Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-galois-theory-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2023/3/a/solution

A nonconstant polynomial is separable when it has distinct roots in a splitting field, equivalently when it is coprime to its formal derivative. For such , Bézout's identity for polynomials gives with . This identity remains valid over any extension . A repeated root would satisfy , giving the contradiction . Thus there are no repeated roots in any field extension. The argument in fact applies to every separable polynomial, whether irreducible or not.

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