Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2026/iii/paper-125/3/c/solution

Because the canonical height of an elliptic curve is a quadratic form, polarization makes
a symmetric bilinear form on the free part of the Mordell-Weil group. If is another integral basis, then and the Gram matrices satisfy
Since , their determinants agree. Thus the regulator of an elliptic curve is independent of the chosen basis.
Now let be a basis for the free part of . The images span a finite-index sublattice, so modulo torsion
for an integral matrix with nonzero determinant. The height identity gives
Taking determinants in the two descriptions of this Gram matrix yields
Therefore the required formula holds with .
Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.

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