Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 4 1G Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write an integral binary quadratic form as . For proper equivalence of binary quadratic forms, the allowed changes of variables have determinant one. Here is the needed reduction rather than an appeal to class-number tables. A shear changes to without changing or the discriminant of a binary quadratic form. Choose so . If the resulting , the determinant-one change replaces by , strictly decreasing the positive integer leading coefficient. Repeating must terminate with . If and , the same rotation makes positive; the choice already fixes the other boundary sign. This is a reduced positive definite binary quadratic form.
Since , the reduction inequalities give , so . The integer is odd. For , only survives the boundary convention and . For , gives , not an integer. For , gives or ; for , gives or . None is integral. Therefore every form is properly equivalent to , establishing class number one for discriminant minus sixty-seven.
For infinitude, its determinant-one shears produceEach has discriminant and is positive definite because it is a change of variables of the displayed positive form. Their middle coefficients are distinct, so they are infinitely many distinct elements of the set.