Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2025 / iii / Paper 166 / 1 / a / Solution

For the general result, choose logarithms of nonzero algebraic numbers ${\alpha }_1,\dots ,{\alpha }_s$ and algebraic coefficients ${\beta }_0,\dots ,{\beta }_s$, and putLetwhere $f_{{\alpha }_j}$ is the minimal polynomial and its $H$ is the naive polynomial height, and letThe general lower bound for a linear form in logarithms states that, if $\Lambda \ne 0$, thenwhere the effective constant $C$ depends only on $s$ and the degree of the number field generated by all the data.

For the improved homogeneous result, take $b_1,\dots ,b_s\in \mathbb{Z}$ andWith the same $A_j$, after ordering the terms setThe Baker lower bound for a homogeneous linear form in logarithms givesBoth constants are effective. The division by $\log A_s$ in $B^{\ast }$ is the improvement that matters when ${\alpha }_s$ has variable height.