Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-options-ii-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2007/b/b2/solution

An element is algebraic over if it is a zero of some nonzero polynomial in . An extension is algebraic if every element is algebraic. If , the elements are linearly dependent over , proving every is algebraic.
The converse fails for the algebraic closure inside . All its elements are algebraic by definition, but it contains of degree for every positive integer , since is irreducible by Eisenstein's criterion at two. A finite extension could not contain elements of unbounded degree, so this algebraic extension is infinite.

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