Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / iii / Paper 33 / 4 / b / Solution

The generalized cross-validation curve reaches its minimum at $\lambda =5$ among the supplied grid values. This balances improved conditioning against shrinkage bias using an estimate of prediction error, rather than choosing the penalty with the smallest training residual sum of squares. Nearby values have similar errors, so the plot does not establish a highly precise optimal penalty.

Reading the PDF table at $\lambda =5$ gives the fitted regression intercept and slopes:These table entries are necessary because the TeX stores the table only inside a figure. The ridge regression slopes are shrunk relative to the zero-penalty fit; their small nonzero values do not represent variable exclusion.

There is a minor source inconsistency: the prose says the predictors are centered, but the table's intercept varies with $\lambda$. With exactly centered predictor columns and an unpenalized intercept it would remain $\overline{Y}$. The numbers above faithfully report the printed table, while part (a) gives the centered formula and the general uncentered conversion. The table therefore reflects a different or incompletely described preprocessing convention.