Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2019/ii/paper-3/1i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 1I Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A reduced positive definite binary quadratic form satisfieswith when or . Its discriminant of a binary quadratic form is . The first displayed inequality already gives , while givesTaking the positive square root yieldsMoreover, , so . For fixed negative , the displayed bounds leave only finitely many possible integers and , and then is uniquely determined. Hence only finitely many reduced forms have discriminant .
For , the bound gives , so . The modular congruence condition makes odd. If , then and ; the boundary convention retains . If , then and ; the boundary convention retains . Thus the complete list is
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