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How to prove that the sum and product of two algebraic numbers is algebraic? [duplicate]
Recall that finding a polynomial over which $\alpha+\beta$ or $\alpha \beta$ is a root of $p(x) \in F[x]$ is equivalent to finding the eigenvalue of a square matrix over $F$ (living in some algebraic extension of $F$), since you can link the polynomial $p(x)$ to the companion matrix $C(p(x))$ which has precisely characteristic polynomial $p(x)$, hence the eigenvalues of the companion matrix are the roots of $p(x)$.
If $\alpha$ is an eigenvalue of $A$ with eigenvector $x \in V$ and $\beta$ is an eigenvalue of $B$ with eigenvector $y \in W$, then using the tensor product of $V$ and $W$, namely $V \otimes W$, we can compute
$$
(A \otimes I + I \otimes B)(x \otimes y) = (Ax \otimes y) + (x \otimes By) = (\alpha x \otimes y) + (x \otimes \beta y) = (\alpha + \beta) (x \otimes y)
$$
so that $\alpha + \beta$ is an eigenvalue of $A \otimes I + I \otimes B$. Also,
$$
(A \otimes B)(x \otimes y) = (Ax \otimes By) = (\alpha x \otimes \beta y) = \alpha \beta (x \otimes y)
$$
hence $\alpha \beta$ is an eigenvalue of the matrix $A \otimes B$. If you want explicit expressions for the polynomials you are looking for, you can just compute the characteristic polynomial of the tensor products. |
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