Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ii/paper-1/17f/iii/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 1 17F iii Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
A finite separable field extension of degree has exactly embeddings into an algebraic closure: adjoin finitely many generators successively, and use part (i) to count extensions of each embedding by the distinct roots of the relevant separable minimal polynomial.
For , label these embeddings . For each pair , the equalityexcludes at most one . If the images of agree, the images of cannot agree too, so it excludes none. Since is infinite, choose avoiding the finitely many bad values and put . The images of are distinct, hence its minimal polynomial has degree at least . But gives degree at most . Therefore . Combining generators two at a time proves the primitive element theorem for every finite separable extension over an infinite base field.
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