Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2012/iii/paper-28/1/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2012 iii Paper 28 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Every Non-Archimedean absolute value on is either the trivial absolute value, or for a unique prime and some . Here .
To prove this classification, the ultrametric inequality gives for all integers . If every nonzero integer has absolute value one, multiplicativity makes the absolute value on a field trivial on all rational numbers. Otherwise some positive integer has absolute value less than one, and its prime factorization gives a prime with . There cannot be two such primes: if and with integers , then , a contradiction. Every other prime consequently has absolute value one. Unique prime factorization now givesConversely these are Non-Archimedean absolute values, by the valuation inequality . Thus . This is the non-Archimedean part of Ostrowski theorem, including the trivial case.
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