducible. Without quartic irreducibility, a reducible resolvent only implies , allowing the trivial group, , or .
For the specified polynomial ,Its resolvent is . Modulo this is , which has no root in and is therefore an irreducible cubic. The quartic is given to be irreducible, so the preceding criterion yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 3 2E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
A group is abelian when for every . It is cyclic when some generator of a group satisfiesIf and belong to a cyclic group, thenso every cyclic group is abelian.
The Klein four-group is abelian, but every nonidentity element has order two, so no element generates all four elements. Thus an abelian group need not be cyclic.
Three-dimensional irreducible representation of the alternating group on four letters Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The standard representation of the symmetric group restricts irreducibly to . Its character has value at the identity and on each nonidentity element of the normal Klein four-group. Restricted to that subgroup, it is the sum of the three nontrivial linear characters.
