Hunter Patton

MATH 584 Section 48 Exercises

4/22/16

Exercise 32. Let be algebraic of degree n over F . Show from Corollary 48.5 that there are at most n
different isomorphisms of F () onto a subfield of F and leaving F fixed.
Proof. Definition 48.1 defines that for an extension field F E, if two elements , E are conjugate over
F , then and are zeros of the same irreducible polynomial. Since is algebraic of degree n over F , there
are at most n 1 elements that are conjugate of over F . Corollary 48.5 states that for each conjugate
of over F , there exists exactly one isomorphism , of F () onto a subfield of F mapping onto
and mapping each a F onto itself (, (a) = a), which leaves F fixed. So, since there are at most n 1
elements that are conjugate of over F , and is conjugate over itself because irr(, F ) = irr(, F ), there
are at most n different isomorphisms of F () onto a subfield of F and leaving F fixed.
Exercise 34. Let E be an algebraic extension of a field F , and let be an automorphism of E leaving F
fixed. Let E. Show that induces a permutation of the set of all zeros of irr(, F ) that are in E.
Proof. Since is an automorphism of E leaving F fixed, we know that for each a F , (a) = a. Let E
such that 6 F . So, () is not necessarily equal to . By Corollary 48.5, if () = 6= for E, then
and are conjugate over F , meaning that irr(, F ) = irr(, F ). Thus, maps one zero of irr(, F ) to
another, i.e., permutes the set of all zeros of irr(, F ).
Exercise 39. Prove the following sequence of theorems:
a. An automorphism of a field E carries elements that are squares of elements in E onto elements that
are squares of elements of E.
b. An automorphism of the field R of real numbers carries positive numbers onto positive numbers.
c. If is an automorphism of R and a < b, where a, b R, then (a) < (b).
d. The only automorphism of R is the identity automorphism.
Proof.
a. For a field E, let : E E be any automorphism of E. The definition of an automorphism implies
that an automorphism is also a homomorphism and must follow the homomorphism property. So, for
any a E,
(a2 ) = (a a) = (a) (a) (Homomorphism Property) = (a)2 E.
Thus, an automorphism of the field R of real numbers carries positive numbers onto positive numbers.

b. Let x R be an arbitary positive real number. So, we see that x R. Let : R R be any
automorphism of R. By (a), we have

(x) = ( x x) = ( x)( x) = ( x)2 .

Since ( x) R and squares of real numbers are always positive, an automorphism of the field R of
real numbers carries positive numbers onto positive numbers.
We can also show that an automorphism of R maps negative numbers onto negative numbers. Let x
be any positive real number. Then since automorphisms of positive numbers are positive, (x) =
(0 x) = (0) (x) = 0 (x) < 0 because (x) > 0. Thus, the result is proven.
c. Let be an automorphism of R, and let a, b, c R such that a < b and a + c = b, which tells us that
c > 0. Then since (a b) = (a) (b), we have
(a b) = (a (a + c)) = (a a c) = (c) = (1)(c) < 0.
Thus, since a b < 0, and (a b) = (a) (b) < 0, (a) < (b).
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Hunter Patton

MATH 584 Section 48 Exercises

4/22/16

d. Since every element x R is algebraic of degree 1 over R, Exercise 32 from Section 48 tells us that there
is at most 1 isomorphism of R onto R and leaving R fixed, meaning that there is only one automorphism
of R, and since this automorphism leaves R fixed, this automorphism is the identity automorphism.