Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 21H b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 21H a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 20F d Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 20F c Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 20F b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 20F a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 1I Solution 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
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 19I b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 19I a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 18F Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let be a splitting field of over . Its formal derivative isThe assumption on the characteristic of says that in . Any root of is nonzero, and hence . Thus and have no common root, so is a separable polynomial. Since it has degree and splits over , it has exactly distinct roots. This is the separability of roots of unity.
Fix a primitive root of unity . Define the th cyclotomic polynomial byIt is monic and has degree given by the Euler totient function . Partitioning all th roots of unity according to their exact multiplicative order gives the cyclotomic factorizationWe now prove by mathematical induction that . The base case is . If the result holds for every proper divisor of , thenis monic and belongs to . Polynomial division of by the monic integer polynomial produces a quotient and remainder in . The factorization over says that the remainder is zero and the quotient is , proving the claim.
It remains to prove irreducibility of cyclotomic polynomials. Let be a monic irreducible polynomial dividing , let be a root of , and write . We claim that is a root of for every prime number . Otherwise is a root of , so is a root of . Since is the minimal polynomial of over , Gauss lemma for polynomials givesAfter reduction of an integer polynomial modulo a prime, the Frobenius endomorphism givesChoose an irreducible factor of the nonconstant monic polynomial . Then , so . The cyclotomic factorization would then make divide over . This is impossible because its derivative is coprime to it when .
Thus for every prime . Iterating this fact over a prime factorization shows that whenever . These are all primitive th roots, soBecause divides , equality holds and . Hence every cyclotomic polynomial is irreducible over .
Finally, direct multiplication givesAlsoApplying the cyclotomic factorization to the two factors on the right givesand thereforeSince , cancellation yieldsThe thirtieth cyclotomic polynomial is irreducible over by the theorem just proved, so is irreducible.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 17G d Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 17G c Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 17G b Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 17G a Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 16I iv Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 16I iii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 16I ii Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 16I i Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 15D e Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 3 15D d Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-24
There are unlisted articles, also show them or only show them.