Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2010 / iii / Paper 3 / 5 / 4 / Solution

To compute the first Tor of a cyclic quotient, start a free resolution of $A/I$ with $P_0=A$, take a free module $P_1$ surjecting onto $I$, and take $P_2$ surjecting onto the kernel of $P_1\to I$. Tensor right exactness identifiesBy definition, the degree-one Tor functor is the kernel of $P_1{\otimes }_{A}M\to A{\otimes }_{A}M$ modulo the image from $P_2{\otimes }_{A}M$. Quotienting first by that image consequently gives the natural identificationEquivalently the calculation gives the exact sequenceThus its first term vanishes for every ideal exactly when each multiplication map is injective, provingTogether with the preceding implications, all four conditions are equivalent. The proof used explicit extension arguments, character duality and the definition of the Tor functor, rather than an unproved flatness or injectivity criterion.