Number Theory Exercise Session 7

We have seen that Qp is a field equipped with a metric. For any such field, one can
develop analysis. Many facts from real analysis copy over to the p-adic world, and the
proofs are similar as in your first analysis course, so we will not spend too much time on
the details. So, you can use without verification that:

ˆ The addition map + : Qp × Qp → Qp : (x, y) 7→ x + y is continuous

ˆ The multiplication map · : Qp × Qp → Qp : (x, y) 7→ x · y is continuous

ˆ Any polynomial function Qp → Qp (with coefficients in Qp ) is continuous

ˆ The absolute value | · |p : Qp → R≥0 is continuous (here, R>0 is equipped with

the real topology).

ˆ if (xn )n and (yn )n are Cauchy sequences in Qp , then so are (xn +yn )n and (xn yn )n ,
and their limits are lim xn + lim yn and lim xn · lim yn respectively.

Remark. With respect to R, some aspects of analysis even get better in Qp since we
have a stronger triangle inequality. For instance, in problem 6.14 we have seen that:

ˆ For any sequence (xn )n in Qp such that xn → 0, we have that the series
P
xn
converges

So there is the contrast between relative and absolute convergence in real analysis dis-
appears in Qp . However, the stronger triangle inequality also destroys some features
that we have in R. For instance, Qp is not connected (see (7.2)). This causes some
fundamental theorems like the mean value theorem to fail in Qp .

solutions review
2n n
P
(7.1) For every prime p, determine the convergence radius of the power series n∈N 3n T
with respect to the p-adic norm.
Given a formal power series of the form
X
an T n
n∈N

in a formal variable T and coefficients an ∈ Q, the p-adic convergence radius is

defined (similarly as in R) as follows:
 q −1
n
ρp := lim sup |an |p .

1
 So if an = (2/3)n , then 
2
 p=2
ρp = 1/3 p = 3 .

1 p ̸= 2, 3


remark. see (7.11) for the justification of the name “convergence radius”.
(7.2) Let x, y ∈ Qp such that x ̸= y. We will show that there exists an open and closed
subset containing x but not y. In other words, Qp with the p-adic topology is
completely disconnected – this contrasts with R! To prove this, we will consider
a set of the form
x + pk Zp := {x + pk a | a ∈ Zp }
with k large enough such that |x − y|p > p−k .
Note that x + pk Zp coincides with the open ball
B(x, p−k+1 ) = {a ∈ Qp : |a − x|p < p−k+1 }
with center x and radius p−k+1 , so it is open by definition of the p-adic topology.
Now every such open ball is in fact also a closed ball because
{a ∈ Qp : |a − x|p < p−k+1 } = {a ∈ Qp : |a − x|p ≤ p−k } :
to argue that the last set is closed, we can use that in a metric space a subset
is closed if and only if it contains all its limit points. Now if a sequence (an )n∈N
converges to a ∈ Qp (we write an → a), and for each n we have |an − x|p ≤ p−k ,
then also |a − x|p ≤ p−k by continuity of | · |p .
4n
(7.3) Let an = 3n +4n
and consider the sequence (an )n∈N .
– Clearly we have an → 1 in R.
– We have |an |2 = 4−n → 0 as n → ∞, so an → 0 in Q2 .
– |an − 1|3 = 3−n → 0 as n → ∞, therefore an → 1 in Q3 .
This solution is surely not the only one: for instance another sequence satisfying
n
these “local” convergence conditions is an = 1 − (3/5)2 .
(7.4) The solutions of x3 = 13 in Q7 are {...01.57 , ...22.37 , ...42.67 }. The equation
x3 = 13 has no solutions in Q3 : indeed, any solution satisfies x ∈ Z3 because
3 ord3 (x) = ord3 (x3 ) = ord3 (13) = 0, and there are no solutions in Z3 because
there are no solutions modulo 9.
Remark. Even though there are solutions to x3 = 13 (mod 3), these solutions
do not lift to Z3 . The problem is that the derivative of X 3 − 13 is divisible by 3:
this causes Newton’s root-finding iteration to fail, as we will see in the proof of
Hensel’s lemma.

2
Wrong statements
(7.5) (Exam 2021) Below is an erroneous proof of the irrationality of π. Find the
mistake.

Proof. Suppose that π = a/b for some strictly positive and coprime integers
a, b ∈ Z. As π > 2, we have that a ≥ 3. Therefore, there exists an odd prime p
so that p divides a. Note that p does not divide b. Let us write

(−1)k a2k+1
ck = .
(2k + 1)! b2k+1

Note that sin(π) = 0, therefore by expanding the Taylor series of sine we obtain
X
ck = 0.
k≥0

n
By the fact that ordp (n!) < p−1
(see (7.12(a)) below) it follows from a computa-
tion that
ordp (ck ) → +∞
. Also note that 0 < ordp (c0 ) < ordp (c1 ), and so it follows that
!
X
ordp ck = ordp (c0 ).
k≥0
P
We obtain a contradiction because ordp ( k ck ) = ordp (0) = +∞. This is a
contradiction and so it follows that π is irrational.
 
(7.6) ⋆ for every prime p > 3, we have ordp 1 + 12 + 13 + · · · + 1
p−1
= 2.
hint: calculator/programming tool required!

Mixed Problems
(7.7) Suppose
a = ...a2 a1 .a0 = a0 + a1 p + a2 p2 + · · · ∈ Zp
is a p-adic integer with p-adic digits an ∈ {0, 1, . . . , p − 1}. Then how can you
obtain the p-adic digits of −a?
What if a ∈ Qp ?

3
 a

a(a−1)...(a−n+1)
(7.8) Let
a ∈ Zp . We write n
= n!
. Then for all n ∈ N prove that
a
n
∈ Zp
(hint: use the fact that Z is dense in Zp , and the fact that polynomial functions
are continuous.)
n
(7.9) (a) Let a ∈ 1 + pZp . Show that ordp (ap − 1) ≥ n + 1.
n
(b) Let a ∈ Z× p
p . Show that the sequence (a )n∈N converges in Qp .

(c) Prove that the map

n
ω : Z× ×
p → Zp : a 7→ lim a
p
n

is a group morphism.
(d) Prove that in fact ω(a) only depends on the value of a (mod p). In other
words, show that ω factors through the projection Z× ×
p → Fp which records
the first p-adic digit.
(e) Prove that the group Z× ×
p is isomorphic to Fp × (1 + pZp ).

(7.10) Prove that Qp contains a square root of −1 if and only if p ≡ 1 (mod 4).

(7.11) Let (an )n∈N be a sequence in Qp , and consider the formal power series ∞ n
P
 −1 n=1 an X
p
in the formal variable X. Denote ρ = limsup n |an |p .

(a) Show that this series converges for all x ∈ Qp such that |x| < ρ, and that
the series diverges for all x ∈ Qp such that |x| > ρ.
(b) Suppose that this series converges for some x ∈ Qp with |x| = ρ. Then show
that it converges for any x ∈ Qp satisfying |x| = ρ.

(7.12) Consider the formal power series

∞ ∞
X Xn X Xn
expp (X) := and logp (1 + X) := (−1)n+1 .
i=0
n! i=1
n

In what comes we will mimic the proofs of real analysis to obtain a p-adic expo-
nential and logarithm.
n
(a) Show that ordp (n!) < p−1
.
(b) Suppose that p is an odd prime. Show using (7.11) that for all x in pZp , the
series expp (x) and logp (1 + x) converge in Qp .

4
 (c) Show that for x, y ∈ pZp , we have

expp (x+y) = expp (x) expp (y), logp ((1+x)(1+y)) = logp (1+x)+logp (1+y),

expp (logp (1 + x)) = 1 + x, logp (expp (x)) = x

Hint: you may accept the fact that as formal power series (so replacing
x by X and y by Y , all these equalities hold if one does not care about
convergence. The point is to show that everything converges. For instance
for the first equality: if x, y ∈ pZp then x + y ∈ pZp , and so by (b) the
series expp (x) and expp (y) and expp (x + y) all converge, and by the formal
equality expp (X) expp (Y ) = expp (X + Y ) it follows that the first equality
holds by evaluating.
(d) Show that the groups (1 + pZp , ·) and (pZp , +) are isomorphic.
(e) Show log2 (−1) = 0 and use this to attack problem (6.16).

(7.13) Let p be a prime.

(a) Prove that Q× ∼

p = Z × Z/(p − 1)Z × Zp . You can use the conclusions of
problems (7.9.e) and (7.12.d).
(b) Determine the structure of the group Q× × 2
p /(Qp )

(c) Determine the structure of the group Q× × 3

p /(Qp ) .

Review
no review problems since the next session is already tomorrow. If you want, you can
already have a look at the statement of Theorem 5.3.1.