Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 207 1 a iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
For , the Markov property and the definition of transition intensity giveSumming over the possible pre-jump states gives the density of the expected Markov-chain entry count:For a finite-state continuous-time Markov chain, the chance of two or more jumps in this short interval is . There is no contribution: diagonal entries of the infinitesimal generator encode exit rates, not jumps into the same state. With repeated entries possible, this density is an expected event rate rather than the probability density function of a single normalized random time.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 211 3 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
A unit-face-value zero-coupon bond pays at maturity. The martingale deflator pricing identity isUse the affine process Markov property with respect to the market filtration; if that filtration contains extra predictive information, the natural Markov property alone would not suffice. Part (b), with every future coefficient equal to , gives the exponential-affine form. More explicitly, the exponential-affine bond pricing recursion isIndeed, conditioning the first future step in an -step horizon transforms into . ThereforeThis uses the true martingale deflator pricing identity; a merely local martingale deflator would not by itself justify replacing prices by conditional terminal expectations.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 211 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Let and . Given , the next value is one of . The martingale property makes its upward and downward conditional probabilities equal; their sum is the conditional variance of the increment, . ThusThe discrete Dupire equation therefore recovers all positive-probability one-step conditional transitions from the European call option price surface. No Markov property is required: these are conditional probabilities given the current value, not necessarily given the whole past.
Recovery is impossible at a zero-probability state. For example, satisfies every stated assumption, but at a different integer can satisfy while . Its conditional transitions can be specified arbitrarily without altering . Thus the literal all-states claim needs the positive-probability qualification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 213 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Use the slotted ALOHA model with one outstanding packet per active station and a collision channel: a slot with exactly one attempt succeeds, whereas an idle slot or a slot with two or more attempts delivers nothing. Let be independent Poisson random variables of mean , independent also of the transmission choices. Arrivals join after the current slot's attempts. Given , the attempt count has a binomial distribution with parameters and . Consequently, for ,For , set and . The equation adds arrivals and removes precisely one packet following a successful slot. The estimate controls the common transmission probability and updates using the idle, success, or collision feedback. The conditional distribution of the next state depends only on , so this pair is a Markov chain.
Away from the reflecting floor in , its one-step conditional expectations areWhen and are large with , the Poisson limit theorem gives and . Treating these approximate drifts as derivatives motivates the fluid approximation of slotted ALOHA:The floor at is negligible in this interior scaling. This calculation motivates the ordinary differential equations; it is not a proof of a stochastic fluid limit.
The function is strictly increasing from zero to infinity, and . To check the monotonicity explicitly,Indeed, with ,because its discriminant is ; and . Thus the scalar ordinary differential equation for points toward the unique value satisfying . Every trajectory with , has bounded and . Positivity of follows from .
If , then and . Thus decays exponentially for large , andThis is finite-time draining of a fluid model. The unmodified equations have undefined at the origin, so the statement that trajectories converge to the origin needs this endpoint interpretation; continuing with an absorbing zero trajectory is an additional fluid-model convention, not a solution of the displayed equations at the origin.
If , then and . Now grows exponentially, physical time tends to infinity, andIn particular the trajectory escapes to infinity. Even without the ratio analysis, , since .
For the actual Markov chain, it is essential not to replace the finite- success probability by : a single backlogged packet can succeed with probability one. Instead, for , maximizing over gives the ALOHA throughput boundIf , choose and so that for all , uniformly in . For sufficiently small ,because its derivative at zero is . Independence of arrivals and attempts giveswhenever . For any integer , stop at the stopping time . The stopped process is a nonnegative supermartingale. The optional stopping theorem, first at bounded times and then by a limit, yields the exponential-supermartingale escape boundFrom every state with , a Poisson distribution arrival burst has a uniformly positive probability of sending the next backlog to at least , for any fixed . From there the probability of never revisiting is at least . By the Markov property at successive visits, the probability of infinitely many visits to this strip is zero: each visit has a uniform positive chance of being the last. This holds for every integer , soTherefore the Markov chain is transient for every finite choice of . The proof is uniform in and does not infer stochastic transience merely from the approximate ordinary differential equations.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 218 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The parameters are , and innovation variance . Stationarity gives , and the Markov property gives . Multiplying the initial density and the transition densities yields the stationary Gaussian AR1 likelihood, with :The initial-observation factor depends on all three parameters and must be retained for the full stationary likelihood function. Omitting it gives a conditional likelihood given , a different objective.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 218 5 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
By the Markov property, all factors in the stationary likelihood function that involve are the transitions from to and from to . Hence conditioning on later observations adds no information once the two neighbors are known. Writing , and , its conditional density is proportional toThe quadratic coefficient of is and the linear coefficient is . Completing the square therefore gives the Gaussian AR1 bridgeHere is the innovation variance, not the marginal stationary variance.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 2 27J Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For the finite state space , the generator or Q-matrix is defined byIts off-diagonal entries are nonnegative jump rates and . The transition semigroup of a continuous-time Markov chain is .
An invariant distribution of a continuous-time Markov chain is a probability row vector satisfying for every . Differentiation at zero gives ; conversely, implies . ThusInvariant distributions need not be unique: each closed communicating class supports one, and their convex combinations are invariant. A finite irreducible chain has a unique invariant distribution.
Let be the arrival times of the independent rate- Poisson process. The increments are independent exponential variables of rate . Conditional on , the Markov property, time homogeneity, and independence of the next increment giveHence is a discrete-time Markov chain. Its transition matrix is the Poisson-sampled continuous-time Markov chain resolvent
If , then and integration gives . Conversely, if a probability row vector satisfies , multiplyingon the right by yields . Therefore the sampled chain and the original chain have exactly the same invariant distributions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 211 3 c Solution 2026-10-03
For constant coefficients, the density process is a true exponential martingale and defines the risk-neutral measure . Under ,The minimal value process is thereforeThe Markov property and the lognormal transition law make this a deterministic function of , and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 28K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
Conditional on , the holding time has an exponential distribution of rate , and after that holding time the next state is with transition probability . The memoryless property of exponential random variables and the Markov property of therefore make a continuous-time Markov chain.
Moreover , so . The strong law of large numbers gives almost surely, hence and the process is nonexplosive. Its Q-matrix isEquivalently, if is the diagonal matrix with entries , then
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 1 30K b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The process is adapted to its natural filtration. At each fixed time it has finite support and is therefore integrable. Conditional on ,Conditional on ,The Markov property now givesso is a martingale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 2 28K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Put . The jump chain records the successive states visited by and has transition probabilitiesBy the exponential holding-time construction, conditional on the current state , the destination of the next jump has this distribution independently of the earlier path. Hence the jump chain has the Markov property.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2021 ii Paper 4 27K a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 219 2 b Solution 2026-09-28
For , the condition from part a becomesIt holds for arbitrary positive time gaps exactly when . The resulting exponential covariance function is the covariance of a stationary Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, hence has the Markov property.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 ii Paper 1 28J b iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Markov property and conditioning on the intermediate state give the bridge probabilitySubstitution from part (i) yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 201 2 a Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
For , the Strong Markov property at the first step gives the discrete mean-value identityAt , while the same average is at most one. Thus is a bounded superharmonic function on . Conditioning on the natural filtration and using the one-step Markov property givesTherefore is a nonnegative supermartingale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 201 2 b Solution 2026-09-28
Let . By the Markov property,The events decrease to the event that the walk visits zero infinitely often, which has probability zero by the stated transience assumption. HencePart a and the almost sure supermartingale convergence theorem give an almost-sure limit . By Fatou lemma, , so almost surely.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 202 5 e Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
The killed transition operator isThe infinitesimal generator of the diffusion isThe Markov property and the Chapman-Kolmogorov equation give, for each fixed ,Dividing by , letting , and using the generator definition together with the assumed regularity gives the pointwise Kolmogorov backward equation
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 207 2 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The hypotheses imply and , so . Conditional on the negative result at month 1, the likelihood is the probability of remaining in at month 2 and moving to by month 3. The supplied matrix exponential givesThe Markov property therefore gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2026 iii Paper 226 2 b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The Strong Markov property at the first visit to gives the singleton equilibrium potential from the Green functionLet be an increasing exhaustion of by finite sets containing , and let be the Green function of a transient weighted graph stopped on leaving . Each has finite support. The Green identity and the Markov property give, for ,By the monotone convergence theorem, the right side tends to zero as , while . Thus is an limit of finitely supported functions. Dividing by the positive number proves .