Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / iii / Paper 339 / 1 / c / Solution

For each fixed $x$ in the nonnegative orthant, the map $A\mapsto x^{T}Ax$ is a continuous linear function on the vector space of real symmetric matrices. Thusis an intersection of closed half-spaces, using the Frobenius inner product $⟨A,B{⟩}_F=\mathrm{tr}(AB)$ on this space. Arbitrary intersections of closed sets are closed, so $K$ is closed.

If $A,B\in K$ and $s,t\ge 0$, then $x^T(sA+tB)x=s{x}^{T}Ax+t{x}^{T}Bx\ge 0$ for every $x\ge 0$. Therefore $sA+tB\in K$, including the zero matrix when $s=t=0$. HenceThe copositive cone is defined in the real space of symmetric matrices; symmetry is needed later to recover every matrix entry from these quadratic forms.