Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 64 3 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Put , a finite signed Radon measure, and defineFor , Fubini's theorem for the signed measure givesThus . A distribution on a connected interval with zero derivative is constant: any compactly supported test of integral zero is the derivative of a compactly supported test, so it pairs to zero with . Choose the resulting constant . Thenare one-sided representatives of a one-dimensional BV function. The first equals almost everywhere. Their difference is , nonzero at at most countably many points, so the second also equals almost everywhere.
Finite-measure continuity applied to proves as , and as . Moreover the opposite one-sided limits are and . Consequently both representatives are continuous exactly where . For each positive integer , there are only finitely many measure atoms of magnitude at least , since their total magnitudes are bounded by . Their union is countable, proving the requested discontinuity bound. This does not require the jump points to be isolated; they can be dense.
The hint's one-dimensional statement is consistent with this construction: zero measure means an empty set, so . This concerns approximate discontinuities of the BV space class; arbitrary changes of representative at points could create artificial pointwise discontinuities. The interval-mass representatives above remove that ambiguity and give the required one-sided continuity directly.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 64 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
First apply Lebesgue decomposition to the derivative measure relative to :Here is the almost-everywhere approximate gradient, rather than an assertion that belongs to . Split the singular part into its jump part of a BV derivative and Cantor part of a BV derivative:An approximate jump point has a unit normal and distinct finite BV traces on a hypersurface , obtained as mean limits on the corresponding two half-balls. Their set is the jump set of a BV function, countably -rectifiable. Reversing the normal swaps the BV traces on a hypersurface and leaves the displayed measure unchanged. The approximate discontinuity set differs from only by an -null set.
The remaining is singular to Lebesgue measure and gives zero mass to every set with sigma-finite measure. It is diffuse rather than a second jump contribution. In one dimension the three parts are illustrated by an affine function, a step function and the Cantor function, respectively. Countably many jumps therefore do not imply that the singular derivative has no Cantor part of a BV derivative.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 64 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The structure theorem for functions of bounded variation is the measure representation of the distributional derivative: for there is a unique finite vector Radon measure withfor every . It also has a polar decomposition of a vector measure with for -almost every point.
To prove it, let . The test-function definition of total variation seminorm, applied to both signs, gives . Compactly supported smooth vector fields are uniformly dense in , so extends uniquely to a bounded functional there. The Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem, applied componentwise, gives the unique vector measure . The operator norm of is exactly the defining variation supremum; the vector-measure dual norm is , proving equality. Conversely any finite measure satisfying the identity bounds that supremum, so this also characterizes membership in the BV space.
The Radon-Nikodym theorem applied to the components relative to gives ; the definition of the variation measure forces almost everywhere. If is smooth, ordinary integration by parts gives . Compact support of the test field removes any boundary contribution; no boundary regularity is needed for this representation statement.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 68 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A one-dimensional Sobolev representative is absolutely continuous. For , the fundamental theorem of calculus and Holder inequality giveThus has a representative in . The qualification about representatives matters because a Sobolev space element is an almost-everywhere equivalence class.
In two dimensions, the Sobolev fundamental theorem of calculus on lines and Fubini's theorem imply that almost every horizontal and vertical slice belongs to and has this one-dimensional Hölder continuity. The slice seminorm depends on the slice; this does not give one uniform pointwise estimate on the square. For , Morrey's inequality additionally gives a globally Hölder continuous representative of exponent . For , global continuity need not hold. For example, with a smooth cutoff around an interior point, lies in when , but is unbounded. At , the cutoff version of is unbounded while its gradient has finite squared integral, sinceThese examples distinguish Sobolev slicing and planar continuity from a false two-dimensional application of the interval exponent.
Put . A BV space is a function whose distributional derivative is a finite vector-valued Radon measure. Equivalently its total variation seminorm is finite:The BV space has norm . For , integration by parts against the compactly supported field gives . Conversely the measurable choice on nonzero gradients attains the pointwise bound. Approximating this bounded field by smooth fields, using interior cutoffs and the finite measure , justifies the supremum and givesIt is a norm of the derivative measure, rather than a pointwise derivative at jump discontinuities.
There is a genuine mismatch in the printed definition of the next functional. Its constraints on and are independent. Hence its stated supremum, denoted , separates asThe scalar supremum is , by cutoffs approaching one, and the vector supremum is the variation. For an affine image signal with , this gives , whereas the displayed square-root area would give . The intended relaxed graph-area functional instead uses the coupled pointwise constraint , givingwhere is the singular part of . Both readings have a minimizer, but their equations are different.
Here is the direct method in the calculus of variations for either reading. Let be the literal or the corrected , and define the energy on , assigning infinity elsewhere. A minimizing sequence has bounded energy by comparison with . Both , so its variation is bounded, and the fidelity bounds , hence also and . By bounded-variation compactness, a subsequence converges strongly in to , and after another subsequence almost everywhere. Fatou's lemma provesThe regularizer is a supremum of affine functionals continuous in , since the test-field divergence is bounded. It is therefore lower semicontinuous. Combining the two lower bounds proves existence of a minimizer. In fact the convex regularizer and the strictly convex squared fidelity make the minimizer unique up to null sets. This does not assert that the minimizer must belong to .
For the intended graph area, conditionally assume that the minimizer is in . For , differentiate at . The derivative of the integrand is bounded by , so dominated convergence applies. The weak equation isthat is,This is the graph-area Euler-Lagrange equation. Compactly supported variations impose no boundary condition in this statement.
For the literal printed supremum, the constant drops out and one obtains total variation denoising. Its total variation calibration form isThe distributional equation means . In particular wherever the gradient is nonzero; writing this quotient without handling zero gradients would be incomplete. Formally the one-sided derivative of isMinimality in the directions and bounds the remaining linear functional by the second integral. The Hahn-Banach theorem extends it on that zero-gradient set to a bounded vector field of magnitude at most one, furnishing and the displayed weak equation. Thus the literal definition has a nonsmooth subgradient equation, not the square-root equation above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 68 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A rigorous Mumford–Shah functional permits nonsmooth image signals and free discontinuities. One classical admissible class consists of relatively closed countably rectifiable sets with finite Hausdorff measure , and with finite energy. No exterior boundary values are prescribed. For an existence argument, use the equivalent relaxed classA special bounded-variation space excludes the Cantor part of a bounded-variation derivative of the derivative: . The jump set of a bounded-variation function is the relaxed image edge set. Clipping to decreases squared fidelity, does not increase the gradient term, and does not create jumps, so this bound loses no minimizers.
Take a minimizing sequence and compare with a constant image signal. Its gradient norms and jump lengths are bounded. Alsoso the sequence is bounded in . The SBV compactness theorem for bounded values, superlinear gradient growth and bounded jump measure yields an limit in , weak convergence of gradients in , and lower semicontinuity of both the Dirichlet term and the jump measure. The uniform value bound upgrades convergence to , so fidelity converges. This proves existence of a relaxed minimizer. Essential closedness of Mumford–Shah jump sets then supplies a relatively closed representative , without added length, and . This completes the outline for the classical pair problem. Arbitrary Hausdorff convergence of image edge sets alone is not an adequate substitute for these compactness and regularity results. No uniqueness is claimed for segmentation.
As with fixed, bounded energy forces in . The reduced piecewise-constant Mumford–Shah problem isEquivalently, use a Caccioppoli partition of the image signal domain and constants :The relative perimeter counts only interior boundaries, and the factor one half counts each interface once. Adjacent equal-valued regions can be merged, removing unnecessary boundaries.
For fixed , let be its positive-area regions. Minimization over reduces to independent scalar least-squares fits:The minimized fidelity is . Thus region means in piecewise-constant segmentation give the optimal grey values for a fixed segmentation.
For a fixed full spatial function , the image edge set must contain its jumps; any extra curve only adds length. The optimal choice is its essential jump set, with a relatively closed representative when appropriate. There is no independent relocation of boundaries while that full function is held fixed. A different common alternating step fixes the values but allows the labels to move. It minimizes the fidelity-plus-perimeter partition functional above. Without the perimeter term each point takes its nearest grey value; with it, interface length is penalized. At a smooth interface between two labels, outward normal displacement of has first variationwhere is positive for an outward normal to a circle. The stationary segmentation interface curvature balance isThis is the geometric interpretation of optimizing boundaries with fixed grey levels, and distinguishes it from fixing the whole spatial image signal.
As with fixed, a constant competitor bounds the minimum independently of , forcing . compactness in the relaxed formulation leaves no jump or Cantor part of a bounded-variation derivative, so the limit is in on the connected rectangle. The reduced edge-free Mumford–Shah limit isA set of zero length can be omitted; this does not impose a zero image signal or a Dirichlet boundary value. Comparison with any fixed competitor and lower semicontinuity justify the limit minimization.
For completeness, the bilinear form on is continuous and coercive, with . The right-hand side is bounded because on the bounded rectangle. The Lax-Milgram theorem gives a unique satisfyingIt is the unique minimizer by strict convexity. Formally,with the Neumann condition understood through this weak formulation. Equivalently, subtracting the weak equation shows that the energy increase at is for nonzero .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 8 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The weak topology of probability measures is the smallest topology making every map continuous for bounded continuous real on . Define the bounded-Lipschitz metric byUsing the maximum of the two bounds instead of their sum changes the metric by at most a factor of two and gives the same topology. Symmetry and the triangle inequality follow from the supremum formula. Bounded Lipschitz functions distinguish probability measures by the open-set approximations below, so is a metric. On a separable metric space, induces the weak topology.
Here are the essential details. If , integrals of every bounded Lipschitz function converge after rescaling its Lipschitz bound. For an open set , the functionsincrease to ; for take . Thus . It follows both that is lower semicontinuous for the weak topology, as a supremum of continuous maps, and that beta convergence impliesThis is the open-set Portmanteau criterion. Its closed-set equivalent, by complements, isEither family of inequalities is necessary and sufficient for weak convergence of probability measures. For sufficiency of the open inequalities, apply the layer-cake formula and Fatou's lemma to the open superlevel sets of a continuous function , obtaining . Applying the same argument to gives the reverse bound. Scaling handles every bounded continuous function.
Conversely, weak convergence implies beta convergence. Choose a compact set of arbitrarily large -mass, using tightness of a probability measure on a Polish space. The unit bounded-Lipschitz class is uniformly bounded and equicontinuous on , so finitely many of its members approximate all others uniformly there. On the open -neighborhood , approximation errors increase by at most . The open-set inequality makes large for all sufficiently large . Weak convergence for the finitely many selected functions, combined with these approximation errors and the small mass outside , bounds the supremum defining by an arbitrarily small number. The same finite-test and open-mass bounds define weak neighborhoods, so the argument gives equality of the topologies, not only their convergent sequences. It does not first assume uniform tightness of the entire sequence.
The map is injective and continuous: for , is bounded continuous on , and . To prove inverse continuity on its image, suppose . For every open , there is an open with . Hence and . The open-set criterion on now gives the criterion on , so . Both spaces are metrizable, and this sequential argument provesThis is the probability pushforward embedding theorem. The printed claim needs the words “onto its image”: it is generally not onto all , since a Dirac mass at a point outside is not in its image. By Question 1, the completely metrizable subspace is a Borel G-delta set, and
Now let be weakly closed and uniformly tight. Take any sequence in . The space is compact for the weak topology. For completeness, this compactness follows by choosing a countable uniformly dense family in , extracting a diagonal subsequence of its bounded integrals, and extending the limits to a positive normalized functional on ; the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem gives the limiting probability measure. Thus, along a subsequence, .
For every , choose compact with for every . The set is compact and closed in , so the closed-set criterion givesTherefore , and for some . Inverse continuity gives , and closedness puts . Hence is sequentially compact, and metrizability makes it compact. This proves the required closed uniformly tight compactness criterion, rather than assuming it from Prokhorov's theorem.
Such a compact metrizable extension is always available: for a countable dense set , the coordinates embed homeomorphically into . Injectivity and inverse continuity follow by choosing close to a specified point and using the triangle inequality. The closure of the image gives .
To show separability of , use finite sums of Dirac measures on a countable dense subset of with nonnegative rational weights summing to one. This is a countable family. Given , cover a large-mass compact set by finitely many small balls centered in that subset, move the mass in each piece to its center, and move the remaining small mass to one fixed center. The bounded-Lipschitz error is at most the ball radius plus twice the exceptional mass. Approximate the resulting weights by rational weights. Thus these atomic measures are beta-dense.
Finally use a complete compatible metric on the Polish space , as required for the granted total-boundedness-to-tightness assertion. A beta-Cauchy sequence is beta-totally bounded, and so is its closure in . By the allowed assertion this closure is uniformly tight; it is weakly closed because the weak and beta topologies agree. The compactness result just proved gives a convergent subsequence, and the Cauchy property forces the whole sequence to converge in beta. Consequently beta is complete for this choice of , andIf the originally displayed compatible metric is incomplete, replace it by a complete compatible metric for this last argument; the weak topology itself is unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 8 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
The transport cost separates into a function of and a function of , so for every transport planThe value is fixed by the marginals. Hence every transport map from to is optimal, and indeed every coupling is optimal.
For an explicit description of the complete set, let and . Their strictly positive continuous densities make and increasing homeomorphisms. The full family of deterministic plans iswhere is any measurable Lebesgue-measure-preserving map. Indeed is uniform measure and is uniform measure, so any such produces the required pushforward. Conversely, for any transport map , the map preserves uniform measure. This is the measure-preserving parametrization of one-dimensional transport maps; no monotonicity is required for the linear cost.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 8 3 Solution 2026-10-06
A transport plan is a Borel probability measure on with marginals . It is c-cyclically monotone when it is concentrated on a set such that every finite list satisfiesEquivalently, one can allow every permutation of the destinations, since a permutation decomposes into cycles. The word -monotone here means this cyclic condition, not merely a two-point test for an arbitrary cost.
The potential-certificate meaning of the printed “strictly -monotone” is strong c-monotonicity: there are Borel functions and such thatThe functions are finite on full marginal-measure sets. This is a certificate by Kantorovich potentials, not literal strict inequality in every nonidentity cycle. Such a literal interpretation could not satisfy the requested implication, already for .
Here is a direct transport potential path construction. Since is finite and continuous, the closure of a cyclically monotone set remains cyclically monotone. We may therefore use the closed support of and choose a countable dense subset , containing an anchor . For a chain , , starting at that anchor, defineThe infimum is over countably many continuous functions, so is upper semicontinuous and Borel, and never because the zero-length chain is available. Cyclical monotonicity applied to a chain closing at the anchor gives . If , closing a chain through this extra pair givesso is finite on the first projection of .
Append the pair to a nearly minimizing chain ending at . If the pair is outside , approximate it by pairs in and use continuity of the finitely many costs. This gives, for every ,Now putIt is again an infimum of continuous functions of , and therefore upper semicontinuous and Borel. The anchor bounds it above by . Feasibility is immediate. For , the preceding chain inequality gives , while testing gives the opposite inequality. Hence equality holds on , and is finite on its second projection. This proves cyclical monotonicity implies the potential certificate.
To deduce optimality, we must not subtract possibly infinite marginal integrals. Use the symmetric clipping proof of transport optimality: let and similarly . Because , simultaneous clipping preserves the feasible inequalityFor any competitor with the same marginals, boundedness givesOn the full-measure equality set for , . There the clipped sums are nonnegative and increase to : when the two signs differ, their large equal clipping levels initially cancel, then the sum increases to the nonnegative original sum. Thus the monotone convergence theorem givesThis proves optimality even if the eventual integral is infinite. Conversely, a potential certificate implies the cyclic inequalities by summing and cancelling the potentials on its full-measure equality set.
The converse from optimality is true for finite-cost optimal plans. To see this, suppose points in the support violate a finite cyclic inequality by a positive amount. Continuity supplies product neighborhoods of those points on which every selected tuple still violates it, with all involved costs bounded. Normalize the restrictions of to these neighborhoods to probability measures , with marginals . Subtract a sufficiently small common multiple of and add the same multiple of . Positivity is ensured by choosing the multiple at most , even if neighborhoods overlap. Both marginals are unchanged, but integration of the strict cyclic improvement over the product of the decreases the finite total cost. This contradicts optimality, so the support is cyclically monotone.
Without a finite-value hypothesis, the unrestricted converse is false. On the discrete Polish spaces , take andThis is finite, continuous and nonnegative, yet every coupling has infinite cost because its marginals have infinite first moments. The diagonal plan is therefore an extended-value minimizer. Its support is not cyclically monotone: two distinct diagonal pairs cost , while swapping their destinations costs . Thus under the literal printed hypotheses, optimality alone need not imply -monotonicity; the usual finite-cost converse needs that qualification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 8 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the standard setting of a compact metrizable convex set in a Hausdorff locally convex real topological vector space, with its metrizable topology. Write for the continuous affine real functions on . The affine upper envelope of a bounded real function isConstants make this infimum finite, and . An infimum of affine continuous majorants is concave and upper semicontinuous, hence Borel. For continuous it is the upper concave envelope appropriate to barycentric measures; it is not the pointwise maximum of and a selected affine function.
For a fixed probability , define on real . Affine majorants showThus is sublinear and for affine . On the span of , the linear functional taking to is dominated by : the negative-scalar condition follows from . For start from the zero subspace. The Hahn-Banach theorem extends it to a linear functional on with and .
If , then , so . Also and , forcing . Positivity gives , and the Riesz-Markov-Kakutani representation theorem produces a Borel probability with . ThereforeFor affine , testing both and gives : the two measures have the same barycenter. This proves the requested supporting measure lemma for affine upper envelopes.
Choquet's theorem: every has a Borel probability measure concentrated on the extreme points of whose barycenter is ; equivalently,Concentration is a measure-one assertion, not a claim that the topological support must be a closed subset of .
To prove it, let be the measures satisfying all the displayed affine equalities. It is nonempty because it contains , and it is weakly closed in the compact space , hence compact. Let be strictly convex, as permitted. Choose maximizing . Apply the supporting measure lemma with and . It gives with the same affine integrals, so , andThus has integral zero. If is not extreme, write with and distinct . Strict convexity and every affine majorant giveTherefore the nonnegative gap is strictly positive at every nonextreme point. It is Borel, and is Borel by the allowed G-delta set assertion. Its zero integral forces , proving Choquet's theorem by strict convexity. No uniqueness is asserted for the representing measure.
For the real example, give its closed unit ball the weak-star topology , not the norm topology. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes it compact, and separability of makes this ball metrizable. Its extreme points are exactly the classes satisfying almost everywhere. Indeed, if on a positive-measure set, adding and subtracting times its indicator decomposes nontrivially inside the ball. Conversely, if almost everywhere and with , pointwise equality at the endpoints of forces almost everywhere. This is the extreme-point criterion for the L-infinity unit ball.
For the hinted case , put and . Then are extreme andhas barycenter . If is null, the two point masses coincide.
For a general real , choose a measurable representative in and set, for ,Every is extreme. The map into the weak-star compact ball is Borel: for each , the function is measurable by joint measurability and integration; a countable dense family of such tests generates the ball's topology and Borel sigma-algebra. The measure is independent of changes to on a null set. For each ,The integrand paired with is dominated by , so Fubini's theorem yieldsThese continuous linear tests define the weak-star barycenter, hence that barycenter is . Together with , this is the required threshold Choquet representation in L-infinity.
If is instead taken over complex scalars, its extreme points satisfy the same unit-modulus condition. Write , with and , choosing where . Replace the threshold family by . Its members have unit modulus and its average is , so the same pushforward and Fubini argument gives a representing measure in the real locally convex interpretation of the complex ball.