English
A polynomial is irreducible over a field if it has positive degree and no factorisation into polynomials of smaller positive degrees there. A quadratic or cubic is irreducible exactly when it has no root in that field. This root test alone fails for degree four or higher; for instance (x²+1)(x²+2) has no real root but is reducible over R. Always name the base field.
The quotient F[x]/(p) is a field when p is irreducible. Reduce powers using p(alpha)=0, where alpha is the residue class of x. If F has q elements and p has degree d, the quotient has q^d elements represented by polynomials of degree below d. Z/4Z has four elements but has zero divisors, so it is not the field with four elements.
Over F2, p(x)=x²+x+1 has values 1 at both 0 and 1 and is irreducible. In its quotient alpha²=alpha+1 because subtraction equals addition in characteristic two. The four elements are 0,1,alpha,alpha+1. All three nonzero elements must be units; compute their products rather than treating alpha as an ordinary real number.
For nested finite-degree fields K inside L inside M, the tower law gives [M:K]=[M:L][L:K]. The degree of an algebraic element is the degree of its minimal polynomial. A finite extension of degree two does not contain an element of degree three over the base field. Over Q, sqrt(2) has degree two; adjoining sqrt(3) as well produces a degree-four extension, since sqrt(3) is not in Q(sqrt(2)). Over C, primitive nth roots of unity have exact order n and are the roots of the cyclotomic polynomial Φ_n. For n=10, divide x⁵+1 by x+1 to exclude the order-two root −1: Φ_10=x⁴−x³+x²−x+1. Vieta’s formulas give sum 1 and product 1 of its four primitive roots. Do not sum all tenth roots, or assume every nontrivial tenth root is primitive; a root’s order must be checked. For a monic degree d polynomial, product of its roots is (−1)^d times the constant coefficient.
