Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2026 / iii / Paper 202 / 3 / a / Solution

For the level-$N$ dyadic partition, writeThe dyadic partitions are nested, so the triangle inequality makes $V_N(t)$ nondecreasing in $N$, and $\Vert f_t\Vert ={\lim }_N{V}_N(t)$.

Fix $t_1<t_2$. As the mesh tends to zero, the last dyadic point before $t_1$ approaches $t_1$. Refining from there to $t_2$, the triangle inequality says that the added variation is at least $|f(t_2)-f(t_1)|$ minus the two endpoint errors, which tend to zero by continuity. ThereforeSince $\Vert f\Vert <\infty$, both limits are finite and may be subtracted, giving

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.