Field of algebraic numbers
ID: field-of-algebraic-numbers
The complex algebraic numbers form a field, the algebraic closure of inside . To see closure under the field operations, if are algebraic numbers, the tower law makes a finite-dimensional field extension of . Every element of this extension is an algebraic element, because its successive powers are linearly dependent. In particular it contains , and when .
It is an infinite-degree algebraic extension. A primitive th root of unity has minimal polynomial of an algebraic element of degree for every prime , so the degrees of its finite subextensions are unbounded. Finally a complex root of a polynomial whose coefficients are algebraic numbers is itself algebraic over their finite-degree coefficient field and hence over , again by the tower law. Thus every such polynomial splits in this field, establishing the algebraic closure assertion.
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