Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 1 5C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The dot product and Euclidean norm are and . For every real ,Its quadratic discriminant is nonpositive, proving the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality . In the inequality asked for, equality holds exactly when is a positive scalar multiple of , and
Using the Levi-Civita symbol and its contraction identity,
Put , the scalar triple product. Cyclic symmetry gives , so each requested angle satisfies . If every pairwise angle is and , the preceding identity givesand therefore . This is when ; for a right-handed orthonormal basis and , has norm .
The three planes have equations , , and . They meet at one point exactly when , meaning their normals are linearly independent vectors. The point is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ib Paper 3 16B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The expectation value is the mean outcome over many identically prepared measurements of the observable. For real , positivity of the norm in the Hilbert space givesThis real quadratic has nonpositive quadratic discriminant, soApply this to the centered observables and to obtain the Robertson uncertainty principle
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 4 15E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A Lagrange top is a rigid body that is symmetric about a principal axis, has a point on that axis fixed in space, and has its center of mass on the same axis while gravity acts uniformly. Here is the transverse principal moment of inertia about the fixed point, is the moment about the symmetry axis, is the total mass, and is the distance from the fixed point to the center of mass.
The Euler angles for a symmetric top use for inclination, for precession, and for spin about the body axis. Since is a cyclic coordinate, its generalized momentumis conserved. The coordinate is also cyclic, sois a second integral. Finally, the Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence, and conservation of energy from time-translation invariance gives the independent integral
For steady precession set constant and constant. The Euler-Lagrange equation, with , reduces after division by toThis quadratic has a real precession rate precisely when its quadratic discriminant is nonnegative. Hence Steady precession of a Lagrange top is possible if and only if
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 4 24F a iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For any smooth projective curve of genus , a canonical divisor has degree . If this plane curve had genus two, part (ii) would implyso . The quadratic discriminant is , which is not a perfect square, so the equation has no integral solution. Thus a smooth projective plane curve cannot have genus two, as recorded by no smooth plane curve has genus two.