Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/ii/paper-2/12g/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 2 12G Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A cyclic binary code is a linear subspace of invariant under cyclic shifts. Identify a word with its coefficient polynomial in . Multiplication by is the shift, so the code is precisely an ideal of that quotient ring. Its inverse image in the polynomial ring is a principal ideal containing ; its unique monic generator divides . Conversely each monic divisor generates such an ideal. Thus the bijection is with monic divisors; gives the full code and the zero code.
For odd , some has , so the cyclic multiplicative group of contains a primitive th root . If a nonzero word with the specified roots had weight , write its nonzero positions as . The root equations giveTheir matrix has determinant , by the Vandermonde formula and distinctness of the positions. Thus all coefficients would vanish, a contradiction. Hence minimum distance is at least .
For , choose with minimal polynomial . The roots force also the conjugate , giving this cubic as generator. Its degree gives dimension four and its weight gives distance exactly three. Expressing in a basis of gives a parity-check matrix with the seven distinct nonzero vectors of as columns. This is the binary Hamming code. Its sixteen disjoint radius-one balls have words, so one-error correction is perfect. The other primitive cubic produces an equivalent coordinate-permuted code.
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