de

rale de Lausanne
Ecole Polytechnique Fe
partement de mathe
matiques
De
Prof. E. Bayer Fluckiger
Algebra for digital communications
Section de syst`emes de communication

winter semester 2004-2005

Exercise sheet 13

01.02.05

Exercise 1
Let F2 be the finite field with two elements.
1. Consider the polynomial p(X) = X 4 + X + 1 with coefficients in F2 . Check that this
polynomial is irreducible.
2. Consider the finite field K = F2 [X]/p(X) = F2 (), where is such that p() = 0. How
many elements are contained in this field ? What is its characteristic ?
3. Check that generates the multiplicative group K .
4. Compute whether the polynomial X 2 + + 1 F16 [X] is irreducible.
Exercise 2
Let P (X) = X 2 X 1, et Q(X) = X 2 + 1 be two polynomials with coefficients in F3 . Consider
the fields F3 [x]/(P (x))
= F3 () and F3 [x]/(Q(x))
= F3 (), where satisfies 2 1 = 0, and
satisfies 2 + 1 = 0.
(a) Compute ( + 1)2 .
(b) Using (a), show that the two fields F3 () and F3 () are isomorphic.
Application Exercise : Cyclic Codes
We define a cyclic code to be a linear code C over a finite field F such that any cyclic shift of a
codeword is also a codeword, i.e., whenever (c0 , c1 , . . . , cn1 ) is in C, then so is (cn1 , c0 , . . . , cn2 ).
We associate with the vector c = (c0 , c1 , . . . , cn1 ) Fn the polynomial c(X) = c0 + c1 X + . . . +
cn1 X n1 .
1. Show that a cyclic code of length n is an ideal of F[X]/(X n 1).
2. Show that there is a unique monic polynomial g(X) of minimal degree in C.
3. C = (g(x)) i.e., g(x) is a generator polynomial of C.
Challenge Exercise 1
Show that Fp [X]/(X 2 + 1) is a field if and only if p 3 (mod 4).