Math 8202 Homework 5 Spring 2015

Tianyu Tao
March 5, 2015
Problem 1:

p. 215 Exx 1.

Proof: We have (u2 + u + 1)(u2 u) = u4 u = u(u2 u 2) u = 4u 2,

and (u 1)1 = 13 (u2 + 1), as one can check (u2 + 1)(u 1) = u3 + u u2 1 =
u2 u 2 + u u2 1 = 3.
Problem 2:

p.215 Exx 3.

Proof. The polynomial f (x) = (xp 1)/(x 1) = 1 + x + + xp1 is irreducible

over Q by exercise 3 p.154, this was proved last semester, where the proof was to
replace x by x + 1 in the expression (xp 1)/(x 1) and apply Eisenstein. Since
v p = 1 and v 6= 1, we have f (v) = 0 hence f is the minimum polynomial of v over
Q, establishing [Q(v) : Q] = p 1.
Problem 3:

p.215 Exx 5.

Proof: We have [F (u) : F ] = [F (u) : F (u2 )][F (u2 ) : F ]. We claim [F (u) : F (u2 )]
is either 1 or 2, for suppose it is not 1, then since u satisfies the equation f (x) =
x2 u2 F (u2 )[x] we have 1 6= [F (u) : F (u2 )] = [F (u2 )(u) : F (u2 )] 2, which
forces [F (u) : F (u2 )] = 2, but then [F (u) : F ] is even, contradict to hypothesis so
[F (u) : F (u2 )] = 1 and F (u) = F (u2 ).

Problem 4:

p.216 Exx 8.

Proof: Since u is transcendent over F , by remark on page 213 we have that E =

F (u) is isomorphic to F (x), the field of fraction of F [x]. To show u is algebraic

Math 8202 Homework 5

Tianyu Tao

over K is to show that the extension K(u) is finite dimensional over K, by theorem
4.1. Let g K\F , since K is a subfield of E/F , we have
g=

f (u)
h(u)

where f (x), h(u) F [x] and h 6= 0, at least one of f, g is not constant (an element
in F ) by our choice of g. Thus u satisfies the equation p(u) = 0 with p(x) =
f (x) gh(x) K[x]. So [K(u) : K] < deg p(x) shows u is algebraic over K.

Problem 5:

p.229 Exx 1.

Proof: We do induction on the degree n of f , suppose n = 1, then f (x) is linear

so F is already the splitting field for f (x), and [E : F ] = [F : F ] = 1. Suppose
[E : F ] (n 1)! if the degree of f is n 1, consider then a monic polynomial
f (x) F [x] of degree n. Let E/F be the splitting field of f , let r1 , . . . , rn be the
roots of f (x) in E. Put g(x) = f (x)/(x r1 ), this is a monic polynomial in E[x]
having r2 , . . . , rn as roots, with degree n 1, thus E is the splitting field for g over
F (r1 ). By induction hypothesis we have [E : F (r1 )] (n1)!, also [F (r1 ) : F ] n
with equality hold when f is irreducible, then
[E : F ] = [E : F (r1 )][F (r1 ) : F ] (n 1)!n = n!

Problem 6: p.229 Exx 2.

2i
Proof: Let 5 2 denote the image of x in Q[x]/(x5 2), let i = e 5 for i = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
be the 5th roots of unity, since 5 is prime any i 6= 1 is a primitive 5th root of
unity, let
be one particular choice, then the splitting field of x5 2 over Q is

5
E = Q( 2, ), for there are at most five roots for x5 2, and these are precisely

5
5
5
5
5
2, 2, 2 2 , 2 3 , 2 4

The dimension [E : F ] is seen to be less than [Q( 5 2) : Q][Q() : Q] = 5(51) = 20

(we showed before [Q(p ) : Q] = p 1 for p any pth root of unity, it has minimum
polynomial
1 + + xp1 , the cyclotomic polynomials); on the other hand, both

5
Q( 2) and Q() are subfields of E, so 5 and 5 1 = 4 divides [E : F ], since they
are coprime this forces [E : F ] = 20.

Math 8202 Homework 5

Problem 7:

Tianyu Tao

p.229 Exx 3.

Proof: Since Z/(p) has characteristic p, we have

e

xp 1 = (x 1)p ,
e

thus Z/(p) is already the splitting field for xp 1.

Problem 8:

p.229 Exx 5.

Proof: We shall do induction on the size n = [E : F ], if n = 1, then E = F , there

is one and only one way of making a monomorphism E/F into K/F , namely the
identity inclusion map id : F K/F .
Suppose the statement hold for n 1, let 1 , . . . , n be a basis for E as a
F vector space, pick 1 F , then 1 < F [(1 ) : F ] is finite since F () is a
subfield of E, hence 1 is algebraic over F by the remark on page 214 of the text.
Say the minimum polynomial of 1 is g(x), we are in a position to use Lemma on
page 227 of the text, which says we can have an extension : F (1 ) K of the
identity map on F if and only if g(x) has a root in K, we discuss the two cases:
If g(x) has a root in K, then an extension (monomorphism) : F () K
exist, and the number of such extension is the same as the number of distinct
roots of g, which is less than or equal to the degree of g, which is F [(1 ) : F ].
Now consider the number of different ways of extending to a monomorphism
from E/F to K/F , now [E : F ()] = [E : F ]/[F () : F ] < [E : F ] and we
may apply induction hypothesis to see the number of monomorphisms from
E/F (1 ) into K/F does not exceed [E : F (1 )], since a monomorphism
from E to K is determined by monomorphism from E/F (1 ) and F (1 )/F ,
we see the number of monomorphisms from E/F to K/F does not exceed
[E : F (1 )][F () : F ] = [E : F ].
If g(x) does not have a root in K, then there is no extension : F (1 ) K
of the identity on F . Thus we do not have a monomorphism from E to K
here. The statement holds trivially.
This finishes the proof.
Problem 9:

p.233 Exx 1.

Proof: It is clear that any root of g is also a root of f , since f (x) = g(x)d(x), on
the other hand, suppose r is a root for f with multiplicity n 1, so
f (x) = (x r)n h(x)
3

Math 8202 Homework 5

Tianyu Tao

where h(r) 6= 0, then by the product rule, we have

f 0 (x) = n(x r)n1 h(x) + (x r)n h(x),
then (x r)n does not divide f 0 (x), since otherwise it will divide n(x r)n1 h(x),
this says if r is a common root for f and f 0 as above, then d(x) = (x r)n1 j(x)
with j(r) 6= 0, then g(x) = f (x)/d(x) = (x r)h(x)/j(x) must have r as a root,
this shows f and g has the same roots.
But the above argument also shows if r is a root for f (x), then it is a simple
root of g(x), since h(r), j(r) 6= 0.
Problem 10:

p.234 Exx 4.
e

Proof: Suppose f (x) = xp a is reducible in F [x], say f (x) = g(x)h(x) for

g, h F [x], where the degree d, d0 of g(x) and h(x) satisfies 1 < d, d0 < pe , let E
e
be the splitting field of f which contains the root r of f , then a = rp , so
e

g(x)h(x) = f (x) = xp rp = (x r)p

in E[x]. Now E[x] is a PID since E is a field, in particular it is a UFD so we have

g(x) = (x r)d . Write d = pl t, where 0 l < e and t is not divisible by p then
l

g(x) = (x r)p t = (xp rp )t = xp t trp xp t1 + + (rp )t

l

we have assumed that g(x) F [x], hence trp F since its one of the coefficients
l
of g, since d > 1, t 6= 0 we have rp F , then
e

l el

a = rp = rp p

= ((rp )p

el1

)p F p ,

contradicting the assumption that a

/ F p.
pe
Of course, if e = 0, x a = x a is already irreducible.