Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ia/paper-4/6e/ii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ia Paper 4 6E ii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
For , the identity for binomial coefficientsshows that divides . Since is a prime number and is not divisible by , cancellation modulo givesThe binomial theorem consequently gives as a coefficientwise polynomial modular congruence. Apply the same identity with replaced by and use mathematical induction to obtainThis is an iteration of the Frobenius endomorphism in characteristic . Comparing the intermediate coefficients gives the prime-power binomial divisibility result
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