Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ia Paper 3 3C ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the arc length coordinate oriented in the direction of increasing : , with . Also , giving and . The Lagrange identity for the cross product yieldsThe curvature of a space curve is thereforeFor the forward portion , this has ordinary nonnegative arc length . If instead nonnegative distance is measured backwards from , put for ; that branch has , . Choosing orientation avoids confusing the two points at the same unoriented distance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ia Paper 1 5A a ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Expanding a sum of squares gives the -dimensional Lagrange identity for the cross product:The left-hand side is nonnegative, so