The polynomial discriminant satisfies
A polynomial has no repeated roots over the algebraic closure exactly when it is coprime to its derivative. Consequently the assumed squarefree reduction has nonzero resultant with its derivative, so . On the other hand the power basis is a basis of the order in a number field , and the discriminant-index formula for an integral lattice gives
Here the field discriminant is an integer. Therefore
This is squarefree reduction excludes a prime from the power-basis index; its argument establishes the index condition before applying the Kummer-Dedekind theorem.