If , use a single color. Otherwise chooseThe previous bound gives , including the case . By Markov inequality, . Sample the hyperplanes, count the monochromatic edges, and repeat if . The success probability is at least , so at most two draws are needed on average.
For a successful draw, select one endpoint of each monochromatic edge and let be the union of the selected vertices. Then . Every monochromatic edge meets , so the original colors give a proper graph colouring on the induced subgraph with vertex set . Since , the coloring of all vertices is a semicoloring. This is a random alteration method; no additional colors for are required.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 26K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The strong law of large numbers states that if are independent and identically distributed random variables with , thenalmost surely. Under the stronger fourth-moment hypothesis, it has a short proof. Put , , and . Independence and centering make every term in the expansion of vanish unless each index occurs at least twice, soFor every , the Markov inequality givesThe probabilities are summable, so the first Borel-Cantelli lemma says that occurs only finitely often almost surely. Apply this simultaneously to to obtain almost surely, which is the claimed law.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ia Paper 2 12F i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Chebyshev inequality states that for a random variable with finite variance and every ,Indeed, Markov inequality applied to the nonnegative variable gives
The sum has the binomial distribution, soFor fixed this is a finite sum of polynomial functions of , hence is a polynomial.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 iii Paper 223 4 b Solution 2026-09-28
The Markov inequality applied to the first exponential-moment bound givesThe second bound controls the lower tail. The union bound therefore givesSinceputting ,makes the exponent equal to . It follows that the Catoni mean estimator satisfies
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ia Paper 2 12F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
By Tonelli theorem for the nonnegative indicators,If this is finite, then is finite almost surely: alternatively, Markov inequality givesSince for every ,This is the first Borel-Cantelli lemma.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ia Paper 2 3F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For a nonnegative random variable and , the Markov inequality isIndeed, pointwise. Taking expectations and dividing by proves the claim.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 122 3 a Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
Markov inequality says that a nonnegative random variable satisfiesChebyshev inequality says that a random variable with finite variance satisfies
Let count triangles in . The triangle count in a binomial random graph calculation givesSince ,For sufficiently large , , and Chebyshev inequality gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 205 3 b Solution 2026-09-28
Conditional on the covariates and all responses used to construct , the residual has conditional second moment at most ; conditional independence under the null is what permits this conditioning. ConsequentlyThe Markov inequality proves
Next, the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality givesThe first factor converges to zero in probability. The weak law of large numbers and part a make the second , so the product converges to zero in probability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ii Paper 1 17H a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Fix and sample from the Erdős-Rényi model with . Let count copies of the complete bipartite graph . By the expected subgraph count in the Erdős-Rényi model,
Put and let count independent set of size . If the chromatic number satisfies , some colour class has at least vertices, so . Moreover,because the positive part of the exponent is whereas has order . The first moment method therefore gives .
Using Markov inequality for and the union bound,for all sufficiently large . Hence at least one such contains no and has .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ia Paper 2 12F iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
With , the inequality giveswhen . The Markov inequality now givesConsequently the upper side of the isolated-vertex threshold in the Erdős-Rényi model is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 ia Paper 2 3F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Markov inequality states that for a nonnegative random variable and ,For , the event is the same as . Applying Markov's inequality to the nonnegative variable gives the exponential Markov bound
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 124 4 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
First suppose . Run the RP algorithm for and the RP algorithm for its complement with fresh random bits. If the first accepts, output one; if the second accepts, output zero; otherwise repeat. Neither output can be wrong, and on every input the appropriate algorithm accepts in each round with probability at least . The number of rounds is dominated by a geometric distribution of mean two, so this is an always-correct algorithm with polynomial expected running time.
Conversely, let be always correct when it halts and have expected running time at most . Run it for steps. Markov inequality givesAccept exactly when halts and outputs one; this is an RP algorithm for . Accepting exactly when it halts and outputs zero is an RP algorithm for the complement. Thereforeis equivalent to zero-error expected polynomial time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 203 2 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
For with and , the given Reverse SLE derivative martingale starts fromIt is a nonnegative local martingale and therefore a supermartingale. Since its second factor is at least one,
Choosewhich is possible exactly because . At height , take a horizontal grid of spacing comparable to in . The Markov inequality gives, at each grid point,There are grid points, so the probability that the bound fails anywhere on level is at most . These probabilities are summable. The Borel-Cantelli lemmas therefore give an almost surely finite random constant controlling every sufficiently fine grid, and enlarging it handles the finitely many remaining levels.
Every point of the half-rectangle lies within a fixed hyperbolic distance of one of these grid points at comparable height. The Koebe distortion theorem compares the two derivatives by a universal factor. Hence an almost surely finite random satisfiesfor all and . This proves the Reverse SLE derivative bound above the space-filling threshold.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 358 2 b Solution 2026-09-28
Let and be the projection-valued measures of and . Using the projection , defineThe scalar spectral measures converge weakly whenfor every bounded continuous function and every . By the spectral theorem for normal operators on a separable Hilbert space, this is equivalent to
The assumed moment identities say precisely that this convergence holds for every monomial . It follows by linearity for every polynomial. For , the identity givesso Markov inequality makes the positive measures tight. Higher even moments similarly control the tails of any fixed polynomial.
Given a bounded continuous and , choose so that the measure tails are uniformly small. The Weierstrass approximation theorem supplies a polynomial withMoment convergence handles ; tightness and a sufficiently high even moment handle the two tails. Hence . The polarization identity then gives the same conclusion for . This proves weak convergence of scalar spectral measures.
The assertion fails if only is assumed. Let , let , take , and letThe reversal matrices are self-adjoint unitaries. For fixed ,because the finite head of one vector is paired with the vanishing tail of the other. Thus the condition holds. However, , soin general. Taking shows that the spectral measures do not converge weakly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 201 5 e Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Choose . At dyadic level , Markov inequality and a union bound giveuniformly in . Summing over shows that, outside a set of probability at most , all dyadic increments obey this bound. Chaining dyadic approximations and using continuity givesfor all . Since , the paths then lie in the stated compact Hölder set by the Arzela-Ascoli theorem. Taking large proves tightness.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 ia Paper 2 9F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 122 2 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Letwhere the positive constant will be chosen small, and sample the binomial random graph . If counts its copies of , thenIf counts its independent -sets, thenHere . Choosing sufficiently small makes the negative exponential term dominate , so . By Markov inequality, with positive probability and .
Starting from such a graph, delete one vertex from each remaining . This random alteration method removes fewer than vertices, destroys every , and cannot create an independent set of order . The resulting graph has at least vertices, so its edges and nonedges give a red-blue colouring with neither a red nor a blue . Consequently
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 201 1 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The atom formula also provesLet . Then by Markov inequality, whileThe uniform absolute continuity for a finite measure makes the right-hand side uniformly small as . Thus is uniformly integrable. The Martingale convergence theorem now supplies an integrable random variable such that both almost surely and in .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 202 2 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Fix a deterministic horizon and . For every localization index ,by Markov inequality. Because almost surely, the first term tends to zero as . For fixed , the second tends to zero as . Taking first the limit superior in and then provesin probability. This is precisely uniform convergence on compacts in probability.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 212 2 c ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let the energy of a flow be , with each unoriented edge counted once. Expanding as in part (i), dropping orientation signs, and summing over common edges givesuniformly in .
Part (i), , and the Paley-Zygmund inequality give a constant such that for every . The preceding uniform expectation bound and Markov inequality allow a constant such thatOn this event, is a unit open flow from to with energy at most .
The events that there is such a bounded-energy unit flow from out of are decreasing in . Their intersection still has probability at least . A diagonal compactness argument produces on this intersection a unit flow from to infinity, supported on its open cluster, with finite energy. The finite-energy flow criterion for transience makes that open cluster transient.
Thus a transient open cluster exists with positive probability. This existence event is a tail event: changing finitely many edges cannot destroy transience in every infinite component, because transience is invariant under finite graph modifications. The Kolmogorov zero-one law upgrades its probability to one.