Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-1-and-differential-equations-1-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2014/1/b/i/solution

Evaluate Bézout's identity for polynomials at :
All these linear operators commute because they are polynomials in the same operator. Thus every can be written
The first summand belongs to and the second to , since applying the corresponding operator introduces the product .
If lies in both kernels, the same identity gives . Therefore the sum is direct:
This is the kernel decomposition for coprime polynomials. It uses both annihilation by and the coprimality expressed by the Bézout identity.

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