Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 ii Paper 4 17F i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Here one must distinguish two conventions for a radical extension. The solvability theorem says that a finite extension with solvable normal-closure Galois group is contained in a tower of radical adjunctions. Under the convention that this containment defines a radical extension, this is the requested assertion.
Let be the finite normal closure and let be divisible by the orders of its Galois group elements. Adjoin a primitive th root of unity, obtaining , which itself is a radical adjunction since . The Galois group of embeds in the solvable group of , so it is solvable. A composition series with cyclic prime-order quotients gives a tower of cyclic prime-degree extensions above . Each is a radical adjunction, as the following argument shows.
For a cyclic extension of prime degree containing , let generate its Galois group. The -linear operator satisfies , a product of distinct linear factors in characteristic zero. Thus it is diagonalizable. Because , it has an eigenvector with eigenvalue . Then and , so by primeness of the degree. Applying this at every step produces a radical tower containing .
If “radical extension” instead means that itself must be such a tower, the printed statement is false without this qualification. For example the real cubic subfield of is cyclic and solvable, but contains no nonrational with : all three conjugates are real roots of the same equation , which has at most two real roots, while any nonrational element of the cubic field has three distinct conjugates. Consequently no nontrivial radical adjunction can start a tower inside it. Containment in a radical tower is the valid general conclusion.