Solution

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

Let . If is a separable algebraic element over , its minimal polynomial over divides the original separable minimal polynomial. It also divides , which has only one distinct root in any extension. Being separable with only one distinct root, that minimal polynomial has degree one. Hence and .
Conversely, if the degree- minimal polynomial over is inseparable, part (b) writes it as with . Then , so
The fields cannot be equal. This proves the equivalence
the separability criterion using a pth power.

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