Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2024 iii Paper 101 5 ii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-25
Let with positive degrees , and let be a finitely generated graded -module whose graded pieces are finite-dimensional over . The Hilbert-Serre theorem states thatfor some Laurent polynomial . For the standard grading, the Hilbert function consequently agrees for all sufficiently large with a polynomial in .
For the proof, induct on . When , is finite-dimensional and its Hilbert series is a Laurent polynomial. For , multiplication by gives an exact sequence of graded modulesBoth and are annihilated by , so they are finitely generated graded modules over . Additivity of the Hilbert series yieldsThe induction hypothesis supplies the required denominator for the right side and proves the rational formula. When all , expanding shows that its coefficients are binomial polynomials in , which proves eventual polynomiality.