Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 9 1 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Put . Since has no zeros and the unit disc is simply connected, it has a holomorphic logarithm. Thus is holomorphic with and . The Cayley transform between the half-plane and disk givesThe Schwarz lemma yields , so the Carathéodory derivative bound for the right half-plane gives . Since , the sharp answer isEquality in the Schwarz lemma holds exactly when , . Solving for and exponentiating gives exactly the extremizersTheir logarithmic real part is , so each is indeed a zero-free map into the unit disc with the prescribed value at zero.
For a fixed , put . Apply the Harnack inequality on the unit disk to the positive harmonic function and then exponentiate its negative. The zero-free Schwarz lemma givesFor both endpoints are attained: take for the lower endpoint and for the upper endpoint in the displayed extremizers. At zero both are . If the question is interpreted as allowing to vary as well, the sharp infimum and supremum over all admissible pairs are respectively and , approached as ; neither value is attained inside the unit disc. An individual function need not have these global extremal values: the constant function is a simple example.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 9 1 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Harnack inequality on the unit disk states that a nonnegative harmonic function satisfiesOne proof applies the Poisson integral on the unit disk on a circle of radius : the Poisson kernel on the circle lies between and its reciprocal. The mean value property for harmonic functions identifies the mean boundary value with ; let .
A harmonic conjugate on the simply connected unit disc makes holomorphic. The Carathéodory derivative bound for the right half-plane gives . The Cauchy-Riemann equations give , so . For a fixed , use the disk automorphismThe chain rule and conformality multiply the gradient length by . Applying the estimate at zero to proves the sharp gradient bound for positive harmonic functions:Sharpness follows from , which has equality at zero, and then composing with . These extremizers are positive multiples of the Poisson kernel on the circle with its boundary pole fixed at one point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 9 2 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the absolute value around the logarithm in the original PDF. Set . This is a nonnegative subharmonic function, including at zeros by its continuous extension. Its radial means are nondecreasing: Poisson integral comparison on a larger concentric circle bounds the smaller mean by the larger one. The hypothesis givesConsequently for every , and continuity of implies throughout the unit disc. Thus everywhere, which is stronger than the requested conclusion. In particular has bounded characteristic, because ; it belongs to the Nevanlinna class and to H-infinity space. The hypothesis also excludes the identically zero function, whose absolute logarithmic integral is infinite.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 9 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A nontangential limit at restricts approach to a fixed Stolz region , where . Radial approach is a special case. The Fatou theorem for bounded holomorphic functions says that every in H-infinity space has a finite boundary value for almost every , with convergence through every fixed Stolz region and almost everywhere.
Here is a proof outline. Write with bounded real harmonic functions . Take a sequence . The bounded functions have a subsequence converging in the weak-star topology of by the Banach-Alaoglu theorem and weak-star metrizability of the dual ball; its predual is separable. Denote the limit by . For , the Poisson integral on the unit disk givesThe Poisson kernels converge uniformly for this fixed interior point and the boundary functions stay uniformly bounded, so the weak-star topology permits passage to the limit:Repeat for , obtaining . Thus is the Poisson integral of .
The Lebesgue differentiation theorem makes almost every boundary point a Lebesgue point of and . The lemma that a Poisson integral converges nontangentially at Lebesgue points then gives in every fixed Stolz region. To see why, put and let be the shorter angular distance. In the kernel satisfiesSplit the circle into a central arc of radius comparable to and annuli with radii . For a Lebesgue point, averages of on sufficiently small arcs are arbitrarily small. The annular contributions are bounded by these averages times a summable geometric sequence . On the remaining fixed distant arc the kernel is , so its contribution vanishes. This proves the claimed nontangential limit. The same Lebesgue points work for every integer aperture , hence for all finite apertures.
These boundary values recover the interior by the Poisson integral, so they determine uniquely. They satisfy : one inequality follows by taking limits of the bounded interior values, and the other from positivity and unit integral of the Poisson kernel. The dominated convergence theorem also gives in every finite norm. Its negative Fourier coefficients vanish, because the Taylor series of has only nonnegative powers. This explains the boundary realization of analytic Hardy spaces.
The exceptional set cannot generally be removed. For example, is bounded and holomorphic on the unit disc, using the holomorphic logarithm on the right half-plane: lies between and . At the boundary point one its radial values oscillate without a limit. Nor does the theorem assert convergence along arbitrary tangential paths or a continuous boundary extension. Its strength is almost-everywhere control on every fixed approach cone.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 9 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
We prove sufficiency by a non-tangential maximal function and the layer cake representation. Write . First : three hyperbolic geodesic caps corresponding to arcs of normalized length , with equally spaced centers, cover the unit disc. This handles interior points and large arcs, not only a thin boundary strip.
Fix aperture two and set . The crucial H1 non-tangential maximal inequality on the disk isHere is its endpoint proof. For let , which is holomorphic across the closed unit disc. Since modulus powers of holomorphic functions are subharmonic, Poisson comparison givesThe estimate that a Poisson maximal function is dominated by the Hardy-Littlewood maximal function yields . The strong Hardy-Littlewood maximal inequality now givesFor each interior point , hence . The Fatou lemma proves the maximal inequality. This uses a genuine maximal bound; the Hardy-Littlewood maximal function is not strongly bounded on .
For , the set is open, since each interior point witnessing this strict inequality has an open boundary shadow. Write its disjoint arc components as . If and , the arc centered at with angular half-width lies in , because there. Thus it lies in one component , and has angular projection in with . The geodesic-cap and Carleson-box comparison puts all such points in for a fixed enlargement factor whenever is small. For large , use . If or is the entire circle, that same total-mass estimate applies. Summing, without needing the enlarged caps to be disjoint, givesThe layer cake representation and the proved H1 non-tangential maximal inequality on the disk finish the argument:Thus the two conditions are equivalent, with their least admissible constants comparable: and . This is the Carleson embedding theorem on the disk, proved at the analytic endpoint.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 9 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the extended-value convention for a normal family, which is essential here: every sequence in the holomorphic family has a subsequence converging uniformly on compact subsets either to a finite holomorphic function or to infinity. Convergence to infinity means for every compact . Equivalently one uses local uniform convergence in the chordal metric. For holomorphic functions a nonconstant meromorphic limit cannot acquire a pole: near a supposed pole, the reciprocals of sufficiently large-index functions are holomorphic and nowhere zero, and converge to a holomorphic function with a zero. Hurwitz's theorem would force that reciprocal limit to vanish identically, giving the constant infinite limit instead.
Restriction proves that global normality implies normality near each point. For the converse, choose a countable cover by connected discs on which the family is normal, with smaller discs covering and having compact closure inside the corresponding . Such a cover exists from the countable rational-disc basis and local normality. Starting with any sequence, extract a subsequence converging on , then a further subsequence converging on , and so on. The diagonal sequence converges on each . On an overlap the limits agree; a finite holomorphic limit and infinity cannot both occur there. The overlap graph of this cover is connected, since otherwise its components would partition the connected domain into disjoint open subsets. Therefore all local limits are of the same type and patch to one holomorphic function or to infinity throughout . Every compact set has a finite cover by the smaller discs, so convergence on their compact closures gives uniform convergence on that compact set. This proves that normality is a local property.
For the counterexample take the unit disc and the family . Since , tends uniformly to infinity. Any sequence from this family either has a constant subsequence or has indices tending to infinity, so the family is normal. Its derivatives are . No subsequence of these derivatives can have a finite locally uniform limit, because their values at any fixed nonzero point grow without bound; nor can they tend locally uniformly to infinity, since every derivative vanishes at zero. Thus a holomorphic normal family need not have a normal derivative family.
Now impose the point bound at . For any sequence of derivatives choose corresponding functions from the original family. Normality supplies a locally uniformly convergent subsequence, and the point bound excludes the infinite limit. Let its finite holomorphic limit be . The Cauchy integral formula gives convergence of derivatives uniformly on compact subsets. Explicitly, for compact choose so its closed -neighborhood lies in a compact ; thenEvery sequence of derivatives therefore has a locally uniform subsequential limit. This pointwise anchoring of a holomorphic normal family proves the derivative family is normal under the stated bound.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 9 3 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a plane domain, the following are equivalent descriptions of a simply connected domain: every based loop contracts in the domain with its basepoint fixed; any two paths with the same endpoints are homotopic while those endpoints stay fixed; its complement in the Riemann sphere is connected; every holomorphic function has a single-valued primitive; and every nowhere-zero holomorphic function has a holomorphic logarithm. The complement must be taken in the extended plane, including infinity. An equivalent winding number formulation is that every closed curve has index zero about every point outside the domain.
Here is a direct equivalence proof for the first two topological formulations. If all paths with given endpoints are homotopic relative to those endpoints, apply this to a loop based at and the constant path at , obtaining a contraction. Conversely, let join to . The loop contracts with basepoint fixed. Concatenating this contraction with produces a homotopy from to , relative to . The middle retracing excursion contracts by shortening its traversal in both directions, giving a homotopy from that first path to . Hence and are homotopic relative to their endpoints. Planar domains are path-connected, so no extra path-component condition is needed.
The analytic descriptions follow from path independence of the holomorphic integral. Local primitives exist on discs by integrating power series; a homotopy can be subdivided into pieces lying in such discs, and local path integrals cancel along its common edges. Thus integrals over homotopic paths agree, giving a global primitive. Applied to for a nowhere-zero function, a primitive makes constant and hence supplies a holomorphic logarithm. These observations are also the tools used in the mapping proof below.
The Riemann mapping theorem states that every nonempty simply connected proper domain admits a conformal bijection onto the unit disc. Given , there is exactly one such map with and . The exclusion of the whole plane is necessary: an entire map into the disc would be constant by Liouville's theorem.
An extremal proof has the following concrete steps. First construct an injective bounded holomorphic map. Choose and a holomorphic square root of . It is injective, since equality of its values implies equality of their squares. Its image is disjoint from its negative: would imply and then , impossible. If , choose with ; the disc is omitted. Therefore is injective and bounded. Scaling it and applying an automorphism of the unit disk gives a map into the disc taking to zero; a rotation makes its derivative positive.
Let consist of all injective maps with this normalization. It is nonempty. The derivative at is bounded above by the Cauchy integral formula on a small disc compactly contained in . Choose with derivatives tending to their positive supremum . Boundedness, the Cauchy estimates and a diagonal Arzelà-Ascoli theorem argument give a subsequence converging locally uniformly to ; this is the bounded-family form of the Montel theorem. Then , , and the maximum modulus principle puts its image in the open disc. The limit is injective: if distinct had , apply Hurwitz's theorem near to , which has no zero there; the limit would vanish identically, contradicting .
Finally suppose is omitted by . It is nonzero since . Let and choose a holomorphic square root of . It is injective and takes values in the disc. Put , so , and normalize by a rotation. The new map's derivative magnitude at isThis square-root improvement of a normalized conformal map contradicts extremality. Thus is onto. Two normalized bijections differ by a disc automorphism fixing zero; Schwarz lemma applied to it and its inverse makes it a rotation, and positivity of the normalized derivatives forces that rotation to be the identity. This completes the requested proof outline.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 9 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
An explicit disk map of a slit half disk makes the two boundary approaches visible without assuming an extension theorem for the boundary. We construct the map as a succession of bijections and then determine its limits.
First maps the upper half-disc of radius two bijectively onto slit along . Indeed, its inverse chooses the square root whose argument lies in . The removed segment on the imaginary axis becomes , so the image of is preciselyThe Möbius transformation maps the radius-four disc bijectively onto the unit disc, taking to zero and to one. This follows also by writing it as , an automorphism of the unit disk after the scaling. It takes the removed real interval to , so the image is the unit disc with this radial slit removed. Choosing defines a single-valued square root and maps that slit disc bijectively ontoAll these maps have nonzero derivatives on their respective domains, since their potentially problematic zero or branch point is on the removed slit.
Next the Joukowski map is a conformal bijection from onto the lower half-plane. For ,If , then , and rules out the second factor vanishing. To prove surjectivity, take in the lower half-plane and consider . Neither root lies on the unit circle, where is real. Their product is one, so exactly one has modulus less than one. For that root the displayed imaginary-part identity forces . Thus it lies in . Also cannot vanish there. Finally maps the lower half-plane bijectively onto the unit disc: the inequality is exactly , and its inverse is . Consequentlyis a conformal bijection of onto the disc.
At the slit point the continuous rational expression for tends to . In a sufficiently small neighborhood of , points of have nonzero real part. Since and the real-coefficient Möbius map preserves the sign of the imaginary part, right-side approach gives , while left-side approach gives . HenceThe two limits of are thereforeThey have modulus one and are distinct, since and the Möbius map is injective on the extended real line. The two-sided cluster set at an interior slit point is a geometric consequence of opening the slit into two boundary intervals.
Two sides of the slit at i/2 become distinct boundary points after squaring, a disk automorphism and a square root
. Details. For the given map , the composition is an automorphism of the unit disk. To see its precise boundary behavior, let and compose with the inverse of . This gives a disc automorphism fixing zero. Applying Schwarz lemma to it and its inverse shows it is a rotation. ThusIts denominator never vanishes on the closed disc, and its inverse has the same property; it therefore extends to a continuous bijection of the unit circle. Put and . These are distinct points of that circle, independent of the approaching sequence.
For any sequence approaching , every infinite right-side subsequence has image tending to , and every infinite left-side subsequence has image tending to . At least one side occurs infinitely often. Conversely, any convergent image subsequence has a further subsequence confined to one side, so its limit must be the corresponding one of these two points. The cluster set is therefore exactly , or , according to which sides occur infinitely often. Both sides really occur in the domain, for example along with positive .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 86 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let be holomorphic on a neighborhood of the closure of a bounded region with piecewise smooth positively oriented boundary, with no boundary zeros and with not identically zero. The argument principle stateswhere is the zero multiplicity. More generally a closed contour avoiding the zeros gives , and the integral is the winding number of about zero.
To prove it, factor near a zero as with . Then . Remove small disjoint circles about the finitely many zeros in the region. On the remainder is holomorphic, so the Cauchy integral theorem reduces the boundary integral to the sum of the small-circle integrals. Each is because is holomorphic on its small disc. This proves the formula. Along a contour, the imaginary part of is the change in a continuous argument, giving the winding interpretation and the indexed version.
Now choose a closed disc on which is the only zero of the nonconstant limit . Its boundary has . Local uniform convergence gives there for all sufficiently large . The contour functions , , have no boundary zero. Their winding numbers are constant under this homotopy, so the argument principle shows that has exactly the same positive number of zeros, counted with multiplicity, inside the disc. This is the Rouche theorem argument, here derived from the contour count.
Choose a zero in that disc. For every , the compact annulus contains no zero of , so uniform convergence makes nonzero on it eventually. Therefore all of the chosen zeros eventually lie within of . ConsequentlyThe maps are eventually not identically zero, since they converge at any fixed point where is nonzero; thus their zero counts above are legitimate.
A double zero need not persist as a double zero. On the unit disc take , . Its zeros converge to zero but are simple, while vanishes only at zero and . Hence the additional simultaneous derivative condition cannot always be imposed. Local uniform convergence preserves total nearby multiplicity, not its concentration at a single point.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 86 2 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the curvature-minus-one normalization of the hyperbolic metric:The associated distance is . A connected Riemann surface has its complete canonical Poincare metric on a Riemann surface precisely when its universal cover is conformally the unit disc. By the uniformization theorem, the other simply connected covering types are the complex plane and Riemann sphere. Disc automorphisms preserve , as direct differentiation of shows; therefore the metric descends through the deck group. This is the uniformization notion of hyperbolicity, not the different potential-theoretic Green-function classification.
First prove the needed Schwarz lemma. If is holomorphic and , then extends holomorphically at zero. On its modulus is at most . The maximum modulus principle and give and .
Write . Conjugating by the source and target disc automorphisms, fixes zero. Applying the derivative bound givesIntegrate along any piecewise smooth path and then take the infimum of lengths: . This proves the Schwarz-Pick theorem. Contraction means nonexpansion, not a uniform Lipschitz constant strictly smaller than one; automorphisms preserve all distances.
If both and have disc universal covers, lift to through . The disc is simply connected, so the lift exists, and it is holomorphic because the covering maps are local biholomorphisms. Both covering maps are local hyperbolic isometries. The disc contraction therefore descends to and, by the path-length argument, . If only is known to have a hyperbolic metric, a nonconstant forces to have one too: otherwise lift from the plane or sphere universal cover of to the disc cover of . A bounded entire function is constant by the Liouville theorem, and a holomorphic map from the compact sphere into the disc is constant by the maximum modulus principle. Thus a nonconstant map into a hyperbolic surface is distance-nonincreasing between the canonical hyperbolic metrics; a nonhyperbolic source admits only constant such maps.
For the prescribed point, Schwarz-Pick theorem gives . Thereforeis holomorphic after filling the removable singularity at , and . Inverting the target automorphism provesConversely every holomorphic with this bound gives an admissible disc map: , its inverse target automorphism remains in the disc, and the denominator cannot vanish.
Fix and put . The possible intermediate values fill , since constant choices , , attain them all. Thus the one-point value region of a holomorphic disc map is . Completing the square in gives its Euclidean centre and radius:This closed disc lies strictly inside the unit disc because . For it degenerates to the single point . Its boundary is attainable by unimodular constant ; requiring to map into the open disc does not remove that boundary.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 86 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
There are two necessary qualifications to the printed formula. Critical points satisfy , not . At a point with , the local degree is one and the printed summand is zero. In addition, is finite only when ; constant maps and origin-critical maps need separate treatment.
These are genuine issues even for otherwise ordinary disc maps. The map maps the unit disc into itself and has . Its derivative never equals one in the disc, so the printed count is zero, but it has a ramification point at of multiplicity one. For the correct identity has the additional term , proving that the displayed identity with the literal printed count is false. Also shows the undefined basepoint logarithm in an origin-critical example.
Prove the intended identity first for a nonconstant map with . Let be its hyperbolic derivative density and . Away from derivative zeros, is harmonic, and direct differentiation givesAt a zero of of multiplicity , factor with . Its logarithm contains , whose distributional Laplacian is . ThusThe local map degree is , so this is the required excess-degree weighting.
For a smooth function, differentiating its circular mean and applying the divergence theorem gives . Integrating in gives the logarithmic Green-Jensen formula. Factoring the isolated logarithmic singularities extends it to the present :Substitution yields the critical-point Jensen identity for the hyperbolic derivativewhere . This is the requested formula with the critical-point typo corrected. Initially choose a circle containing no ramification point on its boundary; continuity and integrability of logarithmic boundary singularities extend the result to the remaining radii.
By Schwarz-Pick theorem, . ThereforeThe normalized hyperbolic distance is , andConsequentlyOne can take and . Since the corrected count is nonnegative in the noncritical-basepoint case, this also proves the growth bound for with the literal printed, identically zero count, though not its false identity.
For completeness, if vanishes to order at zero, put andApply the same formula to , which is regular at zero. It givesThe origin contribution is a regularized Jensen term, not the undefined . If one instead omits the origin term, the upper bound gains ; this is bounded for , while the characteristic and off-origin count are bounded on any smaller compact disc. Thus a bound still holds for that nonnegative-count convention after enlarging . For a constant map and , so its characteristic growth bound is trivial; the logarithmic identity and a finite critical-divisor count are not defined. These qualifications resolve all maps allowed by the original opening sentence without asserting an undefined equality.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ib Paper 2 14D Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The intended open region lies inside the larger circle and outside the smaller one. The two circles are tangent at zero, a boundary point, so is holomorphic throughout the region. For a circle , its equation is , which becomes . The side inside that circle becomes . Hence the tangent-circle crescent conformal map begins withThe affine coordinate sends this strip bijectively to . Exponentiation is then a conformal bijection to the upper half-plane: its argument ranges strictly from zero to , and the inverse logarithm has that unique argument. Finally is a Cayley transform between the half-plane and disk onto the unit disc, since for its modulus is less than one and the inverse is . As , a complete answer isEvery stage has nonzero derivative and is one-to-one onto its indicated range. The denominator cannot vanish in the upper half-plane. Unlike a region between disjoint nested circles, this tangent crescent has no enclosed hole, so there is no annulus obstruction to mapping it onto a disc.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 10 1 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A normal family is a family such that every sequence has a subsequence converging locally uniformly in the spherical metric to a meromorphic limit, possibly the constant infinity. For a family uniformly bounded in modulus, the possible limits are finite holomorphic functions, and ordinary locally uniform convergence suffices. The limit need not take values in the open unit disc; a sequence of constants can approach its boundary.
Here is a direct compactness proof for disc-valued maps. For each compact subset , choose a slightly larger compact neighborhood contained in . The Cauchy estimate on a fixed-radius disk around each point bounds independently of because . A finite covering of yields uniform boundedness and equicontinuity there. The Arzelà-Ascoli theorem, applied successively to a compact exhaustion and followed by a diagonal subsequence, gives a limit uniformly on every compact. The Cauchy integral formula passes to that limit on small circles, proving it is a holomorphic function. This proves the required normal family assertion rather than just invoking Montel theorem.
Every is a holomorphic function on the complex upper half-plane with values in the unit disc, so the same argument makes a normal family. If a subsequence converges locally uniformly to , then for every ,The identity theorem for holomorphic functions gives . Since every convergent subsequence has this same limit, the whole sequence converges locally uniformly to : otherwise a compact set and a subsequence with a fixed positive discrepancy would have a further locally uniformly convergent subsequence, a contradiction.
To obtain the nontangential limit, take any with and . Put . Then , , and the points lie, for large , in a fixed compact rectangle inside the half-plane. ThereforeThis is the normal-family proof of angular boundary convergence; using integer rescalings requires this step because the points need not lie exactly on one fixed scaled ray.
For a tangential counterexample, useIf with , then , so is a holomorphic function and . Also . ButTheir ratio tends to infinity. Thus the nontangential limit is zero while the unrestricted boundary limit does not exist.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 iii Paper 10 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For and , the Poisson kernel on the circle satisfiesFor fixed , it is the real part of a holomorphic function of , hence a harmonic function. On each compact subdisk, its derivatives are bounded uniformly in because the denominator stays away from zero. Differentiation under the integral therefore proves that is harmonic, with the word interpreted componentwise when is complex-valued.
The geometric seriesconverges uniformly in for a fixed compact subdisk. With normalized Lebesgue measure, integration of its real part gives kernel mass one. Fix a boundary point and choose so that when . ThenIf from inside the unit disc, the remaining denominator is at least for sufficiently close , while . Hence along every interior approach, not just radial ones.
Orient the unit circle counterclockwise in the Cauchy transform. Its kernel and every -derivative are uniformly bounded for in any compact subset of . Thus differentiation under the integral givesand proves that is a holomorphic function on both components of its domain. Since , for and the difference of its two kernels isConsequently the paired radial jump of a continuous Cauchy transform obeys the exact identityand the established Poisson integral boundary convergence givesThis proves the paired difference without assuming that the two individual boundary values exist for every continuous datum.
The printed direction has the opposite sign. It is present in the original PDF, not merely in the converted TeX. With that direction , so substituting in the exact identity givesThe simplest counterexample is : the Cauchy integral formula gives inside and outside, so the printed difference is constantly . The requested positive jump is corrected by taking , or by reversing the order of the difference when .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ib Paper 2 14F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the conformal map of a vertical half-strip by sine followed by a Cayley transform:We verify that this maps the entire half-strip bijectively onto the unit disc. First,so the sine image lies in the upper half-plane. Also in the domain, making the map locally a conformal map. If , the identity for a difference of sines gives either or . The real-part bounds force in the first case, while positive imaginary parts exclude the second. Thus sine is injective.
For surjectivity, given any in the upper half-plane, solveNo root is on the unit circle, since would then be real. The product of the two roots is , so exactly one root has . For this root,which forces . Choose its logarithm with argument in and put . Then , its real part lies in the required interval, and . This proves that sine maps onto the upper half-plane.
Finally, for , , and the Möbius transformation is a bijection to the unit disc. Its inverse is . Both constituent derivatives are nonzero, completing the proof for the displayed conformal map.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 12 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write . The Nevanlinna proximity function and Nevanlinna integrated counting function areThe pole sum counts multiplicity; it is finite for each because is finite and nonzero and poles of a meromorphic function are isolated. Equivalently , where counts poles in the disc. The Nevanlinna characteristic isFor a general nonzero meromorphic function with signed order at zero, use , . The general counting convention includes a pole at zero:where . This convention will also cover when the target .
Here is a direct proof of the exact reciprocal identity underlying the Nevanlinna first main theorem. Choose a circle with no zero or pole of on it, and a slightly larger disc with the same interior zeros and poles. Divide by and its nonzero zero factors and multiply by its nonzero pole factors, obtaining a holomorphic, nowhere-zero function on that disc. For any factor with ,Indeed, factor out ; the remaining logarithm has real part equal to that of , whose angular mean is zero. Also, is harmonic, so the mean value property for harmonic functions equates its circle mean to . Putting back the zero and pole factors provesThe identity now yieldsZeros or poles on the circle cause only integrable logarithmic singularities; the same identities hold at those radii by limits. A boundary zero or pole contributes to its counting term.
For a finite target , set . Its finite poles and their orders equal those of . The elementary estimatesgive . Combining this with the reciprocal identity proves the first main theorem:The error is bounded independently of , with an explicit bound , where is the first nonzero local coefficient of at zero. The count on the right records the occurrences of the value with multiplicity. The target infinity is the defining identity . If is a constant equal to , the reciprocal expression is undefined; the value-distribution assertion assumes , as it automatically does for nonconstant . The exact reciprocal identity remains valid for every nonzero constant .
Taking , whose signed order is zero and whose local coefficient is , rearranges that exact identity into Jensen's formula:Thus the zero and pole terms, their signs and the initial-value constant follow from the same proved identity, rather than from a theorem citation without proof.
Finally let be a nonzero bounded holomorphic function on the unit disc, with . If its order at zero is , write , . The factorization argument above works on every compact subdisc and gives, for its nonzero zeros,For this is a uniform finite upper bound. As , monotone convergence givesSince for , and there are only zeros at zero, we obtainThis is precisely the Blaschke condition, so the zeros, counted with multiplicity, form a Blaschke sequence.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 11 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The Schwarz-Pick lemma says that every holomorphic self-map of the unit disc contracts pseudohyperbolic distance and therefore hyperbolic distance:Its infinitesimal form isEquality for distinct points in the distance inequality, or at one point in the derivative inequality, holds exactly when is a disc Möbius transformation.
For completeness, first prove the Schwarz lemma. If is holomorphic and , the quotient extends holomorphically at zero. On its modulus is at most . The maximum modulus principle, followed by , gives and . Equality at a nonzero point or in the derivative forces that quotient to be a constant of modulus one, again by the maximum modulus principle; hence .
Now let and apply this result to , which fixes zero. The modulus inequality is exactly the displayed distance inequality, and is increasing in , giving hyperbolic contraction. Also and , so the chain rule proves the derivative inequality. The equality statement follows from the rotation case of the Schwarz lemma after undoing the two automorphisms. Conversely a disc automorphism preserves the distance and attains equality.
There is a maximum of the derivative modulus in the given annulus family, which is nonempty because it contains the constant function one. Indeed the functions are bounded by , and Cauchy estimates bound their derivatives at zero. Take a sequence whose derivative moduli approach the finite supremum. By Montel theorem it has a subsequence converging locally uniformly to a holomorphic function , with and . The upper equality cannot occur at an interior point, because the maximum modulus principle would force a constant of modulus , contrary to . The lower equality is excluded by applying the same argument to , which is holomorphic because . Thus the limit still maps into the open annulus. Locally uniform convergence gives convergence of derivatives by the Cauchy integral formula, so this limit attains the supremum.
To compute it and all extremizers, the nonvanishing function on the simply connected disc has a holomorphic logarithm with . One can construct it by integrating from zero; differentiation shows is constant, hence one. Its real part obeys . The mapis a biholomorphism from this vertical strip onto the disc. To check the inverse explicitly, for the ratio has positive real part, so its logarithm with value zero at zero has imaginary part in . Thereforehas real part between minus one and one, and direct substitution gives . The strip restriction removes the period ambiguity of the tangent, so these are inverse maps.
Applying the Schwarz lemma to gives . Since , the exact maximum isIt is attained by . The equality case requires , and hence all maximizing functions areTheir derivatives are , so the extremizer is not unique: there is exactly this circle of distinct functions, with the parameter considered modulo . This is the extremal derivative of a disc map into a symmetric annulus for .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 iii Paper 11 5 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Represent a transformation byMultiplication preserves this form and determinant, and the inverse has the same form with parameters . To check the congruence condition, complex conjugation is the identity modulo . Thus says exactly that fixes the column modulo two. Products and inverses preserve this property. The identity belongs to the set, and changing the common sign of does not change either the transformation or its congruence. Hence these transformations form a group.
Because , the denominator has no zero in the disc. Direct calculation givesThe inverse also maps the disc into itself, so is a disc automorphism, and these identities show that it preserves the hyperbolic metric .
The action is properly discontinuous. If is compact, put . If , choose with . ThenSince and , its distance bound gives and therefore . There are only finitely many Gaussian integers with these bounds, so only finitely many satisfy . This proves the required properly discontinuous group action directly.
If , then and is one of the Gaussian units . The congruence leaves only . Both give the identity transformation. Thus the point stabilizer of zero is trivial.
The closed Dirichlet region centered at zero is the set of with for every . For a nonidentity element, . WriteThe distance inequality is equivalent, by pseudohyperbolic distance, to . Squaring and subtracting yieldsSince and , the bisector half-plane is exactlyFor or and or , all the group conditions hold and the products are the four numbers , with . Their four inequalities forceConversely, for any group element . As are integers, . Thus every point satisfying those four inequalities satisfies every other one:This proves, with no missing bisectors, the Gaussian-integer disc group with an ideal-square Dirichlet domain formulaEquivalently it is the part of the unit disc outside all four open circles of radius one centered at . Its sides are the inward arcs of those circles. They meet the unit circle orthogonally, and their ideal vertices are ; these vertices themselves lie outside the open disc.
The origin has trivial point stabilizer and the group orbit is locally finite by the discontinuity proof, so this closed bisector intersection has translates covering the disc with disjoint interiors, as in the definition of a Dirichlet domain. Side identifications are allowed on its boundary.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 iii Paper 29 2 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Scale the disk to the unit disc, so that the starting point is . Use the Möbius transformationwhich maps the disk onto itself, sends to , and sends to . By conformal invariance of planar Brownian motion, the exit image is the circular exit of a Brownian motion starting at . Rotational invariance of planar Brownian motion makes that exit uniform in angle.
The endpoints of the right semicircle satisfyIts image is the arc through between these points, of angular length . Thus the Möbius calculation of circular Brownian exit givesSince and partition the exit almost surely, part (b) yieldsThe last equality uses , so the double-angle tangent identity uses the stated principal branch. As a check, the boundary angle derivative of is ; integrating this circular exit density over the right semicircle gives exactly the integral supplied in the question.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 ib Paper 1 13A b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
It helps to separate the tangent and the squaring map. Put , with . The identityshows that gives and . To see that every point of this right half-disc occurs, setThen has and satisfies . The principal complex logarithm is unambiguous because is in the first quadrant.
Squaring maps this right half-disc bijectively onto the unit disc with the interval removed: the argument of lies between and , and doubles into . Thus the desired image isNeither derivative vanishes in the domain, so the composition is also a conformal map onto that slit disc.

