Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/ii/paper-3/16f/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 3 16F i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
If is an irreducible polynomial, any two roots have the same minimal polynomial. Thus the map carrying to is a field embedding. The extension theorem for field embeddings extends it to an embedding of the splitting field into an algebraic closure. Since is normal, its image is , so it is an element of the Galois group.
Conversely, factor into irreducible factors over . An automorphism preserves the vanishing of each factor, so it cannot send a root of one factor to a root of another. Since there are no repeated roots, different factors have disjoint root sets. Transitivity on all roots therefore forces a single irreducible factor. This proves the equivalence.
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