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The 2-adic absolute value is the p-adic absolute value for the prime number $p=2$. It is defined on the rational numbers by $|x{|}_2=2^{-v_2(x)}$ for $x\ne 0$ and $|0{|}_2=0$, and extends to their P-adic number completion ${\mathbb{Q}}_2$. For a nonzero integer, count factors of two until the remaining factor is odd; for a rational number, subtract the denominator's count from the numerator's count.

The associated metric reverses a familiar comparison:Although $13$ is eight units from $5$ on the ordinary number line, it agrees with $5$ modulo $8$, whereas $6$ already disagrees modulo $2$. The 2-adic absolute value measures that agreement. The value $|3/8{|}_2=8$ also shows why this Non-Archimedean absolute value must be distinguished from the ordinary absolute value $|3/8|=3/8$.

In the left panel, differences farther from the diagonal grow in ordinary absolute value. In the right panel, nonzero even differences are closer than odd differences, and each further factor of two halves the 2-adic absolute value. The highlighted pairs have opposite distance rankings. The repeated pattern is the nested congruence class structure of an ultrametric space, visible without adding any new points.

The continuous functions from the p-adic integers to the P-adic numbers form a Banach space over ${\mathbb{Q}}_p$ with supremum norm $\Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }={\sup }_{x\in {\mathbb{Z}}_p}|f(x){|}_p$. Compactness of the domain bounds the norm, and uniform convergence in the complete codomain proves completeness. Translation and the forward difference operator $\Delta f(x)=f(x+1)-f(x)$ are bounded operators, with $\Vert \Delta f{\Vert }_{\infty }\le \Vert f{\Vert }_{\infty }$.

Such a field embedding pulls the p-adic absolute value back to a finite place of a number field above $p$. It extends to an embedding of the corresponding completion, whose image is a finite extension of the P-adic numbers.

A nondegenerate quadratic form over a number field is isotropic if and only if it is isotropic over every completion. Over $\mathbb{Q}$, these are the real field and all P-adic numbers. It turns a rational existence problem into local tests; denominators can then be cleared for an integral homogeneous equation.

A p-adic field is a finite extension of the P-adic number field ${\mathbb{Q}}_p$, equipped with its extended p-adic absolute value. Conversely every characteristic-zero, nontrivially valued, non-Archimedean locally compact field is such an extension. A finite quotient $\mathcal{O}/p\mathcal{O}$ supplies finitely many generators of $\mathcal{O}$ over ${\mathbb{Z}}_p$ by repeated reduction and completeness.

The p-adic integers retain arithmetic information modulo arbitrarily high powers of one prime number $p$. They form the subringof the P-adic numbers. Their p-adic absolute value bounds the allowed denominators: $1/3$ belongs to ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$, while $1/2$ does not. The name therefore describes a local arithmetic ring, not just the ordinary integers.^[ref]

A concrete description gives an element by a compatible sequence of congruence classes:The inverse limit condition says that gaining more precision must preserve the digits already determined. Each $r_n$ is a residue modulo $p^n$; choosing its least nonnegative integer representative gives $0\le r_n<p^n$. The ordinary integer $13$ gives residues $1,1,5,13$ modulo $2,4,8,16$.

The useful feature is that one exact object organizes an unlimited family of finite modular arithmetic calculations. Addition and multiplication are performed modulo each $p^n$, and the results remain compatible. A p-adic digit expansion makes this concrete:The expansion is unique and converges in the p-adic metric; its higher powers have smaller p-adic absolute value. The digit agreement and p-adic distance criterion tells exactly which finite digits a precision bound preserves.^[ref]

The p-adic metric on the P-adic numbers is induced by the p-adic absolute value. Its ultrametric inequality is $d_p(x,z)\le \max (d_p(x,y),d_p(y,z))$. On p-adic integers, digit agreement and p-adic distance expresses metric precision as shared low-order digits.

For a prime number $p$, a p-adic number is an element of the field ${\mathbb{Q}}_p$ obtained by completing the rational numbers for the metric $d_p(x,y)=|x-y{|}_p$. Here $|\cdot {|}_p$ is the p-adic absolute value. The Cauchy-sequence construction of a metric completion supplies limits for every Cauchy sequence, and addition, multiplication, and the p-adic absolute value extend to this complete metric space. The rational numbers form a dense subset. ^[ref]

For a concrete example with $p=2$, consider the partial sums of a geometric series:The first values $1,3,7,15,31$ have distances $1/2,1/4,1/8,1/16,1/32$ from $-1$ in the 2-adic absolute value. ConsequentlyThis is a statement about convergence in a metric space with the 2-adic absolute value. In the ordinary real number absolute value, the same partial sums grow without bound. Choosing a metric changes which approximation errors shrink.

More generally every nonzero P-adic number has a unique digit expansionOnly finitely many negative powers occur, while positive powers can continue indefinitely. Written with the highest powers on the left, the digits extend infinitely to the left; for example the P-adic number $-1$ at $p=2$ is written $\dots 111_2$. The p-adic integers are exactly the elements with $|x{|}_p\le 1$, whose digit expansions use only nonnegative powers. ^[ref]

The construction can be understood through modular arithmetic. Successively choose the low-order digits to agree modulo $p$, $p^2$, and higher powers. After fixing digits below $p^n$, the remaining error has p-adic absolute value at most $p^{-n}$; the partial sums form a Cauchy sequence, so completeness supplies a limit. If two expansions first differ at position $j$, their difference has P-adic valuation $j$, proving uniqueness. This turns compatible finite congruence classes into one exact number. In particular, Hensel's lemma upgrades suitable approximate roots of a polynomial modulo powers of $p$ into roots in the p-adic integers.

Every nonzero P-adic number has a unique decomposition $z=p^{m}u$ with $m\in \mathbb{Z}$ and $u\in {\mathbb{Z}}_p^{\times }$. The group homomorphism kernel of reduction from the unit group onto ${\mathbb{F}}_p^{\times }$ is $1+p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$, the group of principal units. Each nonzero residue class has a unique lift $\omega$ satisfying ${\omega }^{p-1}=1$, by the simple-root Hensel lemma proved in question 3. Uniqueness makes these lifts multiplicative. They form the cyclic group ${\mu }_{p-1}$, and every unit has a unique factorizationThus ${\mathbb{Q}}_p^{\times }=p^{\mathbb{Z}}\times {\mu }_{p-1}\times (1+p{\mathbb{Z}}_p)$.

For odd $p$, the p-adic logarithm and p-adic exponential function give inverse group isomorphisms $1+p{\mathbb{Z}}_p\leftrightarrow p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$. To verify the convergence domain, for $t\in p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$ the p-adic logarithm terms have valuations $n{v}_p(t)-v_p(n)\to \infty$, and the exponential terms have valuations $n{v}_p(t)-v_p(n!)\to \infty$, since $v_p(n!)\le (n-1)/(p-1)$ and $p>2$. In both series every term after the linear one has strictly larger valuation than the linear term. Consequently $\log (1+t)\in p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$ and $\exp (t)\in 1+p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$. The formal identities $\log (vw)=\log v+\log w$ and $\exp (\log v)=v$, $\log (\exp t)=t$ hold on these convergent domains, as follows by multiplying the convergent series or passing to their formal identities termwise.

Choose a generator $\zeta$ of ${\mu }_{p-1}$. An explicit isomorphism isThe inverse reads off the valuation, the root-of-unity unit factor, and $p^{-1}\log (v)$. Both directions are continuous with the standard product topology, so this is also a topological group isomorphism. The odd-prime condition is essential for using all of $1+p{\mathbb{Z}}_p$ as the p-adic logarithm-isomorphism domain.

For an odd integer $x=2a+1$, $x^2=1+4a(a+1)\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}8)$. The same conclusion holds for every 2-adic unit by reduction modulo eight. Thus an odd square must be congruent to one modulo eight.

Conversely let $u\in {\mathbb{Z}}_2^{\times }$ with $u\equiv 1(\mathrm{mod}8)$. For digit lifting for square roots of 2-adic units, start with $x_3=1$. If $x_n$ is odd and $x_n^2\equiv u(\mathrm{mod}{2}^n)$, considerFor $n\ge 3$,since the remaining term is divisible by $2^{2n-2}$ and $2n-2\ge n+1$. The odd multiplier $x_n$ lets the choice of ${\epsilon }_n$ correct exactly the next binary digit. Thus $x_{n+1}^2\equiv u(\mathrm{mod}{2}^{n+1})$. The corrections have valuations tending to infinity, so completeness gives $x=\lim x_n\in {\mathbb{Z}}_2^{\times }$ with $x^2=u$.

The unit $3$ is congruent to one modulo two but is not a square, and $5$ is congruent to one modulo four but is not a square, by the necessary modulo-eight condition. Therefore

Every nonzero P-adic number in ${\mathbb{Q}}_2$ is uniquely $2^{m}u$ with $m\in \mathbb{Z}$ and $u$ a 2-adic unit. A square has even valuation, and the unit square criterion shows that the unit class is determined by its odd residue modulo eight. The four residues form $C_2\times C_2$, generated by $-1$ and $5$; the valuation parity supplies the third factor, generated by $2$. Hence the square-class group of the 2-adic numbers isIts eight classes are represented by $1,-1,5,-5,2,-2,10,-10$. They are distinct: the first four have even valuation and distinct unit residues modulo eight, while multiplication by $2$ gives odd valuation and the same four distinct unit residues.

In characteristic different from two, completing the square in a quadratic minimal polynomial makes every quadratic extension $K(\sqrt{d})$ for a nonsquare $d\in K$. If $K(\sqrt{d})=K(\sqrt{e})$, write $\sqrt{e}=a+b\sqrt{d}$ and square. The coefficient $2ab$ must vanish. Since $e$ is nonsquare, $b\ne 0$, so $a=0$ and $e/d=b^2$. Conversely a square ratio plainly gives the same field. Thus the seven quadratic extensions of the 2-adic numbers are exactly

The unique unramified extension in this list is ${\mathbb{Q}}_2(\sqrt{5})$. To verify this, $\alpha =(1+\sqrt{5})/2$ is integral and satisfies $X^2-X-1=0$. Its reduction $X^2+X+1$ is irreducible over ${\mathbb{F}}_2$, so its residue field contains ${\mathbb{F}}_4$. The standard degree formula for finite extensions of complete discretely valued fields with perfect residue field is $[L:K]=e(L/K)f(L/K)$. Here the field degree is two, so the residue degree is two and the ramification index is one.

Conversely an unramified quadratic extension has residue field ${\mathbb{F}}_4$. A root there of $X^2+X+1$ lifts by Hensel lemma to a root of $X^2-X-1$, whose derivative is a unit. For this lift $\beta$, $(2\beta -1{)}^2=5$, so the extension contains ${\mathbb{Q}}_2(\sqrt{5})$ and must equal it. Every other field in the list is therefore ramified.

For the requested ramification groups, choose $L={\mathbb{Q}}_2(\sqrt{2})$ and $\pi =\sqrt{2}$. We use uniqueness of the extension of the valuation to a finite extension, together with the degree formula just stated. Since $v_2(\pi )=1/2$, the extension has ramification index two and residue degree one. Normalize $v_L(\pi )=1$, giving $v_L(2)=2$. Every element is $a+b\pi$ with $a,b\in {\mathbb{Q}}_2$, and the two summands have valuations of opposite parity:Thus $a+b\pi$ is integral exactly when $a,b\in {\mathbb{Z}}_2$, proving ${\mathcal{O}}_L={\mathbb{Z}}_2\oplus {\mathbb{Z}}_2\pi$ directly.

The nonidentity automorphism $\sigma$ negates $\pi$. For any integral $a+b\pi$,of valuation at least three, with equality when $b$ is a unit. By the definition $G_i=\{\sigma :v_L(\sigma x-x)\ge i+1\text{ for every }x\in {\mathcal{O}}_L\}$, the ramification in the quadratic extension generated by the square root of two is thereforeThe lower ramification break is two; the valuation used here is the integral normalization on $L$.

The compactness and completeness proved above apply again. The finite ring $\mathcal{O}/t\mathcal{O}$ has a positive integer characteristic $m$, so $m\in t\mathcal{O}$ and $|m|<1$. Prime factorization supplies a prime $p$ with $|p|<1$. In characteristic zero the restriction to $\mathbb{Q}$ is therefore a positive power of the p-adic absolute value, by the preceding classification. Completing $\mathbb{Q}$ embeds the P-adic number field ${\mathbb{Q}}_p$ into the complete field $K$.

Now $p\mathcal{O}$ is open, so $\mathcal{O}/p\mathcal{O}$ is finite. It is an ${\mathbb{F}}_p$-vector space; choose lifts $e_1,\dots ,e_d\in \mathcal{O}$ of a basis. Successively reducing modulo $p\mathcal{O}$ gives, for every $x\in \mathcal{O}$,Convergence in $K$ follows from $|p|<1$. Every element of $K$ becomes integral after multiplication by a power of $p$, so $K={\sum }_j{\mathbb{Q}}_p{e}_j$. Consequently $\boxed{[K:{\mathbb{Q}}_p]<\infty }$: $K$ is a p-adic field. This finite-module proof does not assume discreteness of the original value group in advance.

If a finite extension of the P-adic numbers contains a primitive $p$th root of unity $\zeta$, the identity $p={\prod }_{j=1}^{p-1}(1-{\zeta }^j)$ gives $e=(p-1)v_L(1-\zeta )\ge p-1$. The ratios of these factors reduce to the nonzero integers $j$ in the residue field. Thus an extension with $e<p-1$ has only roots of unity of order prime to $p$.

Tensoring a Tate module with the P-adic numbers gives its rational Tate module. For a CM elliptic curve with base-defined multiplication by $K$, it is free of rank one over $K\otimes {\mathbb{Q}}_{\ell }$, including when this algebra is a product of two fields. In the split case the two distinct roots of a nonrational CM endomorphism each have a one-dimensional eigenspace.

An ultrametric space is a metric space whose metric satisfies the ultrametric inequality. The rational numbers with $d_p(x,y)=|x-y{|}_p$, and their P-adic number completion, are examples. Their geometry organizes points into nested clusters rather than measuring separation along a number line.

For integers $a,b$ and $k\ge 0$, the definition of the P-adic valuation givesThus a closed ball of radius $p^{-k}$ in the integers is a congruence class modulo $p^k$. In the p-adic integers the same closed ball is $a+p^k{\mathbb{Z}}_p$. More shared low-order digits mean a smaller p-adic absolute value of the difference.

The binary tree first splits the sixteen integers into even and odd congruence classes, then refines modulo $4$, $8$, and $16$. Each node fixes one more low-order digit. The leaves $5$ and $13$ share the class $5$ modulo $8$, then separate modulo $16$, so their distance is exactly $1/8$. The leaves are deliberately ordered by their low-order digits; horizontal spacing and edge lengths are layout choices, not the metric. The singleton leaves describe this finite sample; a congruence class modulo $16$ in all p-adic integers remains infinite.

The ultrametric inequality also explains the unusual behavior of balls. Every point of an open ball can serve as its center: if $d(a,b)<r$, then $d(a,x)<r$ if and only if $d(b,x)<r$. Two open balls that intersect are nested, since a point of their intersection serves as a common center and their radii can be compared. The same nesting rule holds for closed balls and for a pair consisting of one open ball and one closed ball.

Every open ball is a clopen set. For a point $y$ outside $B(a,r)$, the open ball $B(y,d(a,y))$ stays outside $B(a,r)$: if $d(y,z)<d(a,y)$, the ultrametric inequality forces $d(a,z)=d(a,y)\ge r$. Hence the complement is an open set. Also every closed ball of positive radius is an open set, because $B(b,r)$ lies in the closed ball of radius $r$ around $a$ whenever $d(a,b)\le r$. A radius-zero closed ball is a singleton and need not be an open set. Distinct points can therefore be separated by a clopen set, proving that an ultrametric space is totally disconnected. These ball properties turn distance thresholds into a hierarchy of compatible clusters. ^[ref]