Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/iii/paper-23/1/d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2013 iii Paper 23 1 d Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-07
Every nonprincipal Dirichlet character modulo the prime is primitive, so its finite Fourier coefficients have modulus one off zero; the coefficient at zero is zero by character orthogonality. Fourier inversion theorem givesThe finite geometric series givesThe printed hint omits from the exponential; its literal constant summand would not obey the bound for arbitrary . The geometric-series calculation proves the needed estimate independently. Pairing with givesThe last sum is a harmonic number. This proves the Pólya–Vinogradov inequality uniformly in and ; complete blocks of length also vanish by Orthogonality of Dirichlet characters.
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