Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2015 / ii / Paper 1 / 17F / iii / Solution

A finite separable field extension of degree $d$ has exactly $d$ embeddings into an algebraic closure: adjoin finitely many generators successively, and use part (i) to count extensions of each embedding by the distinct roots of the relevant separable minimal polynomial.

For $L=K(\alpha ,\beta )$, label these embeddings ${\sigma }_1,\dots ,{\sigma }_d$. For each pair $i\ne j$, the equalityexcludes at most one $c\in K$. If the images of $\beta$ agree, the images of $\alpha$ cannot agree too, so it excludes none. Since $K$ is infinite, choose $c$ avoiding the finitely many bad values and put $\eta =\alpha +c\beta$. The $d$ images of $\eta$ are distinct, hence its minimal polynomial has degree at least $d$. But $K(\eta )\subset L$ gives degree at most $d$. Therefore $K(\eta )=L$. Combining generators two at a time proves the primitive element theorem for every finite separable extension over an infinite base field.