ΘρϵηΠατπ

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

Since E is a vector space of degree 2 over then it has some basis (1,k). It must be that k because if k then (1,k) would no longer be linearly independent. Moreover we can write k2E as a linear combination of the basis vectors so that we have some c,d such that k2=cdk 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)±d241c2, now if d24c is a square, then the entire expression yields a rational, but k is not rational, so we know that d24c is not a square. Let m:=d24c so that k=d2±m2m=±(2kd). Recall that k so that 2kd so that m

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