Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ii/paper-1/18h/c/solution

Let satisfy . Since ,
The polynomial has degree and has root . It is irreducible exactly when .
If for some , then is a root of of degree at most , so is reducible. Conversely, if it is reducible, then
Since is prime, implies . Applying coprime-degree descent for powers to and shows that is a th power in . Hence

New to topics? Read the docs here!