We investigate the t–W scheme for the anti-ferromagnetic XXX spin chain under both periodic and open boundary conditions. We propose a new parametrization of the eigenvalues of the transfer matrix. Based on it, we obtain the exact solution of the system. By analyzing the distribution of zero roots at the ground state, we obtain the explicit expressions of the eigenfunctions of the transfer matrix and the associated operator (see Eqs. () and ()) in the thermodynamic limit. We find that the ratio of the quantum determinant with the eigenvalue of operator for the ground state exhibits exponential decay behavior. Thus this fact ensures that the so-called inversion relation (the t–W relation without the W-term) can be used to study the ground state properties of quantum integrable systems with/without U(1)-symmetry in the thermodynamic limit.