A10285W1

FIRST PUBLIC EXAMINATION

Trinity Term

Preliminary Examination in Physics

Paper CP3: MATHEMATICAL METHODS 1

also

Preliminary Examination in Physics and Philosophy

Wednesday 6 June 2018, 2.30 pm – 5.00 pm

Time allowed: 2 21 hours

Answer all of Section A and three questions from Section B.

Start the answer to each question on a new page.

The use of calculators is not permitted.

The numbers in the margin indicate the weight that the Moderators expect to
assign to each part of the question.

Do NOT turn over until told that you may do so.

1
 Section A

1. Let z = x + iy be a complex variable with real x, y. Show that

1 1+z
(a) tanh−1 z = ln
2 1−z
(b) | sin(z)| ≥ | sin(x)| . [5]

2. Let a, b, c and d be vectors in R3 and M be a 3 × 3 matrix.

(a) Prove the vector identity: a × (b × c) = (a.c)b − (a.b)c [4]
(b) Find a linear relation between c and d such that the expression

ai dj bk Mij − ai bi dj Mkj

becomes a component of the triple vector product in (a).

[The Einstein summation convention is used in the above expression.] [3]

3. The differential equation for the displacement y(t) of a particle which is executing
damped harmonic oscillations with a damping factor γ and natural frequency ω0 may
be written as
d2 y dy
2
+γ + ω02 y = 0 .
dt dt
Show that for very light damping (γ  ω0 ), the displacement as a function of
time may be written as γ
y(t) = y0 e− 2 t cos(ω0 t + α) ,

where α and y0 are constants.

Calculate the total energy of the oscillator in this approximation, and show that
it decreases exponentially with time. Hence show that the quality factor is given by
Q = ω0 /γ . [7]

4. Consider the differential equation

dy
+ p(x)y = q(x)y n ,
dx
where x is a real variable and n is an integer.
(a) Show that the equation can be transformed into a linear first order differential
equation using a suitable substitution.
(b) Find the general solution y(x) for the differential equation

dy
x + 2y = x3 y n ,
dx
for n = 3 and n = 1. [7]

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 5. Let A, B and C be 2 × 2 matrices and define the commutator [A, B] = AB − BA.
Show that
(a) tr(AB) =tr(BA) ,
(b) if [A, B] = 0 and the eigenvalues of A are non-degenerate, then an eigenvector of
A must also be an eigenvector of B,
(c) if A and B are hermitian matrices and [A, B] = αC, where α is a scalar constant,
then the matrix C can also be hermitian for a suitable choice of α. [7]

6. Let A be the 3 × 3 matrix:  

1 0 0
A= 0 0 i  .
0 −i 0
Find the eigenvalues of A and show that one of them is degenerate.
Find three linearly independent corresponding eigenvectors and indicate clearly which
eigenvector belongs to which eigenvalue. Verify that the eigenvectors you have chosen
are indeed linearly independent.
Use matrix row reduction to find the rank of the matrix (A − λI) where λ is the
degenerate eigenvalue of the matrix A and I is the identity matrix. Hence explain why
this result is expected given the degeneracy of the matrix A. [7]

A10285W1 3 [Turn over]

 Section B

7.
(a) The polynomial f (z) where z is a complex variable is defined as

f (z) = z 4 − 2z 3 + 8z 2 − 8z + 16.

Show that the equation f (z) = 0 has two purely imaginary roots. Hence or
otherwise find all the roots of the equation and show that the sum and product
of the roots take the expected values. [7]
(b) Use de Moivre’s theorem to show that

4(u − u3 )
tan 4θ = ,
1 + u4 − 6u2
p √
where u = tan θ. Use this expression to show that tan 22.5◦ = 3 − 8. [6]
(c) Explain why the equation of a plane in R3 may be written in the form r · n = d,
where r is the position vector of points on the plane. Use a sketch to define n and
d.
Find the equation of the line of intersection of the two planes 2x + 6y − 3z = 10
and 5x + 2y − z = 12. Express the line equation in both the cartesian and vector
forms. [7]

8.
(a) Find the general solution of the differential equation

d2 y dy
2
+5 + 4y = 60 cosh x . [8]
dx dx
(b) Consider the second order differential equation

d2 y dy
(1 + x2 ) 2
− 6x + 12y = 0.
dx dx
Given that the solution can be expressed as a power series of the form
∞
X
y= an xn ,
n=0

where n is an integer and an is a real constant, show that the expansion coefficients
satisfy the relation
(n − 3)(n − 4)
an+2 = − an .
(n + 1)(n + 2)
[8]
Hence find the general solution y(x) of the differential equation that satisfies the
dy
boundary conditions: y(0) = 0 and at x = 0, =1. [4]
dx

A10285W1 4
9. Let V be a vector space over the field F and φ : V → V be a linear map.
(a) Assuming that the set of vectors (u1 , u2 , ..., un ) forms a basis of V , explain how
the elements of the matrix A representing the map φ are calculated from the image
of the basis vectors. [3]
The matrix A0 also corresponds to the linear map φ with respect to a different set
of basis vectors (w1 , w2 , ..., wn ). Show that the two matrices are related by the
equation

A0 = C −1 AC , (†)
and explain how to calculate the matrix C.
Explain also how to calculate the elements of the matrix C for the matrix A0 to
be diagonal. [7]
(b) The velocity components of a particle moving in the (x, y) plane are given by the
coupled differential equations:
v̇1 = αv2 ,
v̇2 = −αv1 ,
dvi
where the ‘dot’ indicates the derivative with respect to time (v˙i = ). Find the
dt
matrix M that relates (v̇1 , v̇2 ) to the vector (v1 , v2 ). [2]
Using the expression for the basis change given by the matrix equation (†) , convert
the differential equations above into non-coupled first order differential equations
with new velocity components (v10 , v20 ) and find expressions for v10 (t) and v20 (t).

By making a suitable transformation using the matrix C, find the solutions (v1 (t), v2 (t))
of the coupled differential equations that satisfy the boundary conditions
v1 (0) = 0 and v2 (0) = v0 . [8]

A10285W1 5 [Turn over]

 10. Let V be a vector space over a field F and consider the scalar product hv, wi of
two vectors v, w ∈ V .
(a) State the conditions that a symmetric scalar product (F = R) and a hermitian
scalar product (F = C) must satisfy. [3]
(b) Show that the components vi of a vector v ∈ Cn with respect to an ortho-normal
set of basis vectors (e1 , e2 , ...en ) are given by vi = hei , vi, where i = 1, 2, ..., n.
Hence use the properties of the scalar product in (a) to find an expression for
the scalar product of two vectors hu, vi in Cn , in terms of their components with
respect to the basis vectors (e1 , e2 , ...en ). [3]
(c) Consider the case V = Rn
and let (u1 , u2 , ..., un ) and (w1 , w2 , ..., wn ) be two
non-orthogonal basis sets that satisfy the relation

hui , wj i = δij , (∗)

where δij is the Kronecker delta.
Given that a is a vector with components ai with respect to the basis vectors
(u1 , u2 , ..., un ) and b is another vector with components bi with respect to the
basis (w1 , w2 , ..., wn ), use the definition in (a) to calculate the scalar product
ha, bi . [3]
(d) The components of a with respect to the basis (u1 , u2 , ..., un ) are given by ai
and with respect to the basis (w1 , w2 , ..., wn ) are given by a0i . By taking suitable
scalar products and using the relation between the basis vectors in (∗), calculate
the elements of the matrix G that relate the components a0i to the components
ai . [4]

Now consider the special case of V = R2 and the basis vectors (u1 , u2 ) and
(w1 , w2 ) that are related by equation (∗) in (c) for n = 2. Assuming that the
basis vectors u1 and u2 are chosen as unit vectors with an angle of 60◦ between
them, with u1 along the x axis, find the basis vectors w1 and w2 .
Make a sketch in the (x, y) plane showing the two sets of components (a1 , a2 ) and
(a01 , a02 ) of the vector a and use it to find the matrix that relates (a01 , a02 ) to (a1 , a2 ).
Show that this result is consistent with the components obtained from the matrix
G above. [7]

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