ΘρϵηΠατπ

Field Extension must Adjoin a Square Root
Suppose that E is a field extension of ℚ of degree 2. Prove that E=ℚ(a) for some a∈ℚ such that a∉ℚ

Since E is a vector space of degree 2 over ℚ then it has some basis (1,k). It must be that k∉ℚ because if k∈ℚ then (1,k) would no longer be linearly independent. Moreover we can write k2∈E as a linear combination of the basis vectors so that we have some c,d∈ℚ such that k2=−c−dk which is to say that k2+dk+c=0 which means that k is a solution to the polynomial x2+dx+c=0.

The quadratic formula determines that k is of the form −(−d)±d2−4⋅1⋅c2, now if d2−4c is a square, then the entire expression yields a rational, but k is not rational, so we know that d2−4c is not a square. Let m:=d2−4c∈ℚ so that k=d2±m2⟺m=±(2k−d). Recall that k∉ℚ so that 2k−d∉ℚ so that m∉ℚ

For any number x∉ℚ we know that ℚ(x)=ℚ(ax+b) where a,b∈ℚ then we know that ℚ(k)=ℚ(m) so we've proven the statement true.