I am trying to classify the Galois group of the field extension Q(√2,√3,√5)/Q and am getting stuck on trying to show that the extension is degree 8. I understand that you can look at intermediate fields in the tower to get
[Q(√2,√3,√5):Q]=[Q(√2,√3,√5):Q(√2,√3)][Q(√2,√3):Q(√2)][Q(√2):Q]
and each of these has degree 2. But is there an easy way to show [Q(√2,√3,√5):Q(√2,√3)]=2? I tried showing that √5 cannot be written as a linear combination of {1,√2,√3,√6} but it's a long mess, and I'm wondering if there's a more clever way to do this.
More generally, is it true that Q(√p1,...,√pn)/Q where pi are distinct primes has degree 2n?
Answer
An easy way to show that √5 is not in Q(√2,√3) is to note that [Q(√2,√3):Q]=4, so by the Fundamental Theorem of Galois Theory it has either one or three intermediate fields of degree 2 over Q (since a group of order 4 has either a single subgroup of index 2, when the group is cyclic, or exactly three, when it is the Klein 4-group). Since this field contains the three distinct intermediate field Q(√2), Q(√3), and Q(√6), it cannot also contain the field Q(√5), which is distinct from those three.
For your second question, the answer is likewise "yes". The only intermediate fields of degree 2 are Q(√d), where d is the of some (but at least one) of the pi. You can prove it by induction on n.
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