Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/iii/paper-27/3/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 27 3 i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
In the one-dimensional commutative convention, a formal group law over is a formal power series satisfying , , and . The formal inverse is a series with . For all these series converge on , which becomes a group with operation .
Repeated formal addition gives the multiplication isomorphism of a formal group law . If , the coefficient is a unit in the p-adic integers. We can construct an inverse by coefficient recursion. At degree , the equation has the form ; dividing by the unit keeps integral. The inverse is two-sided by uniqueness of formal composition inverses. Since integral coefficients multiplied by successive powers of tend to zero, both series converge on that set and their formal identities hold there. This proves prime-to-residue-characteristic multiplication on a formal group:The argument also applies at for odd ; it does not require a logarithm or torsion-freeness.
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