Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 iii Paper 28 3 a Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Any extending absolute value is also non-Archimedean. Indeed its values on integers are the given base-field values, bounded by one, so the integer criterion for a non-Archimedean absolute value applies. For the criterion's sufficiency, the binomial theorem gives ; taking th roots yields the ultrametric inequality.
Fix a -basis of and its coordinate maximum norm. Every extending absolute value is a vector-space norm satisfying . The finite-dimensional non-Archimedean norm equivalence over a complete field makes it equivalent to that coordinate norm. Here is the relevant proof: induct on dimension. The span of all but the last basis vector is complete by the induction hypothesis, hence closed in the given norm. Therefore . For , one has and . The induction bound on bounds all its coordinates by a constant times . The reverse bound follows from the triangle inequality. This proof applies to every complete base field here, without a local compactness assumption.
Thus two extending absolute values satisfy for fixed positive constants. Apply this to and take th roots:Letting proves equality. The bounded comparison forces equality of multiplicative absolute values argument gives the required unique extension of an absolute value to a finite extension, without proving existence.