Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/iii/paper-29/3/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 29 3 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
From part (a), . Its product has integer coefficients and begins with , so write , with . Comparing the coefficient of giveswhich rearranges toThis is a recurrence for the Ramanujan tau function; for example it gives and .
For the congruence, use the normalized Eisenstein expansionsThe modular form is a cusp form of weight twelve, and its leading coefficient is . Since is one-dimensional and starts with ,Also is a weight-eight form, with constant coefficient . Since is one-dimensional and has constant coefficient one, , orThese identities have rational coefficients whose only displayed denominators are prime to five, so coefficientwise reduction modulo five is legitimate. We have . Furthermore gives , while , so . ThereforeThe equality in the middle is in , where . Comparing coefficients in givesThis proves the Ramanujan tau congruence modulo five from the given small-dimensional modular-form spaces, without assuming that congruence as a theorem.
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