FIELD EXTENSIONS

Definition 1.1

A field 𝐿 is said to be an extension field of 𝐾 (or simply an extensión of 𝐾) provided that 𝐾 is a

subfield of 𝐿.

Definition 1.4

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾. An element 𝑢 of 𝐿 is said to be algebraic over 𝐾 provided that 𝑢

is a root of some nonzero polynomial 𝑝 ∈ 𝐾[𝑥]. If 𝑢 is not a root of any nonzero 𝑝 ∈ 𝐾[𝑥], 𝑢 is
said to be transcendental over 𝐾. 𝐿 is called an algebraic extension of 𝐾 if every element of 𝐿 is
algebraic over 𝐾. 𝐿 is called transcendental extension if at least one element of 𝐿 is transcendental
over 𝐾.

Example

𝐾(𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 ) is called the field of rational functions in 𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 over 𝐾. In the field extension

𝐾 ⊂ 𝐾(𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 )

each 𝑥𝑖 is easily seen to be transcendental over 𝐾. In fact, every element of 𝐾(𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 ) not in 𝐾
itself is transcendental over 𝐾.

Si en lo anterior, 𝐾 = ℝ, entonces 𝐿 = ℝ(𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 ), 𝐾 = ℝ. Entonces, se observa que (𝑢 = 𝑥𝑖 ) ∈

𝐿 es transcendental sobre 𝐾 = ℝ, debido a que no es raíz de un polinomio no-cero de ℝ[𝑥].
𝑝(𝑥) = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥 + … + 𝑎𝑛 𝑥 𝑛
𝑝(𝑢 = 𝑥𝑖 ) ≜ 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥𝑖 + … + 𝑎𝑛 𝑥𝑖 𝑛 ≢ 0
Ahora, si 𝐿 = ℝ(𝑥) y 𝐾 = ℝ. Entonces, se observa que (𝑢 = 𝑥) ∈ 𝐿 es transcendental sobre 𝐾 =
ℝ, debido a que no es raíz de un polinomio no-cero de ℝ[𝑥].
𝑝(𝑥) = 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥 + … + 𝑎𝑛 𝑥 𝑛
𝑝(𝑢 = 𝑥) ≜ 𝑎0 + 𝑎1 𝑥 + … + 𝑎𝑛 𝑥 𝑛 ≢ 0

TRASCENDENCE BASES

Definition 1.1

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾 and 𝑆 = {𝑠1 , … , 𝑠𝑛 } a subset of 𝐿. 𝑆 is algebraically dependent

over 𝐾 if for some positive integer 𝑛 there exists a nonzero polynomial 𝑝 ∈ 𝐾[𝑥1 , … , 𝑥𝑛 ] such that
𝑝(𝑠1 , … , 𝑠𝑛 ) = 0 for some distint 𝑠1 , … , 𝑠𝑛 ∈ 𝑆. 𝑆 is algebraically independent over 𝐾 if 𝑆 is not
algebraically dependent over 𝐾.

Definition 1.4

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾. A transcendence base (or basis) of 𝐿 over 𝐾 is a subset 𝑆 of 𝐿

which is algebraically independent over 𝐾 and is maximal (with respect to set-theoretic inclusion)
in the set of all algebraically independent subsets of 𝐿.
Corollary 1.6

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾 and 𝑆 a subset of 𝐿 that is algebraically independent over 𝐾. Then 𝑆
is a transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾 if and only if 𝐿 is algebraic over 𝐾(𝑆).

REMARKS.

A field 𝐿 is called a purely transcendental extension of a field 𝐾 if 𝐿 = 𝐾(𝑆), where 𝑆 ⊂ 𝐿 and S

is algebraically independent over 𝐾. In this case 𝑆 is necessarily a transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾
by Corollary 1.6.

Theorem 1.8

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾. If 𝑆 is a finite transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾, then every

transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾 has the same number of elements as 𝑆.

Theorem 1.9

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾. If 𝑆 is an infinite transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾, then every

transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾 has the same cardinality as 𝑆.

Definition 1.10

Let 𝐿 be an extension field of 𝐾. The transcendence degree of 𝐿 over 𝐾 (denoted 𝑡𝑟. 𝑑. 𝐿⁄𝐾) is the
cardinal number |𝑆|, where 𝑆 is any transcendence base of 𝐿 over 𝐾.

Theorem 1.11

If 𝐿 is an extension field of E and E an extension field of K, then

𝑡𝑟. 𝑑. 𝐿⁄𝐾 = 𝑡𝑟. 𝑑. 𝐿⁄𝐸 + 𝑡𝑟. 𝑑. 𝐸⁄𝐾