Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 340 4 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The printed definition of the restricted isometry constant omits the quantifier: the two inequalities must hold for every vector with at most nonzero entries. The constant is the smallest nonnegative value, or the infimum over positive values; it can be zero.
Let and . The restricted isometry property of order says for every supported on . Since is a Hermitian matrix, the finite-dimensional spectral theorem implies . Disjoint supports give , henceThis argument works over and avoids the loss of a factor caused by treating real and imaginary parts separately.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 iii Paper 340 4 d Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The printed bound is false, even for and zero noise. Let and choose with six orthonormal rows spanning , so . For a vector supported on at most entries,Take , , and . Every feasible vector is , whose objective is . Its unique minimizer is . YetNo choice of the noise constant repairs this example. Also must be excluded: has , but its two unit-coordinate vectors have identical measurements and both minimize basis pursuit.
The corrected conclusion, for , iswith both constants depending on the restricted isometry constant. The order- threshold itself is valid for ; it need not be replaced by an order- threshold. A precise sharp robust recovery theorem gives, for , the admissible constantsThis is the standard stable recovery result, invoked here explicitly; its order restriction and constants are given in arxiv.org/pdf/1302.1236, Theorem 3.3.
For completeness, the mechanism behind a robust null space property proof is as follows. Put , let index the largest entries of , and write . Feasibility and minimality give the tube and cone inequalitiesIf has the robust null space property with and , namely for every , thenApply that property again to the largest entries of . Sorted coefficients satisfy , because each tail entry is at most . ThereforeThis proves the usual two-constant conclusion under the explicitly stated robust null space property and explains why a fixed coefficient one is not supplied by that argument. The sharp order- theorem above supplies the conclusion for the actual printed threshold, after the necessary corrections.