Part IA, 2007, Paper 4
Part IA, 2007, Paper 4
Jump to course
Paper 4, Section I, C
commentSketch the graph of .
A particle of unit mass moves along the axis in the potential . Sketch the phase plane, and describe briefly the motion of the particle on the different trajectories.
Paper 4, Section I, C
commentA rocket, moving vertically upwards, ejects gas vertically downwards at speed relative to the rocket. Derive, giving careful explanations, the equation of motion
where and are the speed and total mass of the rocket (including fuel) at time .
If is constant and the rocket starts from rest with total mass , show that
Paper 4, Section II,
commentThe th particle of a system of particles has mass and, at time , position vector with respect to an origin . It experiences an external force , and also an internal force due to the th particle (for each ), where is parallel to and Newton's third law applies.
(i) Show that the position of the centre of mass, , satisfies
where is the total mass of the system and is the sum of the external forces.
(ii) Show that the total angular momentum of the system about the origin, , satisfies
where is the total moment about the origin of the external forces.
(iii) Show that can be expressed in the form
where is the velocity of the centre of mass, is the position vector of the th particle relative to the centre of mass, and is the velocity of the th particle relative to the centre of mass.
(iv) In the case when the internal forces are derived from a potential , where , and there are no external forces, show that
where is the total kinetic energy of the system.
Paper 4, Section II, C
commentA particle moves in the gravitational field of the Sun. The angular momentum per unit mass of the particle is and the mass of the Sun is . Assuming that the particle moves in a plane, write down the equations of motion in polar coordinates, and derive the equation
where and .
Write down the equation of the orbit ( as a function of ), given that the particle moves with the escape velocity and is at the perihelion of its orbit, a distance from the Sun, when . Show that
and hence that the particle reaches a distance from the Sun at time .
Paper 4, Section II, C
commentA particle of mass experiences, at the point with position vector , a force given by
where and are positive constants and is a constant, uniform, vector field.
(i) Show that is constant. Give a physical interpretation of each term and a physical explanation of the fact that does not arise in this expression.
(ii) Show that is constant.
(iii) Given that the particle was initially at rest at , derive an expression for at time .
Paper 4, Section II, C
commentA small ring of mass is threaded on a smooth rigid wire in the shape of a parabola given by , where measures horizontal distance and measures distance vertically upwards. The ring is held at height , then released.
(i) Show by dimensional analysis that the period of oscillations, , can be written in the form
for some function .
(ii) Show that is given by
and find, to first order in , the period of small oscillations.
Paper 4 , Section II, E
commentState and prove the Inclusion-Exclusion principle.
The keypad on a cash dispenser is broken. To withdraw money, a customer is required to key in a 4-digit number. However, the key numbered 0 will only function if either the immediately preceding two keypresses were both 1 , or the very first key pressed was 2. Explaining your reasoning clearly, use the Inclusion-Exclusion Principle to find the number of 4-digit codes which can be entered.
Paper 4, Section I,
comment(i) Use Euclid's algorithm to find all pairs of integers and such that
(ii) Show that, if is odd, then is divisible by 24 .
Paper 4, Section I,
commentFor integers and with , define . Arguing from your definition, show that
for all integers and with .
Use induction on to prove that
for all non-negative integers and .
Paper 4, Section II,
commentStating carefully any results about countability you use, show that for any the set of polynomials with integer coefficients in variables is countable. By taking , deduce that there exist uncountably many transcendental numbers.
Show that there exists a sequence of real numbers with the property that for every and for every non-zero polynomial .
[You may assume without proof that is uncountable.]
Paper 4, Section II,
commentLet be real numbers.
What does it mean to say that the sequence converges?
What does it mean to say that the series converges?
Show that if is convergent, then . Show that the converse can be false.
Sequences of positive real numbers are given, such that the inequality
holds for all . Show that, if diverges, then .
Paper 4, Section II, E
comment(i) Let be a prime number, and let and be integers such that divides . Show that at least one of and is divisible by . Explain how this enables one to prove the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic.
[Standard properties of highest common factors may be assumed without proof.]
(ii) State and prove the Fermat-Euler Theorem.
Let have decimal expansion with . Use the fact that to show that, for every .