Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2006/b/2/i/solution
Past exam of the options II course of the University of Oxford 2006 B 2 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
An irreducible polynomial has positive degree, so its ideal is proper: otherwise would contradict degrees. Every nonzero class has a representative not divisible by . Irreducibility gives , and the Euclidean algorithm supplies polynomials with . Passing to the quotient gives . Thus the quotient is a nonzero commutative ring in which every nonzero element has an inverse, hence a field. Constants embed injectively because no nonzero constant lies in the positive-degree ideal .
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