Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2011 ia Paper 1 5C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 2 13C b iv Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Substitute into the energy functional and integrate the resulting polynomial:The term linear in cancels. HenceAs required, is independent of the force and is a quadratic function of it.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 3 9F Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
To prove the finite-dimensional spectral theorem, first note that the continuous quadratic function has a maximum on the unit sphere. The Lagrange multiplier equation at a maximizing vector gives , so has a real unit eigenvector. Its orthogonal complement is invariant becauseInduction on the dimension supplies an orthonormal eigenbasis of that complement and hence of .
For ,while symmetry and bilinearity are immediate, so the displayed formula defines an inner product on . Sinceintegration by parts givesThe boundary term vanishes for polynomials, proving that is self-adjoint.
On the monomial ,Thus the matrix of in the monomial basis is triangular with diagonalThese are therefore its eigenvalues. For , corresponding eigenvectors arefor eigenvalues , respectively. They are the first Laguerre polynomials up to normalization, as described by the Laguerre differential operator on polynomials.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 321 1 d Solution 2026-09-28
Setting , the dispersion relation reduces toAn axisymmetric density mode grows whenThe left-hand side is a concave quadratic function of , with maximum at . Growth is therefore possible precisely when the Toomre stability criterion is violated: