Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2023/iii/paper-125/4/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 iii Paper 125 4 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-09-28
For in lowest terms, the naive height on the projective line isHomogenize the coprime numerator and denominator of to degree . The triangle inequality gives the upper estimate . Since the two homogenized forms have no common projective zero, their resultant is nonzero, and the Bézout identities for the resultant express fixed multiples of and as combinations of their values with coefficients of degree . After cancellation this gives , which is the lower estimate with .
Now write in lowest terms and putSince , the equation givesClearly for . Homogenizing the supplied polynomial identity givesIts coefficient sum is at most , so . The same lower bound is immediate from when . Thus
New to topics? Read the docs here!