Denote the three stated pair sums by . They are pairwise distinct: for example,and the other differences factor similarly. Every Galois automorphism fixes each , and hence fixes each of the three corresponding partitions of four roots into two pairs. The kernel of the permutation action on these partitions isThus embeds in the Klein four-group. By part (a), divides , and the containing group has order four. ConsequentlyThis Split resolvent criterion for a Klein four Galois group uses the cubic resolvent of a quartic. The pair-sum differences remain nonzero in characteristic two, so this proof does not need the missing characteristic assumption from part (c).
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ii Paper 1 18I Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
Let be the Galois group of a polynomial of the irreducible quartic. Irreducibility makes a transitive subgroup of . The three roots of the given cubic resolvent of a quartic correspond to the three partitions of the four quartic roots into two unordered pairs, and the kernel of the -action on these partitions is the Klein four-group . If the resolvent has Galois group , the image of in this action is all of . Among the transitive subgroups of the symmetric group on four points, only has this image. Hence
Now put . The Eisenstein criterion at proves that is an irreducible polynomial, and its cubic resolvent isIts discriminant of a depressed cubic isFor odd , the -adic valuation of is three because ; for , . Thus is never a square in .
By the rational root theorem, a reducible has an integer root among . Reduction modulo shows that the root is divisible by ; writing it as , with , givesThe only possibilities are and , corresponding to roots and . For every other prime, is irreducible with nonsquare discriminant, so its Galois group is and the criterion above gives the quartic group . For or , the reducible resolvent makes the quartic group a proper subgroup. Therefore
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2020 ii Paper 4 18G b Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-09-29
The symmetric group acts on the three partitions of four roots into two unordered pairs. The resulting homomorphism has kernel the Klein four-group . If is a square and the characteristic is not two, the discriminant criterion for an alternating Galois group gives , and its image on the three resolvent roots lies in .
For an irreducible quartic, is transitive on four roots, and its only possibilities inside are and . The resolvent is irreducible exactly when the image acts transitively on its three roots, equivalently when that image is . ThusThe printed statement omits the needed irreducibility hypothesis on . Literally it is false: has square discriminant and Galois group , and its resolvent is irreducible. Without quartic irreducibility, a reducible resolvent only implies , allowing the trivial group, , or .
For the specified polynomial ,Its resolvent is . Modulo this is , which has no root in and is therefore an irreducible cubic. The quartic is given to be irreducible, so the preceding criterion yields
S4 criterion from the cubic resolvent of an irreducible quartic Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-25
If an irreducible quartic over a field of characteristic zero has a cubic resolvent of a quartic whose Galois group of a polynomial is , then the quartic has Galois group . Irreducibility places the quartic group among the transitive subgroups of the symmetric group on four points, while the action on its three root pairings is surjective onto . Of the possibilities , only has this image.