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thus, multiplying both sides of the equation by r, we get 0 = r2 + + r2 . Then it follows that
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0 = r2 + + r2 = r + + r r + + r , and because R has no zero divisors, it must
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13.60 Let F be a field of order 32. Show that the only subfields of F are F itself and {0, 1}.
Note that the set F = {f F | f 6= 0} is a multiplicative group: in particular, multiplication
is associativity by hypothesis, there is a multiplicative identity (because every field contains
such an element), and there always exist multiplicative inverses (again because F is a field and
we have excluded 0). Now given a subfield G, it must be that G is a non-zero subgroup of
F (it contains unity, which is non-zero by definition) and G must be a subgroup of F (the
latter assertion could use some justification: we already know that G is a group, so the only
remaining question is if it is a subgroup of F ; but this follows because G contains the unity
and consists of non-zero elements and is thus clearly a non-empty subset of F ). Note that
F has order 32, while F has order 31. By Lagranges theorem |G| divides 32 while |G| 1
divides 31. The only divisors of 31 are 1 and 31, so this implies that G has order 32 (whence
it is F ) or order 2. In the latter case, because G must contain 0 and 1, G = {0, 1} as required.