Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 24 3 c Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The elliptic-curve discriminant is , so the elliptic curve has good reduction at both and . At a prime of good reduction, the reduction of torsion points on an elliptic curve is injective on torsion of order prime to . Here is the formal reason: the kernel of reduction of an elliptic curve is described by an integral formal group law on , and its multiplication series is . If , the first term has strictly smaller valuation than every higher term for . Thus this kernel has no nonidentity point killed by .
Apply this to each prime-primary component of the rational torsion subgroup. A component at injects into , of order , and is therefore trivial. A component at injects into , of order , and is trivial. Every other prime-primary component injects into both groups, so its order divides . This proves the two-prime bound on rational elliptic torsion in the present case:
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2003 iii Paper 21 2 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use the two-prime bound on rational elliptic torsion with the counts six at three and eight at five from solution. For a prime , the -primary torsion subgroup injects into both reduced groups by reduction of torsion points on an elliptic curve. Its order therefore divides the corresponding primary part of . The three-primary subgroup injects into the group of order eight at five and is trivial; the five-primary subgroup injects into the group of order six at three and is trivial. Hence the entire rational torsion subgroup has order at most two.
The factorization supplies , a nonidentity point of order two under the elliptic curve group law. ThereforeThe primary-component argument avoids assuming injectivity on residue-characteristic torsion.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2005 iii Paper 32 1 iii Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Use reduction of torsion points on an elliptic curve, which is injective on torsion of order prime to the residue characteristic. Any two-primary torsion point of an elliptic curve must inject into the group of order seven at three, so is zero. Any three-primary torsion point of an elliptic curve injects into the group of order five at two, so is zero. For a prime , its primary torsion injects into both reduced groups and would have order dividing both five and seven, so is also zero. Decomposing the cyclic group generated by any torsion point of an elliptic curve into its primary parts shows that has no nonidentity torsion at all. This is the two-prime bound on rational elliptic torsion, with the residue-characteristic exceptions handled explicitly. Since is not ,