Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2026 / ii / Paper 2 / 22I / a / Solution

The Riesz representation theorem says every bounded linear functional $f$ on a Hilbert space has a unique $z$ with $f(x)=⟨x,z⟩$ and $\Vert f\Vert =\Vert z\Vert$. For $f\ne 0$, decompose relative to $\ker f$; its one-dimensional orthogonal complement supplies $z$, and Cauchy-Schwarz proves the norm statement and uniqueness.

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