Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ib Paper 2 3H Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Write for the 2-adic valuation of a nonzero integer . Then for unequal arguments. It is positive for , vanishes exactly when , and is symmetric because .
For the triangle inequality, if divides and divides , then divides their sum . ThusCoincident arguments also satisfy these inequalities immediately. Consequently is a metric, and indeed an ultrametric induced by the 2-adic absolute value.
For the sequence, , soThe same sequence diverges in the usual Euclidean metric; the convergence here depends on the 2-adic absolute value.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2019 ib Paper 1 12G a Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03