Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/ii/paper-2/18h/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 ii Paper 2 18H iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A primitive sixth root of unity satisfieswhich is irreducible over because its discriminant is . For the other polynomial choose , so and . Then , so this field already contains all six roots. The Eisenstein criterion at proves irreducible, giving a splitting field of degree six.
Put and . The first automorphism fixes and has order three. The second sends to its negative, so sends to ; hence and . These six distinct transformations exhaust the Galois group. ThereforeThe presence of sixth roots of unity inside the splitting field is why this particular binomial has degree six rather than a generic twelve-degree splitting field.
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