Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 3 1 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use . At the specialization is , already proved irreducible and separable. Because the original polynomial is monic, this proves irreducibility over and gives a transitive group on five roots.
At the specialization factors asNeither factor has a root in , so they are irreducible; the factors are coprime and the specialization is separable. For example its derivative is and its value at one is one. The unramified reduction test gives a permutation whose cube is a transposition. The same primitive prime-degree graph argument now givesNo characteristic-zero discriminant-sign argument is being transferred to characteristic two: good specialization and the explicit cycle test are sufficient.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 3 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A Hilbertian field is a field over which generic irreducibility can be retained by specializing a parameter. More precisely, for polynomials irreducible over and separable in , and a nonzero exclusion polynomial , the Hilbert subsetis infinite. Denominators, leading coefficients and discriminants may be incorporated into . The infinite condition permits simultaneous avoidance of any finitely many bad places. Separability is part of the definition, particularly in positive characteristic.
The field-theoretic interpretation is useful in constructive Galois theory. If is finite separable and generated by a root of , specialization at a good is the residue extension at a place over . Irreducibility of means its residue degree is the entire degree . Thus a Hilbertian field has infinitely many unramified rational places which are completely inert in each prescribed finite separable extension. For a finite family, one can work in a primitive-element presentation of their separable compositum; preserving its full degree preserves the degrees of all the subextensions.
Hilbert's irreducibility theorem says that is Hilbertian, and gives the corresponding assertion for number fields, including infinitely many integral specializations in its classical form. Rational function fields over arbitrary fields are also Hilbertian. In particular, global function fields are Hilbertian just as number fields are. These standard field classes and the specialization viewpoint are discussed in Haran and Jarden's introduction to Hilbertian fields. The theorem does not say every parameter is good: is generically irreducible, but a square parameter makes it split. For simultaneous irreducibility, one excludes more exceptional parameters, not the entire field.
Hilbertianity survives finite extensions. For the separable case, let be Hilbertian, finite separable and irreducible and separable. A primitive element of over has degree . Apply Hilbertianity to its minimal polynomial and exclude the presentation's denominators. The resulting residue field contains the constant copy of and has the same total degree over , so its degree over is . Therefore remains irreducible over , even for infinitely many chosen in . This argument also handles finitely many polynomials by a compositum. Purely inseparable finite extensions are treated by separating the separable part and transporting its rational places through the unique purely inseparable extension; the finite-extension stability statement remains valid.
The property is not inherited by arbitrary algebraic extensions. An algebraic closure is not Hilbertian: in characteristic zero, is irreducible over but every specialization has a root in . In characteristic , use instead; a hypothetical rational-function root would give its right side a pole of order divisible by , contradicting its simple pole at infinity. All constant specializations split over the algebraically closed field.
Finite fields also fail. For of characteristic , considerIts right-hand additive datum has a pole of order , not divisible by , and cannot be for a rational function . The polynomial is therefore irreducible over : its roots are for , so its splitting-field group has prime order unless a root already belongs to the base field. At every , however, and the specialization is , which splits. This gives a concrete failure of the required specialization property.
The main constructive application is Galois-preserving Hilbert specialization. Suppose is finite Galois with group , and use a primitive element of the entire splitting field, not merely a generator of one root field. A good specialization retaining degree has residue group embedded in by unramified reduction. Since its order is still , it is exactly . Preserving only the irreducibility of the original degree- polynomial would prove transitivity, which is weaker than preserving its full group. Resolvents or the primitive generator eliminate that ambiguity.
Consequently a regular realization of over , with constant field , yields realizations over the Hilbertian field . This is the bridge from branch-cycle constructions to the Inverse Galois problem over number fields. A realization over alone cannot be specialized to ; descent of its coefficients and constants is an additional step. Rational rigidity can supply that descent under its appropriate hypotheses, while ordinary complex rigidity answers only the geometric uniqueness question.
For example, the family has full symmetric geometric monodromy in characteristic zero. It is irreducible because it is linear in . Its derivative has distinct critical roots satisfying , and their distinct critical values are . Each simple critical point gives a transposition. These finite branch cycles generate the monodromy, since the infinity loop is the inverse product of the finite loops. Their transitive connected-edge action gives . The arithmetic group is also , so the constant field is . Hilbert specialization then produces symmetric Galois groups over . For the same conclusion follows directly from the square-root family.
Finally, the good parameters form a large arithmetic set without being every point or generally a Zariski-open set. Reducibility can occur at infinitely many exceptional points, as the square example shows. The language of thin sets packages those exceptions as images of generically finite separable covers of degree greater than one, together with finitely many points. Hilbertianity asserts that such finitely many exceptional constructions cannot exhaust the rational line. It is an existence principle with powerful constructive consequences, not by itself an algorithm that certifies a particular chosen parameter.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 3 5 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The PDF has -power exponents; the polynomial is a linearized polynomial over a finite field, not the degree- polynomial produced by the converted TeX. Let be its root set in an algebraic closure. Because and for ,Thus is an -vector space. Its derivative is , and its degree is , so it has exactly distinct roots. A finite vector space of that size has dimension .
Every splitting-field automorphism fixes and carries roots to roots. Hence it acts linearly on . The action is faithful because the splitting field is generated by the roots. Choosing a basis identifies this injection withDifferent bases conjugate the matrix subgroup. The linear action itself is canonical, while a particular matrix realization is basis-dependent.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 3 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put , so and in the characteristic. For a nonzero root , division by givesThe projective point is therefore represented by , satisfyingTwo nonzero roots give the same exactly when their ratio lies in . Thus the projective points are precisely the roots of . The polynomial is irreducible in , since it is linear in and its quotient ring is . Gauss's lemma makes it irreducible over , so the action on projective points is transitive.
Fix one such coordinate , so . The other coordinates satisfyWe prove its irreducibility even over . Make the birational change , . Multiplication by transforms the equation intoChoose a nontrivial th root of unity over the algebraic closure. Since the characteristic does not divide , has a simple zero at . Viewed as a polynomial in over , is Eisenstein at the prime : the leading coefficient is one, every intermediate coefficient is zero, and the constant term is divisible by that prime exactly once. It is therefore irreducible.
The birational substitution preserves irreducibility after inverting or . No factor supported solely on is lost, because is nonzero. Gauss's lemma then proves that is irreducible over and hence over . Its roots are distinct: a repeated root would have as well as , forcing , impossible generically.
The stabilizer of the chosen projective point is , and the irreducibility of makes it transitive on all the remaining projective points. This proves projective transitivity of a trinomial linearized polynomial, namely two-transitivity on the one-dimensional subspaces. The supplied group-theoretic result now applies to the linear subgroup from part (a), givingThe Eisenstein argument remains valid even though is divisible by the characteristic; it concerns irreducibility in , not separability of that projection. Separability of the projective polynomial has been checked independently.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 3 5 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write with , and let be the splitting field. The root set of is an -dimensional vector space over , by the argument of part (a) with replaced by .
The constants really occur inside , rather than only in the ambient algebraic closure. Choose a nonzero root . For every , is also a root, so both elements lie in andLet . Since is Galois of degree two,This index statement does not require proving that has no still larger constant field.
As an extension of , is the splitting field of the same polynomial. Applying part (b) with base constant size and dimension givesThe special linear group is the kernel of determinant in the general linear group, so every element of normalizes it. Therefore is the required normal index-two subgroup normalizing .
In fact the full group is semilinear over : an element outside acts on constants as and satisfies . Field automorphisms preserve determinant one, so this also explains the normalizer behavior geometrically. This is the quadratic constant extension of a q-squared linearized splitting field, not the polynomial of part (b) with its term unchanged.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 49 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be layer thickness and gravitational acceleration. The unforced shallow water equations on the equatorial beta plane areLinearize about , . Put and , and scale , , and . Dropping capitals, the linearized shallow water equations becomeThe choice makes both the wave speed and the coefficient of the dimensionless Coriolis parameter equal to one.
Take Fourier modes that decay as . Their equations areFor and nonzero , the first two require . The root gives , and meridional balance becomes . Hence the equatorial Kelvin wave isIt travels eastward at speed in dimensional units. The other sign gives and , so is not trapped.
For , and , inversion of the first two equations gives the equatorial wave velocity polarizationSubstitute in the remaining momentum equation. Multiplication by leavessoWriting yields , the Hermite differential equation. The trapped solutions have the Hermite oscillator quantization and .
For completeness, quantization follows without assuming that every acceptable solution is a polynomial. On decaying smooth functions, define , and . Integration by parts gives and . If , it is an eigenfunction of with eigenvalue . Repeated lowering must terminate: otherwise it eventually produces an eigenvalue below one. At termination , so the terminal eigenfunction is and has eigenvalue one. Repeated raising gives and ; uniqueness of a decaying solution at one end of this second-order equation fixes each mode up to scale.
Thus, away from the exceptional quotients, all fields are determined byInsert this and its derivative in the polarization formulae to obtain and . For , the cubic supplies the low-frequency equatorial Rossby wave and two equatorial inertia--gravity wave branches. Their meridional structures are Gaussian-weighted Hermite polynomials.
For , multiplication by factorizes the equatorial shallow-water dispersion relation asThe physically admissible quadratic gives the mixed Rossby-gravity wave, equivalently the Yanai wave:These fields satisfy all three original equations directly and decay at both infinities, including where the quotient formulae are singular.
To test the other factor, set . The original equations give and . Put ; meridional momentum then givesDecay of at both infinities requires the integral of the right side to vanish. Hence unless . Ordinarily the extra factor supplies no trapped mode. At the exceptional root of the mixed Rossby-gravity mode, , it coincides with the quadratic root and gives the same physical fields, not an additional branch. This distinction avoids discarding a regular physical mode at the crossing.
These arguments concern nonzero wave angular frequency. At , the oscillatory nonzero- modes have , while zero-frequency geostrophic states must be considered in the original equations rather than in expressions divided by .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 59 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Fix an explicit stationary-grid convention. For subdivision arity , write the univariate rule asA column of the subdivision matrix is one translated subdivision mask; the next column is translated by fine-grid rows. Thus the column displacement is the arity. If is active from to , the subdivision mask width is fine-grid positions, after removing zero padding. Equivalently the mask span is fine intervals. This is different from counting old control points in a row stencil: that count measures how many controls influence one newly created point. Stating the convention avoids confusing these two widths.
For a convergent subdivision curve scheme, its support is the influence region of one original control point, equivalently the support of a function of the basic limit obtained from data . Translation gives the representation . Descendant indices of index zero have parameter positionsThus the limiting support enclosure is , as in the support of a stationary subdivision scheme. Endpoint activity gives equality for the ordinary positive convergent masks under discussion.
The functional precision set of a subdivision scheme consists of functions exactly recovered from their uniformly sampled data using the scheme's consistent parameter placement. Polynomial precision records the exactly reproduced polynomial space. Sampling-grid spacing and origin must be specified; the usual arbitrary-grid precision requirement uses every spacing and shift, rather than merely membership in the fixed-grid reconstruction space.
Center the given mask at indices . Its binary linear interpolatory subdivision rule isEach new control point is either an old point or an edge midpoint. Hence every refined control polygon is the same curve with extra vertices. Starting from scalar impulse data, the limit is explicitlyThe mask width is three positions, its mask span is two, its largest row stencil uses two old control points, and its subdivision arity is two. Translating the mask indexing to translates the basic support to ; the support width remains two original grid intervals.
On , reconstruction is . Constant and affine samples are therefore recovered exactly. A non-affine polynomial cannot agree with a linear expression on a whole open interval. Thus its polynomial functional precision set of a subdivision scheme isFor continuous functions reproduced at every translated sampling grid, the same conclusion holds: agreement with all chord interpolants forces the affine interpolation identity, hence affinity. At one fixed grid, the larger exactly representable class is the space of linear splines with those spline knots; this is not a higher polynomial precision claim.
For arbitrary data, the one-sided derivatives at are and . They need not coincide. Therefore the generic limit is , not . Its first derivative is piecewise constant; exceptional affine data, or individual matching neighboring slopes, can be smoother. This conclusion follows directly from the limit formula, not just from a heuristic mask-width test.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 60 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Work in the standard class of real constant-coefficient linear multistep methods using only first-derivative evaluations. Writewith . The Dahlquist equivalence theorem states that such a method converges on each fixed finite time interval, for sufficiently regular Lipschitz initial value problems and every set of consistent starting values, if and only if it is consistent and zero-stable. Consistency means and . Zero-stability means all roots of lie in and every root on is simple. In particular the consistency root at is simple.
Taylor expansion of the exact-solution residual gives the exponential-symbol order criterion for a multistep methodThis criterion packages the identities through . We now derive the upper bound on from the root condition, rather than assuming the first Dahlquist barrier.
Use the Cayley transform and defineThe simple root at gives , while and . Each finite transformed root is , with nonpositive real part when . A possible root at simply lowers the degree of . Factor over the reals: a real root contributes with , and a conjugate pair contributes with . Therefore, after reversing the overall sign if needed,Since , the order criterion is equivalent toThe key coefficient sign lemma for the first Dahlquist barrier isHere is a proof of that sign assertion. Direct integration givesDifferentiate twice and pair the terms at and to obtainThe power series of has positive odd coefficients. The even powers in the hyperbolic cosine therefore have nonnegative coefficients, and has strictly positive even coefficients. Every even coefficient of is consequently negative. Also is even and , proving the assertion.
If is odd and , the coefficient of in must vanish because . But it iswhere out-of-range indices are zero and the sum includes the strictly positive . This is impossible, so . If is even and , exactly the same argument with the coefficient of gives a contradiction. Thus in that case. This proves the Cayley coefficient proof of the first Dahlquist barrier:To prove that the bound is attainable for every , let be the Lagrange polynomials for the nodes , and take . The Newton-Cotes multistep methods attaining the first Dahlquist barrier areThe underlying Newton-Cotes closed quadrature is exact on all polynomials of degree at most . For even , the node polynomial is odd about , so . Dividing any degree- polynomial by shows that quadrature exactness extends one degree further. Integrating the exact derivative therefore gives method order at least for odd and at least for even .
Finally has only simple unit-circle roots, so these methods satisfy the root condition. The weights sum to , proving consistency. The Dahlquist equivalence theorem gives convergence with consistent starts; the proved upper bound makes the attained formal orders exact; starting values accurate to those orders also give the corresponding global accuracy. Hence the highest convergent order is . This result concerns the stated linear first-derivative class, not unrestricted multiderivative or nonlinear formulas.