Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 125 1 b iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
The discriminant is , so are primes of good reduction of an elliptic curve. The reduction of torsion points on an elliptic curve injects the prime-to- torsion into .
If a prime divided the order of , its primary subgroup would inject at every one of except possibly when . For , the counts at and have greatest common divisor one; for use the counts at and ; for use those at and ; every other would divide all three counts. Each possibility is excluded. Hence
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 125 3 c Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
An integral Weierstrass equation has good reduction outside the finitely many primes dividing its nonzero discriminant. This proves finiteness of the set of bad primes. To prove finiteness of rational torsion, choose two distinct good primes. The reduction of torsion points on an elliptic curve injects each primary component at a good prime of different residue characteristic, so the two finite reduced point groups bound every primary component of .