Past exam of the metric spaces and complex analysis course of the University of Oxford / 2015 / 3 / b / Solution

Put $S={\sum }_{j=0}^{n-1}|a_j|$ and choose $R>\max (1,2S/|a_n|)$. For $|z|>R$, the triangle inequality givesThe reverse triangle inequality therefore yieldsIf $P$ had no root, the function $h=1/P$ would be an entire function. The bound just proved makes $h(z)\to 0$ as $|z|\to \infty$. On the remaining closed disk, continuity and the extreme value theorem make $h$ bounded. Thus $h$ is a bounded entire function, so Liouville's theorem makes it constant. Its limit at infinity forces that constant to be zero, impossible for a reciprocal.

Consequently $P$ has a root in $\mathbb{C}$. This proves the existence part of the fundamental theorem of algebra. The invoked Liouville theorem follows from the Cauchy integral formula: the Cauchy estimate $|h^{\prime }(w)|\le M/r$ on arbitrarily large circles gives $h^{\prime }=0$ when $h$ is bounded by $M$.