Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 79 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Local isotropy of turbulence means that joint small-scale velocity increment statistics are approximately unchanged by rotations, even when the large-scale flow is anisotropic. The universal equilibrium range contains separations much smaller than the integral scale of turbulence: their adjustment times are short compared with the outer eddy turnover time, and their normalized statistics are assumed independent of the detailed large-scale forcing. It includes the inertial range and the dissipation range.
The Kolmogorov first similarity hypothesis says that these locally isotropic statistics depend only on , mean viscous dissipation and kinematic viscosity . Dimensional analysis therefore expresses the second-order longitudinal structure function in terms of the Kolmogorov microscales:The universality of is an assumption of the theory, not a consequence of dimensional analysis alone.
The Kolmogorov second similarity hypothesis removes dependence on kinematic viscosity when . Only and remain, so the Kolmogorov two-thirds law isThe same reasoning gives the predicted order- longitudinal structure function:These are signed moments for integer ; for noninteger orders, use . In particular, the signed third-order coefficient is negative, , in the Kolmogorov four-fifths law.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 79 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and use incompressibility, . The displayed vector can be expressed asOn taking its divergence, . Commuting the remaining partial derivatives giveswhich cancels the derivative of the second term of . The derivatives falling on leaveIn homogeneous turbulence, averaging commutes with differentiation and is position independent, provided these moments exist. Consequently .
Using the strain-rate tensor and vorticity decomposition supplied in the question now gives the Betchov relation:This uses homogeneity and incompressibility; isotropy is unnecessary.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 79 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put , and , where . The small- Taylor series giveIn the Kármán-Howarth equation, the coefficient of on the left is . On the right, the triple-correlation term contributes and the viscous term contributes . HenceComparing with the mean enstrophy balance identifies the mean vortex stretching:Also , whereas differentiability gives . Thus . Homogeneity makes , so the longitudinal velocity-gradient skewness is . Substitution givesPositive mean vortex stretching therefore requires negative skewness. A centered Gaussian distribution has zero third moment, so the derivative statistics cannot be Gaussian. This conclusion uses the physically positive mean stretching, not homogeneity alone.
The probability density function has mean zero but a longer or stronger negative tail, representing intermittent compression. The illustration uses a standardized Gaussian mixture distribution solely to sketch this sign of skewness; it is not turbulence simulation data or a fitted universal distribution.
Illustrative negatively skewed longitudinal velocity-gradient density
. Details. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ia Paper 2 4F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The moment-generating function of a random variable is , defined for real where that expectation is finite. For a standard normal distribution, completing the square givesIt is finite for every real . Derivatives at zero give the moments: the expansion therefore givesFor with the normal distribution of mean and variance , write in distribution. Its moment-generating function is consequentlyThis formula also covers the constant random variable when .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 37 1 Solution 2026-10-14
Write and . The derivatives of the cumulant-generating function areSince and , the first three cumulants areThe last equality follows by expanding the cube and taking expectations. We use the paper's unstandardized third central moment throughout. The usual skewness coefficient divides this quantity by ; its sign is the same whenever the variance is positive.
There is a minor domain qualification: finite ordinary moments do not guarantee a finite moment-generating function for positive arguments. The differentiations are valid in a neighborhood of zero when a positive exponential moment exists. For positive variables with the stated finite moments, all formulas also follow from left derivatives at zero, because for and dominated convergence applies. Thus no extra exponential-moment assumption is needed for the moment identities themselves.
For the random sum of independent claims, condition on . Independence of the claims and independence from the count giveTaking expectations and then logarithms yields the random-sum transform identity and the cumulant composition for a random sum:Here is the probability generating function. These identities hold wherever the transforms are finite, in particular for with positive claims.
For reuse in the three cases, write and . Applying the chain rule three times givesor equivalentlyThis expresses the requested third central moment in raw claim moments, while keeping the contribution of claim-count variability explicit.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 38 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let , and be the probability generating functions of , one severity, and , respectively. Positivity of the severities gives and ; the random-sum transform identity gives . The count recurrence in the Panjer claim-count class impliesUse the chain rule and substitute to obtainEquating the coefficient of givesThe factor multiplying after rearrangement is . Therefore the Panjer recursion isThese power-series calculations are valid inside the convergence discs of the probability generating functions, and hence justify the coefficient identities without assumptions about positive exponential moments.
For a Poisson distribution count, , so and . The aggregate recursion becomesTo obtain a moment recursion, write , , and . For nonnegative measurable , conditioning on and using exchangeability of the severities giveswhere on the right is independent of . The second equality uses , the Poisson size-bias identity. Choosing , applying the binomial theorem, and using independence proves the raw moment recursion for a compound Poisson distribution:For any particular , a finite severity th moment suffices: , and the Poisson distribution has finite moments of every order. No positive moment-generating function domain is required.
The first three iterations giveSubtracting the appropriate powers of the expected value yieldsIn particular, the aggregate variance and third central moment involve the raw second and third severity moments, rather than their centered counterparts.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 38 4 Solution 2026-10-14
The PDF gives an inverse-gamma distribution with shape and scale , and a gamma distribution prior with shape and rate . Write . The supplied conditional moments, together with and , give the three structural quantities of the Bühlmann model:Here is the variance of hypothetical means and the expected process variance. The law of total covariance and conditional independence of different years implyAll these quantities are finite because .
For any coefficients , minimizing the mean squared error over the intercept first gives . Let and . Expanding the remaining mean squared error givesIts normal equations are for every . Since , subtracting any two equations shows that all agree. The quadratic part is strictly positive for every nonzero coefficient change, so the solution is the unique global minimizer. Solving givesA credibility estimate combines individual experience with the collective expected value, using an experience weight . In this equal-exposure setting, the Bühlmann credibility premium isThus the computed coefficients give exactly a credibility estimate, with a fixed credibility factor determined by known parameters and the number of observed years. This is Bühlmann credibility for inverse-gamma observations.
For the final Bayesian calculation, the likelihood function in is proportional to . Multiplication by the gamma distribution prior gives the Gamma prior for an inverse-gamma scale updateUnder quadratic loss, the conditional risk of an estimate is . Its minimizer is therefore the posterior mean:This is not a fixed-weight arithmetic-mean credibility estimate. For , the observations and have the same sample mean, but reciprocal sums and , hence different posterior means. For any , append the same positive observations to these two samples. For , the estimate is , with ; its second derivative is , so it is not affine either. Symmetry in the observations would force equal slopes in any affine representation, so these examples also exclude a general fixed-coefficient linear representation.
One can express the posterior mean as a broader data-dependent blend. With and harmonic mean , it isThis weights a harmonic-mean-based experience estimate, and the weight itself depends on the observations. It is not the credibility estimate based on and the fixed Bühlmann credibility factor derived above.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 2 2F b ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
This also forces . Indeed, is a continuous function on . Approximate uniformly by polynomials using the Weierstrass approximation theorem. Then uniformly, and the even moments give . The estimate from part (i), with in place of , proves and hence the conclusion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ii Paper 2 2F b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The given moments imply for every polynomial . Choose polynomials converging uniformly to by the Weierstrass approximation theorem. ThenA nonnegative continuous function with zero integral vanishes everywhere. Hence .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 2 12F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Normalization of the probability density function givesThe first two moments areConsequentlyThe cumulative distribution function is on . For with the uniform distribution on , inverse transform sampling therefore usesThe inverse lies in the required interval and satisfies .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use , where is the rate-of-strain tensor and is antisymmetric. For incompressible flow . Since , taking a trace givesThis uses the positive convention specified here; a convention with the opposite sign for must not be mixed into the calculation. For a compressible flow there is an additional term , so the displayed incompressible formula is not literally valid for every flow.
One can exhibit the required divergence directly. DefineDifferentiating, terms containing vanish, and the two terms with a second derivative cancel after relabeling indices. Thereforein homogeneous turbulence with finite differentiable moments, or under periodic averaging. This is the Betchov relation. The preceding trace identity then impliesThe principal strain rates are the real eigenvalues of the symmetric matrix . Incompressibility gives , and the identity givesNo isotropy is required for this averaged tensor identity: statistical homogeneity and incompressibility are the key assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 1 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The high-Reynolds-number balance gives positive mean vortex stretching. The Betchov relation therefore gives . To connect this to a fixed longitudinal velocity derivative, additionally assume isotropic turbulence, or average over the direction of that derivative. For a unit vector , the derivative is . Uniform directional averaging, with , givesFor example these identities follow by averaging products of direction cosines on a sphere. Hence in isotropic turbulenceand division by the positive derivative variance to the power gives negative longitudinal velocity-gradient skewness. Homogeneity alone does not fix the orientation statistics and does not establish this sign for every chosen coordinate direction.
Order the principal strain rates as . Except at degeneracies, and , so corresponds to : two extensional directions and one compressive direction, or bi-axial strain. The negative average of says that such configurations dominate this cubic amplitude-weighted statistic over axial-extension configurations with . In the usual physical interpretation, comparably intense strain events are therefore biased toward bi-axial extension.
An unweighted frequency claim needs more information. As a counterexample to deducing it solely from the cubic average, assign strain eigenvalues to 10% of samples and to 90%, with randomly oriented eigenvectors. Then , despite bi-axial extension occurring in only 10% of the samples. This example addresses what the moment inequality can infer, not a construction of a complete turbulent velocity field. A measured frequency preference is a further statistical observation.
The geometric significance is that a fluid element stretches in two directions and contracts in the third, becoming sheet-like while preserving volume. Distributed vorticity is swept into thin layers and its component along an extensional direction is amplified. The associated shear layers can subsequently roll up and produce vortex tubes. Thus the weighted strain bias helps explain sheet formation in the energy cascade even though the most intense dissipative structures can be tubes.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 2 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let and define a coarse-grained energy dissipation at scale , for example by a ball average,This is the random variable denoted . The refined similarity hypothesis uses the local supply of energy available to motions of size , rather than replacing it everywhere by a global mean. In its inertial range form,At high local Reynolds number, has a universal conditional distribution independent of , forcing details and within the inertial range. This givesFor signed odd orders the coefficients carry the appropriate sign; absolute moments use their own coefficients. Universality is retained in the normalized conditional velocity statistics, while the distribution of can retain integral-scale information. This distinction resolves the particular averaging objection: its nonuniversal viscous dissipation moments are now explicitly present.
The quoted second viscous dissipation moment does not by itself determine every longitudinal structure function exponent. The extra lognormal intermittency model assumes is Gaussian. Write its variance as . Normalization of the mean requires , soThe second-moment estimate gives . Hence, with ,In particular , and .
The most problematic step is the extrapolation of a lognormal viscous dissipation law to rare events and all moment orders. It is not entailed by a measured second moment. Its quadratic exponents eventually decrease with and become negative for . If the velocity has finite uniformly bounded moments, the bound prohibits such divergence as . Thus the model cannot be an unrestricted high-order inertial range law. This is a criticism of the lognormal closure, rather than an algebraic contradiction in refined similarity itself.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 2 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For the Landau intermittency counterexample, combine two locally homogeneous turbulent populations, with the same sufficiently wide inertial interval but different viscous dissipation rates and . This can mean an ensemble randomly selected between two intensities, or large turbulent patches whose small-scale increments are sampled away from the patch boundaries. Suppose each population individually obeys the proposed universal coefficient . If their proportions are and , the combined longitudinal structure function isIts effective coefficient referenced to the global mean viscous dissipation is thereforeFor a concrete example let and , with . ThenFor this is , explicitly dependent on the strength of the large-scale modulation. For it is less than one by concavity. Thus coefficients based solely on mean viscous dissipation cannot be universal under arbitrary integral-scale intermittency. The common inertial interval can be maintained by taking both local Reynolds numbers sufficiently large.
At the ratio is exactly one. This exception is consistent with the signed third-order energy-flux law and must not be used to rescue universality of all other orders. For noninteger orders one uses absolute increments; the even-order examples already establish the counterexample without a sign convention ambiguity. The issue is the difference between a moment of the local viscous dissipation and the same power of its mean, not a failure of averaging itself.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 2 iv Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and normalize the turbulent energy spectrum by . In isotropic incompressible turbulence the longitudinal velocity correlation isCombining with gives the exact spectral filterThe expression has a smooth removable limit at . Its asymptotic forms areAn eddy much larger than contributes nearly the same velocity at the two points and mostly cancels in the increment. An eddy much smaller than contributes decorrelated velocities and does not cancel. Replacing the smooth transition of by a step at therefore gives the common estimate . The cutoff corresponds roughly to a half wavelength equal to the point separation; its exact numerical location is conventional.
Keeping the leading nonzero low-wavenumber term gives the improved estimateIt remains imperfect because is not small throughout the whole low-wavenumber interval and the exact kernel oscillates above the transition. The data sheet's alternative coefficient is a nearby approximate matching prescription; is the exact Taylor coefficient. Neither piecewise filter is an exact identity.
Higher-order longitudinal structure functions also retain large-scale information. Decompose , where varies on a length much larger than . Its longitudinal increment is , which is small but not zero. Expanding gives its own moments and mixed moments with the small-scale increment. Rare large gradients or correlated amplitude modulation can matter particularly strongly at large .
Thus a velocity increment is not an exact scale-local bandpass filter. Its moments may retain large-scale strain and forcing information, undermining an unqualified claim of universal small-scale statistics determined by one local parameter. This observation alone does not refute an asymptotic inertial range theory: for a three-dimensional spectrum, the low-wavenumber correction is mainly supplied by wavenumbers of order , while an isolated integral-scale smooth contribution behaves as and is subleading to . The issue is whether large-scale contamination and mixed moments actually become negligible in the regime and moment order being used.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 73 3 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let in zero-mean isotropic turbulence. Define the scalar Saffman integral . The spectral transform isFor an integrable , dominated convergence applied to givesA further expansion requires an additional correlation moment and is not automatic from finite . The normalization agrees with .
For a control volume put . Statistical homogeneity gives the exact finite-volume identityFor geometrically similar volumes increasing without bound, the overlap fraction tends to one at every fixed separation. If is absolutely integrable, dominated convergence givesThe printed finite-large-volume expression is the corresponding asymptotic approximation, not an exact identity for an arbitrary finite volume. For instance, positive nonzero with a finite correlation length gives an overlap fraction smaller than one and hence a strictly smaller finite-volume value. The limit also shows ; a nonzero Saffman integral is positive.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 24 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
- almost surely.
- It has independent increments: increments over disjoint ordered time intervals are independent.
- It has stationary increments: has the same law as for .
- It has stochastic continuity: in probability as .
One convention also includes càdlàg paths in the definition. Equivalently, under the intrinsic definition above one chooses the càdlàg modification, which exists for such a stochastic process. Thus the usual working version of a Lévy process has right-continuous paths with left limits. There is no assumption of finite moments or continuous paths.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 24 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Fix and let . For any , use to obtainThe probability tends to zero by stochastic continuity. Taking the limit superior and then letting provesThis proves continuity of Lévy characteristic functions from the elementary estimate, without requiring moments or replacing convergence in probability by an unjustified almost sure limit. At , time approaches from the right. If stochastic continuity is formulated only at zero, stationary increments give the same argument at every : the absolute value of has the law of . For the characteristic function is identically one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 24 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the independent increments of Brownian motion, rather than merely checking that an Itô formula drift vanishes. For , put and write , where is independent of and has normal distribution . Its first four moments are . ThereforeFor the cubic expression, the coefficient of after conditioning is , so makes it . For the quartic expression, choose . Its conditioned coefficient of is then . The constant term becomeswhich equals when . Thus a standard choice isThe resulting stochastic processes are Hermite polynomial martingales and . They are genuine integrable martingales, since Gaussian moments are finite at every finite time and the displayed conditional identities establish the martingale property directly.
The choice is not unique. Constants give the valid family , , and : these add to the cubic martingale and to the quartic one. The boxed choice sets these harmless additions to zero.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ib Paper 4 8C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For any distinct nodes, the polynomial has degree , is nonnegative, and vanishes at every node. The quadrature rule sum for is zero, but because the weight is positive and is positive except at finitely many points. Therefore no such rule is exact for all polynomials of degree at most , irrespective of the chosen weights.
For the sine weight, its first four moments are . A monic degree-two orthogonal polynomial issince direct use of these moments gives . Its roots lie in and areThe weights follow by requiring exactness for and : and , and the symmetric nodes imply both weights are one. To prove cubic exactness, divide any cubic as , with of degree at most one. The integral of is zero by orthogonality, and its nodal values vanish; the remaining linear polynomial is integrated exactly. This is the two-node Gaussian quadrature with sine weight; the argument proves its Gaussian quadrature property without assuming a general quadrature theorem.

