Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 74 6 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
For a number field , its ordinary Hilbert class field is the maximal finite abelian extension unramified at every finite prime and with every real place splitting completely. The Artin reciprocity map inducesThe image of an unramified prime ideal is its Frobenius automorphism. Thus a prime splits completely in precisely when its ideal class is trivial. This field packages ideal-class obstructions into splitting behavior. Ideals become principal in by the principal ideal theorem. Specifying the real-place convention matters for real fields: omitting it leads instead to the narrow class-field problem. Both illustrative fields below are imaginary quadratic, so there are no real places to discuss.
First consider , whose quadratic discriminant is . The correspondence between ideal classes and reduced primitive positive definite binary quadratic forms lets us compute its class number without guessing a class field. A reduced form obeys , , and ; a boundary case uses . For the only class is ; for the two possibilities are and . Hence and its ideal class group is cyclic of order three.
Take . Its only possible rational roots are , neither a root, so it is irreducible. Its polynomial discriminant is , which is nonsquare. Thus its splitting field has Galois group and the quadratic fixed field of is , generated by the square root of its discriminant. Therefore is cyclic of degree three and for a root of .
At a prime other than , the separable residue polynomial splits over a finite residue-field extension; Hensel's lemma puts all its roots in an unramified local extension. At there is the exact factorizationThe simple factor lifts by Hensel's lemma. The remaining quadratic factor has discriminant valuation one, because the cubic discriminant is and the resultant with the simple factor is a unit. Its local splitting field is ramified quadratic, with inertia group of order two. Its intersection with is trivial, so the relative extension is unramified at as well. There are no real places. An unramified abelian extension of degree must be all of , givingThis is the Hilbert class field of Q of square root minus twenty-three.
The other alternative, , has quadratic discriminant . Reduced forms have and even . Testing , , and gives exactlyThus . Each class is its own inverse, because replacing by leaves these representatives unchanged; consequently the ideal class group is .
Set . The square classes are independent, so . Their product gives , and is abelian of degree four. Its seven quadratic subfields have discriminantsFor a multiquadratic abelian extension, the conductor-discriminant formula takes the product of these quadratic character conductors, namely the absolute quadratic discriminants. Hence . The relative discriminant tower formula givesThe integral relative discriminant ideal therefore has norm one and is the unit ideal. Thus is everywhere unramified, and its degree equals the class number. This proves the other explicit answer:It agrees with the Hilbert class field of Q of square root minus thirty. Both alternatives have been computed independently from their class numbers and ramification.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 123 4 Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
First compute the class number. The ideal-form correspondence for imaginary quadratic fields identifies the ideal classes with proper equivalence classes of primitive positive definite binary quadratic forms of discriminant . Each has a unique reduced positive definite binary quadratic form representative under the convention , with when or . From we get . Checking these three possible leading coefficients gives exactlyFor , neither odd residue choice makes integral. The listed forms are primitive and satisfy the reduction convention, soThis computes the ideal class group of Q of square root minus thirty-one.
Now take a root of , and let be its splitting field over . There is no rational root: the only candidates are , and neither vanishes. Thus the cubic is irreducible. Its polynomial discriminant isSince this is nonsquare, the Galois group of an irreducible cubic is . Its quadratic subfield is : the product of pairwise root differences squares to and changes sign under odd permutations. Thus is cyclic of degree three, and . Indeed the cubic field and have coprime degrees, so their compositum already has the full splitting-field degree six. The squarefree polynomial discriminant also shows, by the discriminant-index formula for an integral lattice, that is the full integer ring of the cubic field.
It remains to prove that is unramified everywhere. At any rational prime , the reduction of is separable. Over a finite residue extension in which it splits, all residue roots are simple and lift by Hensel lemma to the corresponding unramified extension of . Therefore the local splitting field is unramified over , and its extension over a completion of is unramified as well.
At the only possible ramified prime, direct reduction givesThe simple root lifts to . Write , with monic quadratic over . The discriminant product formula givesHere is a unit, so the quadratic discriminant has square class . Hence the entire local splitting field isIt is quadratic over , but its extension over the completion of is trivial. Thus the prime over splits completely in ; in particular it is not ramified there. This is the local splitting-field argument behind an unramified cyclic cubic extension from a prime-discriminant cubic. There are no real places of the imaginary quadratic field , so no infinite-place ramification remains to check.
The Hilbert class field theorem identifies the maximal everywhere unramified abelian extension with an extension of degree . Our cyclic unramified extension already has that degree, so it must be the whole Hilbert class field. ThereforeEquivalently, it is the splitting field of , of degree six over and degree three over . Replacing by gives the alternative defining cubic . This is the Hilbert class field of Q of square root minus thirty-one.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 1 5C Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The dot product and Euclidean norm are and . For every real ,Its quadratic discriminant is nonpositive, proving the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality . In the inequality asked for, equality holds exactly when is a positive scalar multiple of , and
Using the Levi-Civita symbol and its contraction identity,
Put , the scalar triple product. Cyclic symmetry gives , so each requested angle satisfies . If every pairwise angle is and , the preceding identity givesand therefore . This is when ; for a right-handed orthonormal basis and , has norm .
The three planes have equations , , and . They meet at one point exactly when , meaning their normals are linearly independent vectors. The point is
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ib Paper 3 16B Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
The expectation value is the mean outcome over many identically prepared measurements of the observable. For real , positivity of the norm in the Hilbert space givesThis real quadratic has nonpositive quadratic discriminant, soApply this to the centered observables and to obtain the Robertson uncertainty principle
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 4 15E a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
A Lagrange top is a rigid body that is symmetric about a principal axis, has a point on that axis fixed in space, and has its center of mass on the same axis while gravity acts uniformly. Here is the transverse principal moment of inertia about the fixed point, is the moment about the symmetry axis, is the total mass, and is the distance from the fixed point to the center of mass.
The Euler angles for a symmetric top use for inclination, for precession, and for spin about the body axis. Since is a cyclic coordinate, its generalized momentumis conserved. The coordinate is also cyclic, sois a second integral. Finally, the Lagrangian has no explicit time dependence, and conservation of energy from time-translation invariance gives the independent integral
For steady precession set constant and constant. The Euler-Lagrange equation, with , reduces after division by toThis quadratic has a real precession rate precisely when its quadratic discriminant is nonnegative. Hence Steady precession of a Lagrange top is possible if and only if
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ii Paper 4 24F a iii Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For any smooth projective curve of genus , a canonical divisor has degree . If this plane curve had genus two, part (ii) would implyso . The quadratic discriminant is , which is not a perfect square, so the equation has no integral solution. Thus a smooth projective plane curve cannot have genus two, as recorded by no smooth plane curve has genus two.
For an odd prime , the unique quadratic subfield of a prime cyclotomic field has no finite ramification outside . The classification of quadratic discriminants identifies it with , where . A fundamental discriminant factors as with . The remaining quadratic number field is generated by , , or and lies in . Taking the corresponding compositum proves the indicated quadratic case of the Kronecker–Weber theorem.