Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 48 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Putting gives the local regular perturbation result . It cannot describe the whole half-line: its derivative grows like , making order one at .
The useful exact change of variables isDirect substitution turns the equation into two autonomous differential equations,The initial values here are . Near the origin, linearizing this system gives eigenvalues and . Equivalently, neglecting only the derivative-square nonlinearity in the original equation gives the two modes and . Their matching coefficients areThus the growing derivative has . Keeping these unexpanded linear-mode coefficients is convenient for matching; it does not assert that the linearized solution is the exact nonlinear one.
At the distinguished limit , set . To leading order the derivative equation becomes , the logistic differential equation. Matching as selectsThen , and the growing-mode matching givesThis proves the logistic crossover in a weakly nonlinear Euler equation. In particular the nonlinear-region leading solution is , or with the constants taken at their lowest order.
A composite asymptotic expansion retaining the small-distance stable mode and satisfying the initial value exactly isSince , this matches when and hence at fixed as . Its derivative at one differs from the prescribed value only by , within leading-order accuracy. For it gives . Thus the composite covers the initial region, the nonlinear transition and the arbitrarily large- regime; uniform leading accuracy is understood relative to the growing solution, not as an absolute error independent of unbounded .
There is no later hidden growth regime. The exact positive system keeps in , because its vector field points inward at every boundary. Its positive equilibrium point is , with Jacobian matrix having trace and determinant . The origin has no attracting direction inside the positive quadrant, while the divergence excludes cycles by the Bendixson-Dulac theorem. The Poincaré-Bendixson theorem therefore gives convergence to the positive stable equilibrium. At fixed small positive , the exact far-field slope is , whose difference from is only relative , consistent with the global leading composite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 79 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
At fixed , expand the exact damped harmonic oscillator solution using , and . Its Poincaré expansion through first order isThe correction is a secular term. When is order one it is not small, and the truncated amplitude eventually changes sign and grows in magnitude, instead of reproducing positive damping. This loss of ordering is why a fixed-time regular perturbation is unsuitable on the damping timescale.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 iii Paper 74 1 ii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write and , with each coefficient satisfying the zero Dirichlet boundary condition. The steady complex equation, including the fluctuating coupling, is . Since , its order- terms giveThis is a regular perturbation equation for the threshold shift. The right projection uses the complex inner product, not a bilinear product without conjugation.
The linear operator is self-adjoint on the domain in complex L2 space. For functions in that domain, two integration by parts steps giveThe boundary term vanishes. In particular is formally self-adjoint: both complex conjugation of and integration by parts contribute a minus sign. Taking , and using provesThis is the Fredholm solvability condition for a self-adjoint operator. Define and . The gauged sine mode hassince the real envelope contributes an integral of its own derivative, whose endpoint term is zero. In particular the denominator in the solvability condition is nonzero. ThereforeFor either parity choice this expression is real. Indeed , and are even about the midpoint, while is odd. Hence , and the last numerator reduces to .
No integral evaluation is needed to compare the two shifts. The phase change gives , , and leaves and unchanged. Thus , andEquivalently, the term involving vanishes by parity, while reverses the remaining perturbation numerator. This is parity splitting of a mean-field dynamo threshold: the perturbation breaks the phase degeneracy and lowers one onset threshold by the amount it raises the other.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 76 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A regular perturbation admits an asymptotic expansion about the limiting problem on the relevant scale without losing its solutions or conditions. A singular perturbation changes the limiting structure, so some solutions require a different scale: a differential equation may lose an order, or a polynomial may lose its degree.
The two finite roots approach . Set . Substitution into the polynomial gives at leading order and at the next order. Since , for either sign. Each branch is a regular perturbation of a simple algebraic root, withThe limiting quadratic has only two roots, whereas the original equation has three. The missing root is a divergent algebraic root in a singular perturbation. The dominant balance for algebraic roots sets , giving . Its nonzero leading root is . Put ; the left side is , so . Hence the second nonzero term occurs at order , not order one:For small nonzero real these three branches are real and distinct; the divergent branch changes sign with . The two bounded branches are regular even though the full root problem is singular.
The fixed-time regular perturbation is . Retaining the exponential decay and the first accumulated phase correction gives on . When its phase series is unordered. For positive damping the absolute error is nevertheless exponentially small on that later scale, so phase failure and failure in absolute displacement must be distinguished.