Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ii/paper-1/20g/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 1 20G b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
The element satisfies , so is an algebraic integer. Conversely, write an algebraic integer as with rational. Its trace gives , and its field norm implies . If in lowest terms, divides 23, forcing . The integral field norm condition modulo four then makes have the same parity. Therefore it equals , provingBoth reductions of modulo two and three split into the distinct roots zero and one. The index is one, so ideal factorization givesTheir norms are two and three respectively. The product is generated by . All are multiples of , using ; and belongs to the product. HenceThe Minkowski bound is , in fact about . Every class therefore has a representative of ideal norm one, two or three. The displayed primes and their conjugates exhaust those possibilities. Their classes are all , with , because and conjugation inverts a quadratic ideal class. There are at most three classes.
There is no element of field norm two: , which exceeds two for and is a square for . Thus is not principal. Moreover , and belongs to but not its conjugate, so . Consequently has order three, and
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