Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2009/ii/paper-4/18h/b/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2009 ii Paper 4 18H b Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
A primitive tenth root has and , so division of by givesIt is irreducible over : replacing by gives , and then replacing by gives . Any nontrivial monic integer factorization would reduce modulo five to factors that are powers of , forcing both constant terms divisible by five and their product divisible by , contrary to the constant term five. Rational factorization reduces to integer factorization by Gauss lemma: products of primitive integer polynomials are primitive, since reduction modulo any prime preserves a nonzero product. ThusLet . Dividing by gives . Hence , so . Either sign of this square root suffices; for the positive one is .
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