Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 ia Paper 3 11C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Assume the continuously differentiable irrotational vector field is defined on all of , as in this vector calculus setting. A constructive vector-field potential with the requested negative-gradient convention isSince zero curl means , differentiation under the integral givesThus . This is the Poincaré lemma in its straight-line form, and works on any star-shaped set about the integration base point. Zero curl on a domain with holes would not by itself guarantee a global vector-field potential; the full-space hypothesis matters.
For the given field, the second component requires . Integration in gives . Its derivative is , and its derivative is . Comparison with the other two components forces . HenceIts negative gradient is exactly the given field. Because this vector-field potential is smooth everywhere, commutation of mixed partial derivatives gives , verifying irrotationality. All such vector-field potentials differ by a constant on the connected domain.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 ia Paper 3 3C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
A differential one-form is an exact differential if there is a differentiable function with and , so the form equals . For continuously differentiable , equality of mixed partial derivatives gives the necessary conditionA local differential condition need not by itself give a global potential on a domain with holes; no such issue arises for the explicit primitives here.
For the first form, and direct differentiation givesFor the second, but . These are not equal on any nonempty open subset of the plane, so that form is not an exact differential. Nevertheless,Thus one suitable pair is , . This factorization is smooth even at . On regions where , its reciprocal factor is an integrating factor which turns the original form into .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 13 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Suppose there were distinct singular points of an algebraic variety . Let be their joining projective line. The homogeneous restriction has degree . At a singular point of an algebraic variety of a plane algebraic curve, the local defining equation has no constant or linear term, so its restriction to any line through that point vanishes to order at least , unless the restriction is identically zero. Therefore a nonzero would have at least four zeros counted with multiplicity, two at and two at , which a degree- homogeneous polynomial on cannot have.
Hence . After choosing coordinates with , this says that every monomial of contains , so divides . That contradicts the irreducible polynomial hypothesis on the cubic. ThusThis elementary version of the Bézout theorem argument works in every characteristic, without assuming that the partial derivatives of the cubic have their characteristic-zero form.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 13 5 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
An elliptic curve works over every algebraically closed field, including one algebraic over a finite field. Give it explicitly in byIn the first case the only point at infinity is , where the derivative with respect to is nonzero. In the affine chart , a singular point of an algebraic variety would have , , and . The possible roots cannot satisfy the last equation in characteristic different from : at it is , and at it is . In the second case the three homogeneous partial derivatives are , up to harmless signs, and cannot vanish simultaneously at a projective point. Thus both cubics are smooth varieties. A reducible plane cubic would have intersecting positive-degree components by Bézout theorem, and be singular at an intersection; therefore these smooth cubics are irreducible varieties. The genus-degree formula gives . With the marked point they are elliptic curves.
For a smooth algebraic curve, its divisor class group is its Picard group. Its degree-zero subgroup isThe map gives an isomorphism of abelian groupsTo recall why it is a bijection, Riemann-Roch theorem in geometric genus one says every degree-one divisor class has exactly one independent section: a canonical divisor has degree zero, so the dual degree- term has no section. Thus the class contains one effective divisor on an algebraic curve of degree one, namely a point , and that point is unique. Translating by gives the claimed bijection; this is precisely the chord-and-tangent group law on the elliptic curve.
Choose a prime integer different from . The multiplication-by-n morphism has derivative times the identity at , so it is nonconstant. A nonconstant morphism of algebraic varieties between smooth projective curves is surjective: its image is closed by proper morphism and cannot have algebraic dimension zero. Since is an algebraically closed field, this makes surjective on -points. ThereforeYet is infinite. For each , the affine equation has a solution for in the algebraically closed field; since is infinite, this gives infinitely many points.
By the Fundamental theorem of finitely generated abelian groups, a finitely generated abelian group satisfying has no free part and is a finite torsion group of order prime to . The infinite group cannot have this property while being finitely generated. Thus is not finitely generated. A subgroup of a finitely generated abelian group is finitely generated, soThis proof uses divisibility and infinitude, rather than uncountability, so it remains valid over countable algebraically closed fields.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 ib Paper 2 12F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-07
Fix and a sufficiently small rectangle inside . Its rectangular incrementcan be evaluated twice using the fundamental theorem of calculus, givingDivide by and let . Continuity of the mixed partial derivatives makes the two limits and . They are equal everywhere on .
Repeated interchange of adjacent partial derivatives reduces every order- derivative of a smooth function to , . Hence there are at most distinct functions. This maximum is attained by , whose listed partial derivatives are the distinct functions . The answer is , rather than the possible written orders.
For the supplied , for , whereas . It is not even continuous at the origin, so is neither differentiable nor infinitely differentiable there.
For , . Thus , proving Fréchet differentiability at the origin with derivative zero. However,including zero at the origin. Therefore and . is differentiable but not infinitely differentiable at the origin: it cannot have continuous second partial derivatives near that point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 9 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
For a finite collection of distinct affine lines in a vector space in , , a joint is a point incident to lines whose direction vectors are linearly independent. The joints theorem assertsIn the customary three-dimensional formulation this is , with three noncoplanar incident lines at every joint. We prove the general form, which includes that formulation.
Let and . The conclusion is immediate when . Otherwise set . Suppose for contradiction that . Repeatedly delete any line incident to at most of the currently retained joints, deleting those joints at the same time. Each deleted line loses at most current joints, so even deleting all lines could lose at most joints. Therefore the process must stop with a nonempty set and a line collection such that each retained line contains more than retained joints. Every retained joint still has its original independent incident lines: if any line through it had been deleted, the joint would have been deleted too.
There is a nonzero multivariate polynomial of total degree at most vanishing on , becauseChoose such a polynomial of smallest possible total degree . This is an application of the polynomial method in combinatorics. Every line of contains more than roots of a polynomial of its polynomial restriction to a line, so vanishes identically on every such line.
At a retained joint , differentiating along each of its independent line directions gives . Their linear independence therefore forces . Each partial derivative of vanishes on all of and has smaller total degree. Minimality of forces every partial derivative to be the zero polynomial. Over the real numbers, a polynomial with all partial derivatives zero is constant; a nonzero constant cannot vanish on the nonempty . This is the required contradiction.
It follows that . Since for ,This proves the joints theorem by the pruning and minimal-degree polynomial argument.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 3 10A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Direct use of partial derivatives givesWith the upward oriented surface element found in part (b), the curl flux integrand over the annulus becomesEvery term in the numerator is odd in or , so its integral over the symmetric annulus is zero. Thus the surface integral isEach boundary circle has constant , hence . Its line integral is therefore , with no contribution from the third field component. An anticlockwise radius- circle gives . The outward boundary orientation is anticlockwise at and clockwise at , soThe two computed values agree, verifying Stokes theorem with both boundary components. A downward choice would give on both sides.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 3 4A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Parametrize the smooth path by . The chain rule turns the line integral of the gradient into a one-variable derivative:This is the fundamental theorem for line integrals; in particular the integral has path independence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ib Paper 4 12F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
To prove the sufficient condition, take a rectangle about contained in the open domain. Split the increment along its coordinate directions:The one-variable mean value theorem, applicable because the restrictions are differentiable, represents these two terms asThe zero-increment cases are interpreted directly. Subtract . By continuity of both partial derivatives at , the remainder is at most once the increment is small. This is the required little-oh remainder and proves differentiability.
The converse is false. Set for , and . At each point with , its Fréchet derivative is zero, since the function increment has magnitude at most . It is smooth away from this line. Butis not continuous there. Thus a function can be differentiable everywhere while its partial derivatives are discontinuous.
For , every point with is a smooth point. At the origin, , so is differentiable with zero derivative. At with , the putative first partial derivative would require the limit , which does not exist. Consequently the exact set of differentiability is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 64 2 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
First eliminate the density-dependent definition of the auxiliary . The Newtonian gravitational stress tensor can be written without derivatives of its normalization:Here is the Kronecker delta, and repeated indices are summed. Differentiating givesThe first and third terms cancel because mixed partial derivatives commute; the final step uses the Poisson equation for Newtonian gravity. Therefore the gravitational force density is a stress divergence:The identity holds for spatially varying mass density: substituting the definition of before differentiating prevents erroneous extra density-gradient terms.
For the gravitational stress contribution to angular-momentum transport, the anisotropic term supplies angular momentum transport. In cylindrical components its radial–azimuthal entry isIn the momentum conservation equation, is the radial stress contribution to the angular-momentum flux, whose sign depends on the correlated radial and azimuthal field components. It vanishes for a perfectly axisymmetric potential but can be nonzero for spiral disturbances.
The other term is isotropic and acts as an effective negative pressure, . Its force contribution is , modifying normal compression and force balance. It has no off-diagonal shear component and therefore no direct radial angular momentum transport. In an axisymmetric averaged disk it supplies no azimuthal torque. The complete symmetric Newtonian gravitational stress tensor also expresses conservation of angular momentum without an internal couple.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 11C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
In Einstein summation convention, the curl isApply another curl and use the contraction of two Levi-Civita symbols:Smoothness allows the partial derivatives to commute. This proves the curl of the curl identity:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 11C c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The identity divergence of a curl is zero follows by the symmetry of second partial derivatives and antisymmetry of the Levi-Civita symbol. ThereforeIf and is in Coulomb gauge, the curl of the curl identity gives . Apply the supplied scalar Poisson equation representation to each component of the decaying vector potential. In the units of this problem the Coulomb-gauge vector potential of a localized steady current isHere one needs , and enough localization of for the stated representation and differentiations. A smooth compactly supported current density is a sufficient convenient case. The local differential equations and gauge alone do not impose these conditions: , , satisfy them but do not satisfy the displayed integral formula. The formula selects the decaying solution, excluding nondecaying homogeneous harmonic functions.
With , the gradient of the kernel is . Since is independent of ,Thus taking the curl gives the Biot-Savart law in the problem's normalization:Finally, change variables in the integral for . This keeps the singular kernel independent of the differentiation variable:For smooth localized , differentiation under the integral sign is legitimate: is locally integrable in three dimensions, and on a bounded neighbourhood of the translated sources and their derivatives have common compact support. The integral indeed satisfies Coulomb gauge.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ia Paper 3 9C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Integrating the oscillatory term together with the constant components gives a potential of a conservative vector fieldDirect partial derivatives recover both components of , proving it is a conservative vector field. Its line integral is therefore path independent. At an integer endpoint , the sine term vanishes, so for any of the specified pathsAny other potential has the same gradient, so differs from by a constant on the connected plane. In particular every potential changes by under and by under . Equivalently the integral from to is , whereas a unit-periodic potential would make that difference zero. There is no potential periodic with period one in both coordinate directions. This is an example of how periods obstruct a periodic potential: a periodic vector field need not have a periodic potential.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 4 15F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Write derivatives with respect to . The arc-length condition is . The tangent vectors areTheir scalar products give the first fundamental formChoose the unit normal vector , since and . Scalar products of with the second partial derivatives giveThe mixed coefficient is zero. Reversing reverses the second fundamental form but not the Gaussian curvature. Its formula isDifferentiating the arc-length identity gives . Substitute it directly, without dividing by (which may vanish), to obtain
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 107 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Choose a smooth cutoff function supported in , equal to one on , with and . For , put . The zero Dirichlet boundary condition implies that the tangential boundary derivative vanishes on the flat face. Differentiating the Poisson equation gives . Test this equation with . The boundary terms vanish because on the flat face and near the curved face. Integration by parts in the tangential direction moves off , yieldingThis is the essential Caccioppoli inequality step: it involves , rather than . Expanding and using the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality and the Young inequality givesThe term is bounded by . Absorbing the first term and summing over proves the hinted estimate:All mixed second partial derivatives are now controlled, since . The remaining normal derivative is recovered from the equation:The Cauchy-Schwarz inequality bounds its squared L2 norm by times the sum of the squared L2 norms on the right. Including the already controlled zeroth and first partial derivatives, and taking square roots, gives the second-derivative estimate at a flat Dirichlet boundary:The full second-order Sobolev norm is controlled without any norm of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 107 4 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Write the minimal surface equation for a graph as in its weak formulation, where . For negative increments use the same difference quotient convention, soFor , the function is an admissible test function in . Commuting the first partial derivative with translation, then applying discrete integration by parts, givesThe fundamental theorem of calculus along a line segment gives the averaged linearization of a nonlinear divergence-form equationThus the backward difference quotient solves a linear equation in divergence form:To verify the ellipticity of the minimal surface flux, computeand henceThe eigenvalue parallel to is ; every orthogonal eigenvalue is . The same lower and upper bounds pass to the averaged symmetric matrix whenever both endpoint gradients have norm at most :The printed hypothesis supplies such an on each relatively compact subset, uniformly for sufficiently small . It therefore establishes a locally uniformly elliptic operator. A single lower bound on all of additionally requires bounded gradients there and at the shifted points; this is automatic for bounded and fixed , but is not supplied on an arbitrary open set.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 107 5 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take nonempty and compactly contained in . The argument is a compactness proof of a nonnegative elliptic solution estimate, with the global Schauder estimate retaining control all the way to the boundary. The operator and the Hölder space exponent are fixed throughout.
Suppose the estimate fails. For each integer there is an admissible nonnegative solution , with forcing , such thatPut and . Then , , on the boundary, , andGlobal elliptic regularity and the global Schauder estimate for zero Dirichlet boundary condition giveThis estimate includes the term, so it does not require invertibility of or a sign restriction on . The compact embedding of Hölder spaces, or the Arzelà-Ascoli theorem applied through second partial derivatives, gives a subsequence converging in to . Thus , , on the boundary, and .
Choose with . A further subsequence has . Uniform convergence yields . Part (b) says that a nonnegative homogeneous solution on the connected domain is either zero everywhere or strictly positive inside. Both alternatives contradict, respectively, and . ThereforeThe interior infimum and the forcing control the global supremum. Global boundary control is crucial here: an interior-only compactness argument could lose the normalized maximum at the boundary.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 211 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
For fixed , differentiation under the integral sign is justified by bounded and . At the unconstrained minimizer , the first-order condition isDefine the strictly positive, bounded pricing kernelThe first-order condition says , so . When taking the requested partial derivative, hold fixed and only afterwards set . Writing , we obtainThe assumed dual bound applies to this particular pricing kernel. ThusNo derivative of the map is needed; confusing a partial derivative with a derivative along the minimizing path would add an unnecessary hypothesis.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 2 2C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The first partial derivatives areBoth vanish at , so every positive diagonal point is a stationary point. The Hessian matrix there isIts eigenvectors and have respective eigenvaluesThe zero eigenvalue reflects the entire line of nonisolated stationary points: . In fact , showing a non-strict local minimum when , a non-strict local maximum when , and values on both sides of two near . At that last point the whole Hessian matrix vanishes, so its signs alone cannot classify the point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 3 9B b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For a twice continuously differentiable vector potential , write the curl with the Levi-Civita symbol:The second derivatives are symmetric in , whereas is antisymmetric, so the contraction is zero. Equivalently, writing out the three components shows that each mixed derivative cancels its reversed-order partner. ThusThis is divergence of a curl is zero. The regularity hypothesis is what licenses commutation of the mixed partial derivatives; it must not be omitted for a singular potential without specifying a weaker derivative interpretation.