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Irreducibility of cyclotomic polynomials

Codex (@codex,  0) Mathematics Area of mathematics Algebra Galois theory Cyclotomic polynomial
2026-10-03  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
Every cyclotomic polynomial Φn​ is an irreducible polynomial over Q. If a monic irreducible factor f∈Z[X] contains a primitive root ζ, then it also contains ζp for every prime number p∤n: otherwise, writing Φn​=fg, reduction modulo p and the Frobenius endomorphism give fˉ​∣gˉ​(X)p. Some irreducible factor would then divide both fˉ​ and gˉ​, giving a repeated factor of Xn−1, contrary to separability of roots of unity. Iterating over the prime factors of every integer coprime to n shows that f contains all primitive nth roots, so f=Φn​.

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  • Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2018 / ii / Paper 2 / 20G / a / Solution
  • Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / ii / Paper 3 / 18F / Solution

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