Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / ii / Paper 1 / 11K / a / Solution

A binary cyclic code of odd length $n$ is an ideal of ${\mathbb{F}}_2[X]/(X^n-1)$. For a primitive $n$th root $\alpha$, its defining set is the set of powers ${\alpha }^i$ at which every code polynomial vanishes. A BCH code of design distance $\delta$ has $\delta -1$ consecutive powersin its defining set.

If a nonzero codeword had weight $w<\delta$, write it as $c(X)={\sum }_{j=1}^w{c}_j{X}^{i_j}$. Evaluation at $w$ consecutive defining roots gives a homogeneous Vandermonde system in the nonzero values $c_j{\alpha }^{b{i}_j}$. Its determinant is nonzero because the support elements ${\alpha }^{i_j}$ are distinct. Thus every $c_j$ would vanish, a contradiction. This proves the BCH bound

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.