User:J D Bowen/Math735 HW11

Section 13.4, Problems 5, 6

Section 13.5, Problems 5, 6, 10

13.5.6) From the example on page 549 of Dummit and Foote, we know that $$\alpha^{p^n-1}=1 \ $$ for all $$\alpha\in\mathbb{F}^\times_{p^n} \ $$.  Observe then that $$\mathbb{F}_{p^n}^\times \subset \left\{{x:x^{p^n}-1=0 }\right\} \ $$.  Since there are $$p^n-1 \ $$ elements of $$\mathbb{F}_{p^n}^\times \ $$, and since $$x^{p^n}-1 \ $$ is of degree $$p^n-1 \ $$, we must have equality: $$\mathbb{F}_{p^n}^\times = \left\{{x:x^{p^n}-1=0 }\right\} \ $$.

Hence, $$x^{p^n-1} -1 \ $$ is the unique monic polynomial whose roots are precisely $$\mathbb{F}_{p^n}^\times \ $$. Since $$\Pi (x-\alpha) \ $$ is a monic polynomial whose roots are precisely $$\mathbb{F}_{p^n}^\times \ $$, we must have $$\Pi (x-\alpha)=x^{p^n-1} -1 \ $$.

Observe that the only way to get a term without an $$x \ $$ from the product $$\Pi (x-\alpha) \ $$ is to multiply all the $$-\alpha \ $$ together. This immediately gives

$$-1=\Pi (-\alpha) = (-1)^{p^n-1} \Pi \alpha \ $$

or

$$\Pi \alpha = (-1)^{p^n} \ $$.

If we take $$p \ $$ odd, $$n=1 \ $$, observe this implies

$$(p-1)!=\prod_{a=1}^{p-1}a = (-1)^{\text{odd number}} \ \text{mod}(p)=-1 \ \text{mod}(p) \ $$.

13.5.10) Suppose $$f(x_1, \dots, x_n)\in\mathbb{Z}[x_1, \dots, x_n] \ $$.

We aim to show that $$p|(f(x_1,\dots,x_n)^p - f(x_1^p, \dots, x_n^p)) \ $$.

If we define $$g=f \ \text{mod}(p) \ $$, this is equivalent to showing $$g(x_1,\dots,x_n)^p -g(x_1^p,\dots,x_n^p) = 0 \ $$ in $$\mathbb{F}_p \ $$.

Observe

$$g(x_1,\dots, x_n)=\sum_{a_1, \dots, a_n=0}^m A_{a_1 a_2 \dots a_n}x_1^{a_1}x_2^{a_2}\dots x_n^{a_n} \ $$,

where the $$A \ $$ are the coefficients of $$f \ $$ modulo $$p \ $$ and $$m \ $$ is the highest power appearing in $$f \ $$.

We have

$$g(x_1,\dots, x_n)^p = \left({\sum_{a_1, \dots, a_n=0}^m A_{a_1 a_2 \dots a_n}x_1^{a_1}x_2^{a_2}\dots x_n^{a_n}}\right)^p = \sum_{a_1, \dots, a_n=0}^m \left({ A_{a_1 a_2 \dots a_n}x_1^{a_1}x_2^{a_2}\dots x_n^{a_n} }\right)^p \ $$,

since $$\mathbb{F}_p \ $$ has characteristic $$p \ $$.

But this is just

$$=\sum_{a_1, \dots, a_n=0}^m A^p_{a_1 a_2 \dots a_n}x_1^{pa_1}x_2^{pa_2}\dots x_n^{pa_n} \ $$.

Since $$A^p = A \ $$, this is simply $$g(x_1^p, x_2^p, \dots, x_n^p) \ $$.

Hence $$g(x_1,\dots,x_n)^p-g(x_1^p,\dots,x_n^p)=0 \ $$ and so $$p|(f(x_1,\dots,x_n)^p - f(x_1^p, \dots, x_n^p)) \ $$.