Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ib Paper 4 18D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 2 11F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ia Paper 2 8A Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ia Paper 4 4A c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ia Paper 3 4C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 3 10C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 59 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Let and , with . In the centre of mass frame the two primary distances are and . Applying Newton's law of universal gravitation and circular centripetal acceleration to the first primary gives , and henceThe same result follows from the second primary or from the relative two-body equation of motion.
A rotating-frame equilibrium has zero rotating-frame velocity, so its Coriolis force vanishes. Above the orbital plane both primaries have downward gravitational components; below it both have upward components. The centrifugal force has no component. More explicitly,which vanishes only at for finite nonsingular points. Thus all equilibria lie in the orbital plane.
The equation of motion in a rotating frame for the dwarf isOn the orbital plane the centrifugal contribution is . Thus the rotating-frame effective potential is ; equilibria are exactly its stationary points. The Coriolis force affects motion about those equilibria but not their positions. This is the circular restricted three-body problem, with the dwarf treated as a test mass.
The printed energy unit has the wrong dimensions. The correct total energy unit is , or for specific energy; is an acceleration. Dividing by and measuring lengths in units of gives the dimensionless effective potentialThe primary coordinates are and . Restricting to gives andThe absolute values are essential; dropping them would reverse the attraction on the left of a primary. On each of the intervals separated by the two primaries, decreases strictly from to . There is exactly one Collinear Lagrange point on each interval, a maximum along the direction.
For the inner Lagrange point, write with . For the L2 Lagrange point, write . The respective equations areBalancing the leading terms gives . Therefore the small-mass-ratio collinear Lagrange points obeyThe omitted displacement of the secondary is smaller than the stated error. The leading distance from the secondary is the dimensionless Hill radius.
For the L3 Lagrange point put . It lies to the left of both primaries, soExpanding the two positive inverse-square factors gives and . Thus , soAll three have . The small- equalities in the paper are asymptotic expressions, not exact coordinates for finite mass ratio.
For the remaining Lagrange points, introduce plane polar coordinates about the first primary: , . Its distance to the second primary is , andThe angular stationary condition is . For an off-axis point and , so . The radial stationary condition becomesHence , and implies . The Triangular Lagrange points are exactlyBoth triangles are equilateral. The collinear and off-axis calculations together exhaust the stationary points.
For the requested sketch, tends to at either primary and at large in-plane radius. Each Collinear Lagrange point is a saddle of the planar effective potential: its curvature is negative and its curvature is positive. To see the latter, let , and . At an inner point both distances are below one, so . At an exterior stationary point, use barycentric positions , and weights : the equation implies . To the right, the weighted sum is positive because the positive primary is closer; to the left it is negative because the negative primary is closer. Thus there as well, and .
At either Triangular Lagrange point, the planar Hessian isIts trace is and determinant , so these are local maxima. Their height is . The sketch below uses a finite mass ratio to separate the five points clearly; its singular wells are clipped only for display. These curvature labels concern the effective potential, not a stability test that ignores the Coriolis force.
Rotating binary effective-potential surface and contours at mass fraction 0.10, with all five Lagrange points marked
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 7 1 f Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
The displayed estimate has two independent defects. Even for , its right side cannot use . At , choose nonnegative smooth functions with compact support and prescribe . This is a legitimate transported solution with . The proposed inequality would requireVelocity dilation makes arbitrarily large, while the other factors stay fixed. Thus no universal works with the same-time mixed Lebesgue norm.
There is a second issue after replacing by : the Jacobian determinant bounds give a local diffeomorphism, not necessarily a one-to-one map. Suppose additionally that is injective. With , the change of variables formula and giveSurjectivity is not needed because the domain of integration can be enlarged. With injectivity, the corrected estimate has . The upper bound is unnecessary.
More generally, dispersion with a nonlinear velocity map uses the area formula to sum over inverse branches. Define the weighted inverse multiplicityIf , the same argument gives the corrected estimate with . At most inverse branches give . Thus the missing global assumption concerns multiplicity, not merely local volume distortion.
For a noninjective map with constant Jacobian determinant giving a counterexample in two dimensions, write and setThe polar coordinates calculation gives , yet for every integer . To turn this into a failure of the estimate, take a small open disk about that avoids the origin. For each of inverse branches over , choose a smooth cutoff supported on that branch, where has support strictly inside and is extended by zero. These velocity supports are disjoint. SetThen , independent of , whereas at a fixed and suitable ,The last integral is positive and independent of . No finite exists for this fixed , although . In one dimension, by contrast, a nonvanishing derivative has a constant sign, so the lower derivative bound makes a global diffeomorphism.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 9 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Use the Fourier transform convention throughout this question. The decay assumption implies square integrability, since polar coordinates giveNear zero the integrand is bounded by , and at infinity it is bounded by . The positive is what makes the latter integrable.
By the Plancherel theorem, there is a function whose Fourier transform is . It is the density of with respect to Lebesgue measure. To justify this step rather than assume a density, for every Schwartz function , Fourier inversion givesThe finite measure and the locally integrable function thus define the same tempered distribution, so they agree as measures: . In particular almost everywhere and . This is the L2 density from a square-integrable Fourier transform principle.
For , the density of is . The inequality holds wherever , apart from a Lebesgue measure zero set, soA second application of the Plancherel theorem yields the explicit boundThe implicit constant in the requested estimate may depend on the measure and its Fourier-decay bound, but is independent of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ib Paper 4 15F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
An embedded surface parametrization is a smooth map , with open , injective differential of rank two at each point, and a homeomorphism onto its image with the subspace topology. Its induced metric isIn coordinates, an arc-length-parametrized geodesic satisfieswhere the Christoffel symbols are . The normalization fixes unit speed; it is compatible with the differential equations because geodesic speed is constant.
For the cone use , , restricting to a suitable open interval for a chart. Direct differentiation gives its first fundamental formWith and , this becomes , the Euclidean metric in polar coordinates. The map is therefore a local isometry. It is local rather than global because increasing by increases by .
Given two points, choose their angle representatives so that . Their developed plane angles then differ by at most . The straight segment between their developed positions stays away from the origin: it lies in an angular sector of width at most containing both positive-radius endpoints. Develop that segment back onto the cone. Since local isometries preserve geodesics, it gives a geodesic joining the two points; it can be parametrized by arc length. This constructs geodesics on a punctured circular cone. For a repeated point the constant curve is the degenerate geodesic. In particular, this argument does not appeal to completeness of the punctured cone.
The joining geodesic need not be unique. For endpoints with equal positive radius and opposite azimuth, one may use the angular changes and . In the plane these give two straight segments from to and , respectively. Both avoid the origin. Their lifts pass on opposite sides of the cone and have distinct images, so a reparametrization cannot identify them.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 107 2 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
A bounded-domain hypothesis is needed for the requested global construction and uniqueness. The printed question does not include it. For example, the upper half-plane satisfies the stated exterior cone condition, but both and are harmonic functions with zero Dirichlet boundary condition. Thus part (iv), in its printed unrestricted solution class, is false. In this question's solutions we add that is bounded; the exterior cone condition and all other data remain as printed.
The half-plane also rules out the printed global separated barrier. In its angular interval , varying on a fixed ray forces if for every . We would then have and . Put and . Twice integration by parts givescontradicting the positive integrand. Thus a source qualification is necessary for part (i) as well as part (iv).
Fix and its exterior cone of half-angle . Choose and setOn the complement of the cone, unwrap the angle in polar coordinates as , measured from the cone axis. Then is the angle from the opposite axis and on . Define the power barrier for an exterior cone byThis has the requested separated form . In the printed signed-angle convention, the same function is outside the cone. It is smooth across the negative axis: near that axis the angular expression is the even function .
Since , put . The cosine is at least , so away from , and is continuous at . The Laplacian in polar coordinates givesLet . Since , the barrier for the Dirichlet problem satisfiesBoth the uniform lower bound and the later global comparison use boundedness. In particular, is positive at every other boundary point, and is bounded away from zero on boundary sets staying a positive distance from .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 2 6C b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-05
For , differentiate and use the angular derivative . The polar coordinates satisfyHence the rotation is clockwise. The origin is an unstable equilibrium, while is a limit cycle of period . Writing gives the logistic differential equation . For ,All nonzero solutions tend to the unit-circle attracting limit cycle as , spiralling outward for and inward for . For the solution exists for every real time and approaches the origin as ; for it remains periodic in both time directions. For , the denominator first vanishes atThis finite-time blow-up of an ordinary differential equation occurs backward in time. Such exterior solutions have no behavior: their maximal time interval is . The zero solution exists for all time and has no defined polar angle.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 10A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A central force has no component in the angular direction. The angular component of the acceleration in polar coordinates therefore gives , orFor unit mass, is the signed angular momentum perpendicular to the orbital plane, so its magnitude is conserved. Equivalently, the torque vanishes, which also fixes that plane.
The given potential energy is , whose radial force is : positive is repulsive and negative attractive. The kinetic energy in polar coordinates is , so conservation of energy givesFor and , the effective potential is positive, strictly decreasing from to , and has no stationary point. For , it still tends to at zero, crosses zero at , and has its unique minimum atIt then approaches zero from below. The minimum corresponds to a stable circular orbit. If , the centrifugal barrier disappears; the attractive effective potential is simply and has no minimum.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ia Paper 4 10A b i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Interpret projection from very far away as the asymptotic incoming state at . For and impact parameter , conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum give and . At the closest approach the radial velocity vanishes. With , the central-force radial turning point equation isOnly the positive root is physical. Put . The pericentre distance and the purely tangential speed there areThus and : attraction bends the path inward and increases the speed. With positive energy, the Kepler orbit is a hyperbola. Measured from the pericentre direction, its polar coordinates satisfy with .
The hyperbola shown has a nonzero impact parameter. For , the attractive radial orbit instead reaches the singular origin; there is no regular turning point with a finite closest-approach speed.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 344 3 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Put . The product rule applied to givesSince , substituting this vector into the divergence elastic term proves the requested form of the local density. For the radial amplitude and tangential director, the polar coordinates identities areHence the tangential integer nematic defect core hasThe director-curvature term survives when the amplitude is constant. Replacing the divergence norm by a full tensor-gradient norm would not give this expression; it is the PDF's divergence convention that is being evaluated.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 ii Paper 1 30A a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The equilibrium equations are . For the fixed points are the origin, four axis points , and four diagonal points with independent signs and . The hypothesis ensures that is real. The Jacobian matrix has diagonal entries , and off-diagonal entries .
At the origin both eigenvalues are , so it is a stable node. At each axis point the eigenvalues are . At each diagonal point they are , along the radial and transverse diagonal directions respectively. ThusThe axes and diagonals are invariant lines. For the axis saddle points have stable directions transverse to their axes and unstable directions along them; the diagonal points are unstable nodes. For these roles switch: the diagonal saddle points have stable transverse directions and unstable radial directions, and the axis points are unstable nodes. Their stable manifolds separate trajectories attracted to the origin from outward-escaping trajectories. Symmetry gives the other quadrants.
For , the entire unit circle consists of equilibria. In polar coordinates and : every ray inside the circle moves toward the origin, and every ray outside moves outward. The circle has neutral tangential and unstable radial directions; its points are not isolated saddle points or unstable nodes.
All three phase portraits are shown below. The potential satisfies and , ruling out nonconstant periodic orbits. Blue curves show the saddle stable separatrices, integrated backwards from their local stable directions. The flow arrows and invariant lines, together with the equilibrium classification, specify the topology of the sketches.
Phase portraits and equilibrium branches
. Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 3 9C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Here , , andAt fixed , write , with . Then , soThe constant- curves are semicircles and the constant- curves are lines .
The map is two-to-one where , because both and lie in the upper half-disc, and one-to-one elsewhere. Since , accounting for this multiplicity givesDirectly, symmetry makes , while polar coordinates give .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 iii Paper 348 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
Define ; the printed quotient is undefined at the origin, but this continuous extension changes no transport cost because . In polar coordinates, the two probability density functions giveBoth angular distributions are uniform, with independence of angle and radius. The proposed transport map preserves the angle and sends to . Thereforeand preservation of the angle proves . As a local check using the Jacobian determinant, its radial and tangential derivatives for are and , respectively, so and .
Now use the convex functionIt is convex because the Euclidean norm is convex and is increasing and convex on . It is differentiable, including at zero, andIts graph transport plan lies in the graph of , so the Knott–Smith optimality criterion proves quadratic optimality. Since that plan is induced by a map, part 1(b) proves optimality for the Monge optimal transport problem as well. The minimum provides a useful independent check:



