Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2006/ii/paper-3/11h/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2006 ii Paper 3 11H Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The Prime number theorem states that , where counts primes not exceeding . Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions states that if , then the progression contains infinitely many primes.
If for an odd prime , the multiplicative order of modulo is four. Lagrange's theorem therefore gives . Conversely, Wilson's theorem gives . Pairing the factors and yieldsFor , the sign is positive, so the factorial supplies a square root of . Thus is a quadratic residue exactly when .
Write . The odd integer is modulo . If all of its prime factors were modulo , their product, with multiplicities, would be modulo , so at least one factor is modulo . Every prime factor of is odd and satisfies ; the criterion just proved gives . Neither integer is divisible by any , since their residues modulo are respectively and . Starting with any finite list thus produces a new prime in each residue class. Both classes contain infinitely many primes, independently of the general Dirichlet theorem on primes in arithmetic progressions.
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