Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2006/b/2/i/solution

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 .

New to topics? Read the docs here!