Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 123 / 1 / i / Solution

The prime ideal factorization of $pB$ iswhich defines the ramification index of a prime ideal $e_{q/p}=v_q(pB)$. The residue-field degree isLocalizing at $p$ makes $B_p$ a free $R_p$-module of rank $[L:K]$, so $B/pB$ has dimension $[L:K]$ over the residue field $R/p$. The Chinese remainder theorem and the filtration by powers of each $q$ decompose this vector space into $e_{q/p}$ successive quotients isomorphic to $B/q$, each of dimension $f_{q/p}$. Therefore the fundamental identity for prime decomposition gives