Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 1 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2020 / Paper 1 / 12 / b / i / Solution

At height $z>0$, the elliptic paraboloid has a circular cross-section $0\le r\le \sqrt{z}$, of area $\pi z$. The cylindrical coordinates volume element therefore reduces the volume integral toFor the specified $f$, the derivative is $e^{-z}(z^{-1/2}+\frac{1}{2}{z}^{-3/2})$. Thus $z{f}^{\prime }(z)$ is integrable at zero and decays exponentially at infinity. Apply integration by parts first on a truncated interval and then take the endpoint limits:Both boundary terms vanish because $zf(z)=-\sqrt{z}{e}^{-z}$. With $z=u^2$, integration by substitution gives the Gaussian integral:The integrand is singular at the apex but the resulting improper integral is convergent.