Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/ii/paper-2/18h/b/solution

For the real quadratic field with squarefree , Dirichlet unit theorem gives
for a fundamental unit , since the roots of unity in a real field are .
If and , a unit of norm would have the form with integers and satisfy . Reducing modulo the odd prime gives , impossible because is not a quadratic residue for such a prime. Hence every unit has norm in this case. In contrast, has norm .

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