Quadratic field: Difference between revisions

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imported>Richard Pinch
(skeleton section headings; supplied reference Stewart+Tall)
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In characteristic zero, every [[quadratic equation]] is soluble by taking one square root, so a quadratic field is of the form <math>\mathbf{Q}(\sqrt d)</math> for a non-zero non-square rational number ''d''.  Multiplying by a square integer, we may assume that ''d'' is in fact a [[square-free integer]].
In characteristic zero, every [[quadratic equation]] is soluble by taking one square root, so a quadratic field is of the form <math>\mathbf{Q}(\sqrt d)</math> for a non-zero non-square rational number ''d''.  Multiplying by a square integer, we may assume that ''d'' is in fact a [[square-free integer]].
==Ring of integers==
===Unit group===
===Class group===
==Splitting of primes==
==References==
* {{cite book | author=I.N. Stewart | authorlink=Ian Stewart (mathematician) | coauthors=D.O. Tall | title=Algebraic number theory | publisher=Chapman and Hall | year=1979 | isbn=0-412-13840-9 | pages=59-62 }}

Revision as of 03:47, 7 December 2008

In mathematics, a quadratic field is a field which is an extension of its prime field of degree two.

In the case when the prime field is finite, so is the quadratic field, and we refer to the article on finite fields. In this article we treat quadratic extensions of the field Q of rational numbers.

In characteristic zero, every quadratic equation is soluble by taking one square root, so a quadratic field is of the form for a non-zero non-square rational number d. Multiplying by a square integer, we may assume that d is in fact a square-free integer.

Ring of integers

Unit group

Class group

Splitting of primes

References