Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ib Paper 1 16E Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 ib Paper 1 1E b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 ib Paper 3 1F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 4 2G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ib Paper 4 3H i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ii Paper 3 2F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ib Paper 4 3F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 3 2F b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ii Paper 3 2F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 7 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
True. The Banach-Alaoglu theorem makes compact for the weak-star topology. Its compactness can be seen by embedding it in the product : the closed conditions expressing linearity identify a closed subset with , and the product is compact by the Tychonoff theorem. The product topology is exactly pointwise convergence on .
Part (i) supplies a compatible metric. Every compact metric space has a finite -net for each positive integer . The countable union of these finite nets is dense. ThereforeThe argument concerns topological separability, with the relative weak-star topology specified in the question.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 7 1 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
True. Choose a countable dense sequence in the separable Banach space . For in its closed dual unit ball, putThis is a metric: positivity follows because continuous functionals agreeing on a dense subset agree everywhere; symmetry is immediate; and the triangle inequality follows from subadditivity of for . The tail of the series is uniformly small, so convergence on these coordinates implies convergence for this metric, and conversely metric convergence controls each individual coordinate.
The uniform bound upgrades coordinate convergence to pointwise convergence on all of . For any , choose close to and useFor neighbourhoods involving finitely many , choose finitely many such approximations. This proves equality of the induced topologies, including for arbitrary nets. Thus the weak-star metrizability of the dual ball gives
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 7 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Consider the operators on all of or , extending the displayed positive-function formula linearly. Here is the space of continuous functions vanishing at infinity. The multiplier has modulus at most one, so , and multiplication of exponentials gives and . For strong continuity on , choose a compact outside which is small. On the continuous is bounded, making uniform; outside , . For , use pointwise convergence and the dominated convergence theorem with bound . Thus both are contraction semigroups, even when is unbounded.
The generator of a multiplication semigroup isIndeed pointwise difference quotients converge to . A norm limit therefore forces the displayed domain condition, using an almost-everywhere convergent subsequence for the case. Conversely , so the dominated convergence theorem proves the limit when . In write the error as times , with the value at supplied by continuity. That second factor tends uniformly to zero where is bounded and has modulus at most one; the compact-set and small-tail argument applied to proves uniform convergence. To prove directly that is a closed operator, take and . Pointwise limits in , or a common almost-everywhere convergent subsequence in , give . Thus is in the appropriate generator domain and . In the domain is dense because ; in compactly supported continuous functions are a dense subspace contained in the domain.
A real multiplication operator on its maximal domain is an unbounded self-adjoint operator. One direct verification is to test the adjoint relation against functions supported on . If is in the adjoint operator domain with representing vector , those tests force on each such set, hence . The converse follows by integration. On the sigma-finite measure spaces used below, the spectrum of a real multiplication operator is its essential range; spectral values are detected by unit vectors supported where the multiplier is arbitrarily close to that value, while outside the essential range its reciprocal is a bounded resolvent multiplier.
For the heat semigroup on , take the normalization . The unitary Fourier transform converts it to multiplication by , and converts the semigroup to multiplication by . ConsequentlyThe Sobolev space domain is exactly . The continuous spectrum comes from the full essential range of , not from square-integrable Fourier eigenvectors.
For the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup on standard Gaussian measure, the normalized Probabilists' Hermite polynomials form an orthonormal basis. The construction below gives and , so the Hermite coefficient map turns it into a real multiplication operator on . ThereforeFinally, the heat semigroup on the whole real line has no positive spectral gap, whereas the standard Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup has gap one. For the first claim, take a nonzero smooth compactly supported and set . Then , but . This disproves a uniform whole-line Poincare inequality ; one can also choose . Lebesgue measure here is infinite, so it has no normalized probability mean to subtract. For Gaussian measure, the Hermite expansion instead gives the sharp Gaussian Poincaré inequalityEquality holds for affine functions. The identity on the right is interpreted on the energy-form domain, which is larger than the full operator domain.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 iii Paper 7 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
On the polynomial subspace of , the Gaussian creation and annihilation operators are and . Gaussian integration by parts makes them adjoints there and gives . The Gaussian number operator isThe Probabilists' Hermite polynomials are . Their generating function is , giving . The commutator also yieldsThe orthogonality follows by repeated integration by parts; the leading coefficient is one, so these polynomials span every polynomial. By the allowed density assumption is an orthonormal basis. Define the closed number operator by on . This diagonal multiplication operator is self-adjoint and positive semidefinite; polynomial truncations show it is the closure of the polynomial operator.
The Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroup is , or . It also has the Mehler formula for the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck semigroupTo verify the formula, apply its right side to : the Gaussian moment-generating function makes the result , proving the eigenvalue identity on every Hermite polynomial. Positivity and invariance of Gaussian measure give contraction by Jensen inequality, so polynomial density extends the equality to all . The coefficient expansion givesFor continuously differentiable with bounded derivative, differentiate the Mehler expectation by the dominated convergence theorem to get the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck gradient commutation identityThe same identity extends to the Gaussian Sobolev form domain. Mehler's formula also gives pointwise convergence to the Gaussian mean for such , since bounded derivative permits at most linear growth.
The Gaussian Dirichlet energy is the energy form of :For polynomials this follows from , and closure extends it to the form domain. For the given continuously differentiable , Gaussian integration by parts yields , so Parseval identity proves the derivative-energy equality directly. Bounded derivative puts in the Gaussian Sobolev space, hence in that form domain; it need not be in the full operator domain, so is not always a legitimate initial definition.
Use the entropy functional . Begin with bounded smooth bounded away from zero, and put . Invariance and Gaussian integration by parts give the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck entropy dissipation identityThe gradient identity and the permitted weighted Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, applied with weight , implyThe entropy tends to zero as by Mehler's formula and bounded convergence. Integrating in time and using invariance yields . Set to obtain the sharp Gaussian logarithmic Sobolev inequalityFor the stated possibly unbounded , apply the argument to smooth positive clipped approximations with a common positive lower bound and uniformly bounded derivatives. They can converge pointwise together with their derivatives and have a common linear-growth bound. Since Gaussian measure integrates every polynomial moment, dominated convergence theorem passes both the entropy and the derivative energy to the limit. This also justifies use of the supplied inequality when itself is unbounded. The normalization concerns , and does not imply ; the second term in the entropy definition must be retained.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 3 2G a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The sequence has uniform convergence on if there is a function such thatThe same must work for every . Equivalently, the supremum of the error over tends to zero. In pointwise convergence, is allowed to depend on .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ib Paper 2 3G a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The uniform convergence condition on a set isThe index is independent of ; this is stronger than pointwise convergence.
Fix and . Choose one such that for every . The continuity of at gives with whenever . The triangle inequality then givesSince was arbitrary, , the uniform limit theorem. Continuity of each approximant need not be uniform continuity.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 22F a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The pointwise limit is a measurable function, since it can be expressed as . Thus each set is a countable intersection of measurable sets within . Deleting the condition at index weakens the requirements, whereas replacing by strengthens them. HenceThese are inclusions, not necessarily strict inclusions. The displayed sets describe eventual uniform error tolerances at an individual point.
Fix and . By pointwise convergence, there is an such that for every . This is exactly , provingTogether with monotonicity in and finite measure of , continuity from below of a measure gives . ConsequentlyThis quantitative form is what allows a single large-measure set to work for every tolerance, rather than choosing a different exceptional set for each point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 10F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
The Baire category theorem says that in a nonempty complete metric space, every countable intersection of open dense sets is dense. To prove it, start in an arbitrary nonempty open set and let be open dense. Inductively choose closed balls with , contained in and in the interior of the previous ball, with the first also contained in . Density provides a point at each stage, and openness permits the smaller closed ball. The centers are a Cauchy sequence; completeness supplies a limit lying in every closed ball, hence in . The proof also works at isolated points, where sufficiently small balls are singletons.
The incomplete metric space is a counterexample: it is the countable union of its closed nowhere dense singletons, so the complements are open dense with empty intersection.
For the sequence in the problem, putEach is closed by continuity. Pointwise convergence makes each point's values a Cauchy sequence, so . By the Baire category theorem, one has nonempty relative interior, which contains a nonempty open interval in . This proves the required common tail bound.
If continuous converged pointwise to the rationality indicator, take and let in this bound. On , for . Hence a fixed continuous is at least at every rational point and at most at every irrational point of . The density of both sets contradicts continuity. Thus the rationality indicator is not a pointwise limit of continuous functions.
Nevertheless are continuous and converge pointwise to for , . This limit is discontinuous at : a pointwise limit of continuous functions can be discontinuous.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 2 2F ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
True. By the Weierstrass approximation theorem, choose a polynomial with . For each fixed , this bound applies once , so . This proves pointwise convergence; the same construction even gives uniform convergence on every closed interval.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 4 3E ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
No. For each , , whereas for every . The pointwise limit on is thereforeThis limit is not continuous at . Since every is continuous, the uniform limit theorem rules out uniform convergence. Directly, for , whose supremum over is for every .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 2H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
A subset of a metric space is nowhere dense when the interior of its closure is empty. One form of the Baire category theorem says that a nonempty complete metric space cannot be a countable union of nowhere dense closed sets; equivalently, a countable intersection of dense open sets is dense.
Fix and work in the complete interval . For define the closed setThe sets are closed by the continuity of , and the assumed pointwise convergence gives . The Baire category theorem therefore gives an and a nonempty open interval contained in .
The intervals overlap once , which holds for every sufficiently large natural number . Their union consequently contains a half-line. Every sufficiently large can therefore be written as with and , and then . Since was arbitrary, as .