So I am looking over old exams in abstract algebra and I came across this question which seems to be a mistake. (Neither the original teacher who wrote it, nor my own teacher are available to answer)
Let H=Z5[x]/⟨x4+3x3+x+4⟩. Show that H is not a field.
Letting p(x)=x4+3x3+x+4, we can see that p(x) has no solutions in Z5. Therefore p(x) is irreducible over Z5, and thus ⟨p(x)⟩ is a maximal ideal. Now the factor group of a ring and a maximal ideal is a field. Thus H must be a field.
Am I wrong here, and if so how?
Answer
By the Berlekamp algorithm we obtain
x4+3x3+x+4=(x2+4x+2)2
over F5. Hence the quotient is not a field, because it has zero divisors.
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