Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 1 11E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A map is differentiable at when there is a linear map such thatThe linear map is the Fréchet derivative of at .
The multivariable chain rule states that if is differentiable at and is differentiable at , thenIndeed, write and , where and . Since ,and the last two terms are . This proves the formula.
For matrix inversion near the identity matrix,The last term is because inversion is bounded near . Therefore the inversion map is differentiable at and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 302 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A Cartan subalgebra of a finite-dimensional complex semisimple Lie algebra is a maximal abelian subalgebra consisting of semisimple elements. The root-space decomposition isand the nonzero functionals are the roots. A Cartan-Weyl basis consists of a basis of and root vectors . Its brackets have the formand when is a root, and zero when is neither a root nor zero.
For the complexified so4 Lie algebra, take and . WriteDirect use of the stated commutation relations givesThe simultaneous eigenvectors, hence the step generators, may be chosen asThus the roots relative to are . Replacing by gives the usual real coordinates . The only nonzero brackets between step generators, apart from those obtained by antisymmetry, are
An isomorphism of Lie algebras is a bijective linear map preserving the Lie bracket. DefineThenThe two spans are commuting copies of the complexified , and together contain all six basis elements of . Chiral decomposition of the complexified so4 Lie algebra therefore givesUnder this isomorphism the Adjoint representation is the direct sum of the adjoint representations of the two factors:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 21H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Write for the open unit ball. Because is a linear map, the hypothesis scales toFix . Choose numbers and such thatthen .
Set . Inductively, if , the scaled density statement lets us chooseand we put . The geometric series givesBecause is a Banach space, exists and lies in . Since is a bounded linear operator, it is continuous, whileTherefore . As was arbitrary,This is the dense open-unit-ball image criterion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 23F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let be the universal covering map. Since the complex plane is a simply connected domain, the lifting criterion for a covering space gives a holomorphic lift between one-dimensional complex tori such thatFor every , the difference belongs to the discrete period lattice . It depends continuously on , so it is constant. Differentiating shows that the derivative is -periodic. It is bounded on the compact closure of a fundamental parallelogram, and periodicity makes it bounded on all of . The Liouville theorem therefore makes constant, and henceThus every holomorphic map has an affine lift of a holomorphic map between one-dimensional complex tori. If “map of complex tori” means an identity-preserving map, choose ; then , so is the required linear map. Without that convention the statement must say affine, since a nonzero translation in a group of the torus lifts to .
The Weierstrass elliptic function of isThe subtracted term gives the Normal convergence of the Weierstrass elliptic-function series away from . PutThe Laurent coefficients of the Weierstrass elliptic function at zero giveSet and . Direct substitution shows that the principal part and constant term ofvanish at zero. Since is an elliptic function, translation gives the same cancellation at every point of the period lattice. Every apparent isolated singularity is therefore a removable singularity, so is an entire function. It is periodic and hence bounded on the translates of a compact fundamental parallelogram. The Liouville theorem gives , which proves the Weierstrass elliptic differential equation
Finally suppose that is a biholomorphic group homomorphism. Its identity-preserving lift has the form by the first part. Since the inverse map also lifts linearly,Choose a -basis of . Multiplication by is then represented by a unimodular matrix . As a real-linear transformation of , it has determinant ; hence and . The characteristic polynomial of and the Cayley-Hamilton theorem giveThis already has the required form with and . Moreover , so forces . Thus is a root of unity, of order , , , , or , completing the description of an automorphism of a one-dimensional complex torus.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ib Paper 1 9G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a principal ideal domain applies because every Euclidean domain is a principal ideal domain. It says that a finitely generated -module is isomorphic towhere the nonzero nonunits are unique up to multiplication by units. They are the invariant factors.
For , multiplication by is the linear map . Since is finite-dimensional over , is a finitely generated torsion module over the polynomial ring , so it has no free summand. Choosing each invariant factor to be monic givesThe basis of each cyclic summand makes multiplication by a companion matrix. Concatenating these bases therefore puts in rational canonical form.
On , a polynomial annihilates multiplication by exactly when it is divisible by . It follows that the minimal polynomial and characteristic polynomial areThe second identity follows blockwise from the characteristic polynomial of a companion matrix. Since every divides , the product annihilates every cyclic summand. Thus , which is the Cayley-Hamilton theorem.
For the displayed matrix, the given generators of are the columns ofElementary row and column operations over give the Smith normal formConsequently the nonunit invariant factors areand, as a check,
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ib Paper 1 7H b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Because is a linear map,Hence composition of a convex function with an affine map is convex, and is convex.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 129 4 b Solution 2026-09-28
Because is finite, choose with and an integer . DefineAn equality of -term sums in plainly gives equality after applying this linear map. Conversely, equality of the images giveswhere . Therefore , and then . The same estimate with one term on each side shows that is injective on . Hence is a Freiman s-isomorphism from to the subset .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 1 31J Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For points , the restriction of to those points is the set of binary vectorsThe shattering coefficient isThe VC dimension iswith value infinity when arbitrarily large finite sets are shattered.
Now put and suppose that are shattered byConsider the linear mapIf , the rank-nullity theorem shows that is a proper subspace of . Choose a nonzeroand replace by if necessary so that at least one coordinate is positive.
Ask for the labeling that assigns label zero when and label one when ; coordinates with may be labeled arbitrarily. Shattering would supply such thatEvery product is then nonnegative, and at least one is strictly positive. Hencecontradicting . Therefore , provingThis is the VC dimension of a vector space argument.
Finally, a closed Euclidean ball with center and radius iswhereEvery such function lies inwhose dimension is at most . Applying the result just proved gives the VC dimension upper bound for Euclidean balls
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 102 1 Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-07
Write . The generalized eigenspace decomposition of the linear map isfor any sufficiently large . Because is a derivation, the generalized-eigenspace bracket lemma givesConsequently is a Lie subalgebra.
The set is the normalizer of a Lie subalgebra . Certainly . Conversely, if , then givesOn the direct sum of the nonzero generalized eigenspaces, is invertible. Hence the nonzero-eigenvalue component of vanishes, and
Now let be a Lie subalgebra containing . Since , the subspace is -invariant. The generalized zero eigenspace of the induced map on is the image of , hence is zero. If , then , so lies in that zero eigenspace. Thus and
A nilpotent Lie algebra is one whose lower central serieseventually reaches zero. Suppose is nilpotent and . Choose the least for which . Then , and anysatisfies . Therefore , proving the normalizer condition for a nilpotent Lie algebra
It remains to prove the converse needed here. The Engel lemma states that if a finite-dimensional Lie algebra of linear maps consists of nilpotent maps, then the maps have a common nonzero vector in their kernels. To prove it, induct on the dimension of the algebra. For a maximal proper subalgebra , induction applied to the action of on produces with . Thus is an ideal of codimension one. Induction also gives a nonzero common kernelThe ideal property makes invariant under ; a nilpotent representative of a basis of has a nonzero kernel on , yielding a vector killed by all of .
Apply the lemma to the Adjoint representation. It produces a nonzero element of the center of a Lie algebra. Induction on , followed by passage to the quotient by this center, proves Engel theorem: if every is nilpotent, then is nilpotent. The hypothesis says exactly that every is nilpotent, so
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 154 1 1 2 Solution 2026-09-28
On the unit ball, part 1 controls the norm. Outside it, , soHence , proving that the embedding is continuous.
For compactness, let be bounded in . On each ball, it is bounded in , so the Rellich-Kondrachov compactness theorem gives a subsequence convergent in local . The tail estimateis uniform in and tends to zero as . A diagonal argument therefore gives convergence in all of . This is the compact embedding of a confining-potential energy space.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 2 22G a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let be a Cauchy sequence in the operator norm. For each ,so is a Cauchy sequence. Completeness of the Banach space permits the definition
. Pointwise passage to the limit proves that is a linear. A norm-Cauchy sequence is a bounded sequence, say , and therefore
, so is bounded. Finally, letting in
gives
. Thus in operator norm and
is Banach.
. Pointwise passage to the limit proves that is a linear. A norm-Cauchy sequence is a bounded sequence, say , and therefore
, so is bounded. Finally, letting in
gives
. Thus in operator norm and
is Banach.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 1 1F Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-10-03
Choose bases of and , of dimensions and . A linear map is uniquely determined by the arbitrary images of the basis vectors, each with coordinates, so
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 2 13C b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Evaluating the function at the endpoint gives the displacementThereforeThe force-induced displacement is a linear map of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 3 11G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-10-14
For , the function is differentiable at if there is a linear map such thatThe linear map is unique and is the Fréchet derivative . The function is continuously differentiable at if it is differentiable on a neighbourhood of and the map , with values in the space of linear maps equipped with the operator norm, is continuous at .
If is linear, thenConsequently at every . The derivative is a constant function of , hence is continuous, so every linear map is continuously differentiable everywhere.
The mean value inequality says that if the line segment lies in andthenTo prove it, put . The claim is immediate if . Otherwise set and apply the one-dimensional mean value theorem to the real-valued functionFor some , the chain rule givesas required.
Now suppose that is open and connected and that for every . Every point has an open ball contained in . The mean value inequality with shows that is constant on each such ball, so is locally constant. Fix . The level setis nonempty and open in ; its complement is also open because is locally constant. Since is connected, . This proves the zero derivative on a connected open set result: is constant.
The inverse function theorem states that if is continuously differentiable, , and is an invertible linear map, then there are open neighbourhoods of and of such that is a bijection whose inverse is continuously differentiable.
For the curve in the question, define the continuously differentiable functionThenThe implicit function theorem, which follows from the inverse function theorem applied to , therefore gives an open interval containing , an open neighbourhood of , and a continuously differentiable, hence continuous, function such that
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 4 1F Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
A bilinear form on is nondegenerate whenIn finite dimensions this is equivalent to nondegeneracy in the first argument.
Define the linear mapNondegeneracy makes injective. Since and its dual space have the same finite dimension, is an isomorphism. Similarly define and setThen is linear and
If , this identity gives for every . Conversely, if for every , then for every , so nondegeneracy gives . HenceThis is the representation of a bilinear form relative to a nondegenerate bilinear form.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 133 2 a Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
Write an element of the Integer Heisenberg group as . Matrix multiplication givesThe subgroupis normal and isomorphic to . If , thenThus, on the coordinate column , conjugation by is the linear map with matrixEvery element has a unique expression , so
The commutators fill the central subgroup of matrices , while the quotient by this subgroup is generated freely and abelianly by the images of and . Equivalently, is the second coordinate axis. Therefore the abelianization is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 339 2 e Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
Write and . ExpandinggivesThe off-diagonal terms in the first equation cancel. By the optimality condition for the proximal operator,The second equation then becomes the explicit linear updateThus each step of this preconditioned proximal point algorithm uses only one evaluation of the proximal operator of , together with applications of the linear map and its transpose .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 3 3I Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Write for the all-one column vector. The parity-check extension of a linear code isThe defining map is linear, so is a binary linear code. If is a generator matrix and a parity-check matrix for , then one may take
The punctured code in, say, the last coordinate isCoordinate deletion is a linear map, so is linear. Its generator matrix is obtained by deleting the last column of . If the minimum distance is at least two, deletion is injective on , and hence has the same dimension as .
For its parity-check matrix, first use invertible row operations on to make its nonzero last column a coordinate vector. The last column is nonzero because otherwise the weight-one word supported there would belong to , contrary to . Delete the pivot row and the last column; the resulting matrix is a parity-check matrix for . Equivalently, is obtained by shortening the dual code at the deleted coordinate.
Finally, the shortened code in the last coordinate isIt is linear whenever is linear, because it is the puncture of the subspace .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ia Paper 1 2C a iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The rank-nullity theorem states that for a linear map with finite-dimensional domain,Here the domain is , and the preceding parts givewhich verifies the theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ib Paper 1 1G Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
For a linear map , its rank is and its nullity is . The rank-nullity theorem states that, when is finite-dimensional,To prove it, take a basis of and extend it to a basisof . The vectors span . They are also linearly independent: if , then , and independence of the chosen basis forces every to vanish. Thus the rank is and the nullity is .