Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / ib / Paper 2 / 11G / c / Solution

Put $q=p^n$. Every extension of $k={\mathbb{F}}_p$ has characteristic $p$, so the iterated Frobenius endomorphism satisfiesThe root set is $K=\{a\in F:a^q=a\}$. It contains $0$ and $1$. If $a,b\in K$, thenso it is closed under subtraction and multiplication. If $a\in K$ is nonzero, thenThus $K$ is closed under multiplicative inverses as well, and is therefore a field. This is the polynomial characterization of a finite field; in fact it is the finite field with $q$ elements, since $X^q-X$ has degree $q$ and no repeated roots.