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Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 16H i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Use the customary squarefree convention for the quadratic radicand . For , the ring of integers of a number field is , soThe ideal is prime exactly when this quotient is an integral domain. A polynomial quotient of a field is an integral domain exactly when the defining polynomial is irreducible. This proves the assertion, including the possibility of ramified primes where the reduction has a repeated root.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 15F ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The character of a representation is its trace. The exterior power character is the elementary symmetric polynomial of degree in the eigenvalues, so the specified sign convention givesTo obtain the character generating series of symmetric powers, sum the monomial eigenvalues over all degrees. As an identity of formal power series,The apparent negative powers cancel in the denominator, which has constant term . Equivalently, this series is the reciprocal of . Comparing coefficients gives for , an explicit recurrence computing the symmetric-power characters from .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 15F i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The symmetric power is the quotient of identifying tensors which differ by permutation of the factors. The exterior power is the alternating quotient, with a tensor having repeated equal factors set to zero. Both quotients inherit the given group action. For a basis , bases consist respectively of monomials with , and wedge products with . Thuswith the second dimension zero for .
A finite-order group element is diagonalizable over , because its minimal polynomial divides , which has no repeated roots. Choose an eigenbasis with eigenvalues . The induced eigenvalues, including multiplicities, areThe zeroth powers are the one-dimensional trivial representation, with the empty product equal to .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 14I c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The binomial upper bound for a Ramsey number gives . For the triangle-free Ramsey lower bound by alteration, a binomial random graph has expected triangle count and expected independent -set count . Choose a realization whose sum of these counts is at most its expectation. Delete one vertex from each surviving forbidden set, iterating through the originally listed sets. The remaining graph has neither a triangle nor an independent -set. This random alteration method provesFor large , set and . The triangle term is at most . Using and , the logarithm of the independent-set term divided by is at mostwhich tends to . That term is eventually below . Thus and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 14I b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Induction with Pascal's identity gives the binomial upper bound for a Ramsey number . Thus , proving .
For the lower bound, take a binomial random graph . The expected total number of -cliques and independent -sets isFor , this is at most for all sufficiently large . Some graph therefore has neither forbidden set, so . This proves by the probabilistic method.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 14I a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The graph Ramsey number is the least for which every graph on vertices has a clique of size or an independent set of size ; is the diagonal Ramsey number. The base cases are and .
Assume the smaller parameters already have finite graph Ramsey numbers, and take . For any vertex, either its neighbourhood has at least vertices, or its nonneighbourhood has at least vertices. In the first case it contains an independent -set, or an -clique which extends with the chosen vertex. In the second it contains an -clique, or a -independent set which extends with that vertex. Induction proves existence and
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 13I b iv by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 13I b iii by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 13I b ii by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 13I b i by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 13I a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The recursive definition of ordinal addition is , , and for a nonzero limit ordinal . The synthetic definition is the order type of the ordered disjoint union of a copy of followed by a copy of .
For the synthetic operation, adding the empty order does nothing, adding a successor appends one final point, and concatenation with a limit order is the increasing union of the initial concatenations with all its proper initial segments. Their order types have supremum . Thus the synthetic operation satisfies the recursive equations. Transfinite induction gives uniqueness of the recursively defined operation, proving equivalence.
The recursive definitions of ordinal multiplication and ordinal exponentiation areThe last equation in each line is for nonzero limit . In particular the convention belongs to this recursive definition.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 12C b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The canonical momenta are , , . The Legendre transform in mechanics givesHamilton's equations areThus , , and , where . The signs also follow from and .
For , put , , . The motion isDifferentiation verifies both equations and all initial conditions. The centre of the circular motion has the electric drift velocity . For , take , and the same . For , the particle moves freely.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 2 12C a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The canonical momentum is , and a regular Legendre transform in mechanics defines after solving for . Its differential isbecause the terms cancel. With the Euler-Lagrange equation , this gives Hamilton's equationsIn particular at corresponding velocities, so a cyclic coordinate for the Lagrangian is also cyclic for the Hamiltonian.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 9G b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A Hamming code decoder succeeds on a seven-bit block exactly when there are zero or one errors. Its radius-one decoding regions are disjoint, so an error of weight at least two cannot decode back to the original codeword. ThusNumerically , so only about transmissions are expected. Even accounting for seven rather than four bits per letter, expected bits sent are , compared with . The Hamming method is substantially better under the stated error detection and independent retransmission assumptions.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 9G a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Independence of individual bit errors gives . Independent retransmissions have a geometric distribution with success probability , so the expected total number of transmissions, including the successful one, is . At the supplied values, and .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 7D b ii by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 7D b i by
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Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 7D a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The principle of stationary action says that the physical path makes the action stationary under smooth variations with fixed endpoints . It need not minimize the action. Differentiating and integrating by parts givesThe fundamental lemma of the calculus of variations then gives the Euler-Lagrange equation
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 38E b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
The Gershgorin circle theorem says that every eigenvalue of a square matrix lies in at least one disc centred at a diagonal entry with radius the sum of the absolute values of the off-diagonal entries in that row.
For interior unknowns write the update as . The matrix is real symmetric and tridiagonal, with diagonal and adjacent entries . Each Gershgorin radius is at most . Its real interval is therefore contained inFor , every eigenvalue lies in . Symmetry gives an orthogonal diagonalization, so for every : errors in initial data cannot grow. This is stability in the discrete norm, also in its -weighted version. One can additionally see maximum-norm stability directly: the update weights are nonnegative with row sums at most one once the zero boundary unknowns are removed. Hence .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 38E a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Let all spatial derivatives be evaluated at , . Expand the two adjacent flux contributions symmetrically. The bracket in the scheme isFor clarity, the terms are ; odd orders cancel under . Under four spatial derivatives the next coefficient is . Time expansion gives . Since and ,This stronger smooth-data residual implies the requested consistency bound. Even a less detailed Taylor expansion with an spatial remainder would suffice for the printed order. Uniform bounds on the needed derivatives over the region under consideration make the estimate uniform in the interior mesh index; the zero boundary values enter the scheme exactly.
Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project
Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
Intro to OurBigBook
. Source. We have two killer features:
- topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculusArticles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
- a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
- a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.Figure 1. Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page. View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivativeVideo 2. OurBigBook Web topics demo. Source. - local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
- to OurBigBook.com to get awesome multi-user features like topics and likes
- as HTML files to a static website, which you can host yourself for free on many external providers like GitHub Pages, and remain in full control
Figure 2. You can publish local OurBigBook lightweight markup files to either OurBigBook.com or as a static website.Figure 3. Visual Studio Code extension installation.Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally. Video 3. Edit locally and publish demo. Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension. - Infinitely deep tables of contents:
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