Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 130 1 i Solution 2026-09-28
Let be an alphabet. A combinatorial line in is obtained by choosing a nonempty set of active coordinates, fixing every other coordinate, and putting the same variable letter in all active coordinates. The Hales-Jewett theorem states that, for every pair of positive integers , some makes every -coloring of contain a monochromatic combinatorial line.
We prove it by mathematical induction on . The case is immediate. Suppose the result is known for the alphabet , with any finite number of colors. Order each line by its variable letter, and call its last point its focus. Say that lines are color-focused when they share a focus, each line with its focus removed is monochromatic, and those punctured lines have different colors.
We claim that for every there is such that every -coloring of contains either a monochromatic line or color-focused lines. For , restrict a coloring to with . A monochromatic line there becomes a punctured line over after adjoining the point obtained by putting in every active coordinate. It is either already monochromatic or is one color-focused line.
Assume works for , and putView as . For , record the entire color patternThis is a coloring with at most colors, so the induction hypothesis on the alphabet supplies a line on which this pattern is constant. Adjoin its focus , whose active coordinates contain the letter , and write for the resulting line over . Thus is independent of for every . It defines a -coloring of .
If has a monochromatic line, fixing any gives one for . Otherwise there are color-focused lines for , with common focus . Couple the active coordinates of each of those lines with the active coordinates of ; this produces punctured lines focused at . The line obtained by fixing the first component at and varying along supplies one more. Its punctured color differs from the preceding colors, since equality with one of them would make the corresponding -line monochromatic. Hence there are color-focused lines. The claim follows by induction on .
Take . The common focus has one of the colors, so it completes the punctured line of that color to a monochromatic line. This proves the Hales-Jewett theorem.
A -dimensional combinatorial subspace has disjoint nonempty active coordinate sets, one for each independent variable. The Extended Hales-Jewett theorem says that, given , every -coloring of contains such a monochromatic subspace when is large enough. To deduce it, chooseand identifyA monochromatic combinatorial line over the alphabet becomes a monochromatic -parameter set over : within every active block, its first coordinates form the first variable set, its second coordinates form the second, and so on. Thus suffices.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 130 3 Solution 2026-09-28
Hindman theorem states that every finite coloring of admits an infinite sequence whose finite-sums set is monochromatic.
Identify the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers with the compact Hausdorff space of ultrafilters on , equipped with addition on the Stone-Čech compactification of the natural numbers. This makes a compact Hausdorff left-topological semigroup. For completeness, the Ellis–Numakura lemma gives an idempotent in every such semigroup: by the Hausdorff space property and compactness, the intersection of a descending chain of nonempty compact subsemigroups is nonempty, so Zorn's lemma gives a minimal one . For , the compact subsemigroup equals . Hence the nonempty compact subsemigroupis also , and in particular . Choose the resulting idempotent ultrafilter on the natural numbers .
One color class belongs to . For , writeand defineThe identity implies . It also implies that for every : both and the set of for which belongs to lie in , and their intersection is .
Choose . Having chosen with every nonempty finite sum in , chooseThis is possible because it is a finite intersection of members of the ultrafilter . Every old finite sum remains in , and every new one has the form and also lies in . By mathematical induction, all nonempty finite sums lie in , proving Hindman's theorem.
Now putfor each . If , then their intersection belongs to and is nonempty, whileThus the sets have the finite intersection property. Their closures are closed subsets of the compact interval , so their total intersection contains some . Equivalently, every neighbourhood of meets every ; this is the ultrafilter limit of the sequence.
The point is unique. If distinct points both had this property, choose disjoint neighborhoods . The index set must belong to , because otherwise its complement would belong to and the associated would miss . Similarly . Their intersection is empty, contradicting the definition of an ultrafilter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 130 4 Solution 2026-09-28
Let be the vertices of a regular polygon, indexed cyclically so that is an isometry. We first prove the product lemma needed for the cyclic-symmetry argument.
Suppose has the property that, for every number of colors, a finite witness forces a copy of on which the vertices corresponding to are monochromatic. We claim that for every there is a finite witness forcing an -invariant copy of . Proceed by mathematical induction on . The case is the assumption. For the step, choose a finite set that forces an -invariant for a coloring with colors, and choose that forces an -monochromatic for a coloring with colors.
Given a -coloring of , color by its complete vector . In the resulting copy of in , that vector is the same for every member of . Each can therefore be colored by the vector consisting of for one and the colors for . Applying the choice of gives an -invariant copy of , and its product with the chosen copy of in is the desired -invariant copy of . This proves the lemma rather than assuming it.
We now prove by induction on that a finite witness forces a copy of whose first vertices have one color. The case is trivial. For , use that a line segment is a Euclidean Ramsey set; each occurrence of a segment congruent to can be extended to a copy of the regular polygon, and only finitely many extensions are needed for a finite witness.
Assume the assertion for , and put . The product lemma lets us work inside an -invariantly colored copy of , with as large as required. For an increasing -element subset of and , define a word by putting in coordinate , with subscripts read modulo , and putting in every other coordinate. Color by the -tupleBy the Finite Ramsey theorem, for sufficiently large there are coordinates on which all -subsets have the same tuple color.
For , let be the word whose entries in coordinates arecyclically, and whose other entries are . For , the word differs from only in coordinate , where the two entries lie in . Similarly differs from only in coordinate , again by two members of . The -invariance and the homogeneous choice of the therefore giveHence have one color.
The cyclic words form an isometric copy of : in each of the varying coordinates the cyclic shift is an isometry, so every squared distance is multiplied by . Rescaling the finite witness by gives a copy of . The induction reaches , proving that every regular polygon is a Euclidean Ramsey set.
For three consecutive vertices of a regular -gon scaled to have side length one,Since the polygon is Euclidean Ramsey, choosing large enough proves that is an approximately Euclidean Ramsey set.
In fact every finite is approximately Ramsey. First perturb each coordinate of each point onto a sufficiently fine lattice , changing all pairwise distances by less than . For each coordinate, map the finitely many required integers to consecutive vertices of a very large regular polygon, scaled so that one angular step has arc length . If the step angle is , the chord replacing a difference of lattice steps has lengthas , uniformly over the finitely many differences involved. Taking the orthogonal Cartesian product of such polygons therefore embeds the perturbed points with a further distance error below . Each polygon is Euclidean Ramsey, and their product is Euclidean Ramsey by the product theorem for Euclidean Ramsey sets. A monochromatic copy of that product contains the corresponding approximate copy of , completing the proof.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 133 3 c Solution 2026-09-28
This is the Baumslag-Solitar group . Its defining relation gives, by mathematical induction,In the cyclic subgroup with generator ,whereas in , with generators ,If inclusion were a -quasi-isometric embedding, its lower bound would implyfor every , which is impossible because an exponential function eventually dominates every linear function. Hence is not quasi-isometrically embedded; it is an exponentially distorted subgroup.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 160 1 d iii Solution Created 2026-09-28 Updated 2026-10-03
We use mathematical induction on . The identity is immediate for the empty partition. Add a removable corner to a partition of , and put . Only the new hook and the hooks to its left in row or above it in column change. Each old affected hook length increases by one. If is the sum of those old hook lengths, direct substitution in the hook formula givesThere are affected old hooks, so the increase in the sum of squared hook lengths isThe increase in is likewise . The induction closes and proves
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 341 1 b Solution 2026-09-28
Set . The implicit midpoint rule readsTaking the inner product with givesThe last equality again follows from skew-symmetry. Mathematical induction therefore yields
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 109 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Proceed by mathematical induction on . The cases are immediate. Given a symmetric chain decomposition of a Boolean lattice , consider one of its chainsIt produces the two chainsand, when nonempty,The first runs from rank to rank , and the second from rank to rank ; both endpoint ranks sum to . They are disjoint and together contain the old chain both without and with . Doing this for every old chain partitions into symmetric chains.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 109 1 i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Every positive integer has a unique binomial representationDefineThe Kruskal-Katona theorem says that every -uniform family of size hasand the initial segment of length in colexicographic order attains equality.
We prove the inequality by simultaneous mathematical induction on the ground-set size and on . We use the elementary binomial-shadow arithmetic lemmaTo verify the lemma, greedily remove the largest term from the binomial representation of . If reaches that term first, apply the induction hypothesis to the remainders; otherwise transfer the excess to . In the crossing case Pascal's identitygives exactly the two terms on the right. This induction also proves uniqueness of the greedy representation.
Choose the largest ground-set element and splitThe members of the lower shadow that avoid form , while those containing are the sets with . Hence, writing and ,This completes the induction.
Finally, the initial colex segment first contains all -subsets of , followed recursively by sets containing whose remaining elements form the appropriate initial segment at level . Its shadow has the same recursive decomposition, and therefore has exactly members. This proves sharpness.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 130 1 a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Ramsey's theorem for -sets says that every finite coloring of has an infinite monochromatic set. We prove it by mathematical induction on . The case is the infinite pigeonhole principle. Suppose the result holds for , and let . Choose , then use the induction hypothesis on the coloring to obtain an infinite set on which this color is constant, say . Inductively chooseso that for every . Some color occurs for infinitely many . If are the corresponding indices, every -set from has color : take its least-indexed element , after which its other elements lie in . This proves the theorem.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2025 iii Paper 323 4 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Apply bipartite superadditivity of quantum relative entropy first to system and systems , and then repeat on the remaining joint state. Mathematical induction givesThis is multipartite superadditivity of quantum relative entropy. Repeated application of bipartite additivity similarly gives
Private-witness diagonalization for incomparable enumerable sets Created 2026-10-05 Updated 2026-10-06
To prevent a Turing functional from computing the indicator function of an enumerated set , reserve a permanently unique fresh witness . On observing a convergent computation with oracle use , enumerate into if the answer is zero; otherwise keep it out. Restrain subsequent lower-priority enumerations into below . Higher-priority actions may initialize this strategy and retire its witness, but witnesses are never reused. In a finite-injury priority construction, mathematical induction on priority shows that the final computation, if observed, remains correct as a computation from the final oracle and disagrees with at . If no computation is ever observed after the final initialization, the final oracle computation diverges, since any convergent computation uses only finitely many eventually stable oracle bits.
Quantifier-free formula 2026-10-05
A quantifier-free first-order formula is built from atomic formulas using logical connectives, with no quantifiers. An embedding of first-order structures preserves and reflects its truth, by mathematical induction on the first-order formula. Both positive and negated atomic information are needed for this conclusion in a relational language.
If is an infinite Dedekind-finite set, then is another such set. Single-vertex rooted trees inject into it. A countable sequence of distinct rooted trees gives finite lists of labels by the depth-first traversal of a tree in the prescribed child order. By countable union of explicitly ordered finite lists without choice, an infinite union of labels contradicts Dedekind-finiteness. A finite union is equally impossible, since every rooted tree then lies in the finite set , by mathematical induction on using the recursive child rule. Thus no countably infinite subset of rooted trees exists.
Section compression in binary order 2026-10-06
Fix a coordinate of the Boolean hypercube, delete it in each of the two sections, and replace each section by a binary initial segment of the same size. This preserves the total size. Mathematical induction on dimension proves that it does not decrease contained edge counts; the crossing contribution is the size of the section intersection, maximized by nested initial segments.