Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 74 7 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The original PDF has cube roots throughout this question; the ninth roots in the converted TeX are transcription errors. Put and . The given condition excludes the trivial cube case. Both generators are integral, becauseMoreoverso is an order in the cubic field. The field traces of are zero, while . Thus the trace pairing matrix of this basis isWe must prove that this is the maximal order, not just compute the discriminant of a suborder. The discriminant-index formula for an integral lattice restricts any index prime to those dividing . If , the cubic for is Eisenstein at , while is a unit there and . If , use instead the Eisenstein polynomial for , and . In either case an Eisenstein generator is a uniformizer of the totally ramified local field and generates its full valuation ring. Indeed expansion in powers of that uniformizer using base residue representatives, and grouping powers modulo three, expresses every integral local element in its power basis.
These arguments also cover three when . If , every unit modulo nine has cube congruent to or . Therefore the condition implies : multiply a contrary congruence by the inverse of and use . Choose with . The polynomialis Eisenstein at three, since its constant term is divisible by three but not nine. Its root again generates the full local valuation ring. There is no index prime left. We have proved the integral basis of a cubefree pure cubic field and the requested discriminant:For write . Here and . The norm of is the determinant of its multiplication matrix, givingIn particularAn integral element of norm one has an integral inverse, by its monic characteristic polynomial. Here direct multiplication gives . Nontriviality also follows from linear independence of .
The signature is , so the Minkowski bound for ideal classes isEvery class therefore has an integral representative of norm at most eight. Its prime factors have norms at most eight, and lie above . Since the index of is one, reduction of gives their factorizations by the Kummer-Dedekind theorem. At two and three the polynomial is , so there is one prime of norm or , respectively. They are principal, becauseAt five the factorization is with the quadratic irreducible. The norm-five prime is because ; the norm-twenty-five prime is outside the bound.
At seven the roots are , giving three primes of norm seven. The elements and have norm seven and vanish at roots six and three, respectively; hence they generate and . Since , the remaining prime is principal too. Every prime which can divide a Minkowski representative is now principal, soThis proves class number one for Q of cube root six with all primes within the bound accounted for.