in R that contains I. The field K1=R/M has the property that every polynomial with coefficients in K splits as the product of and hence has all roots in K1. In the same way, an extension K2 of K1 can be constructed, etc. The union of all these extensions is the algebraic closure of K, because any polynomial with coefficients in this new field has its coefficients in some Kn with sufficiently large n, and then its roots are in Kn+1, and hence in the union itself. It can be shown along the same lines that for any subset S of K[x], there exists a splitting field of S over K. Separable closure An algebraic closure Kalg of K contains a unique separable extension Ksep of K containing all (algebraic) separable extensions of K within Kalg. This subextension is called a separable closure of K. Since a separable extension of a separable extension is again separable, there are no finite separable extensions of Ksep, of degree > 1. Saying this another way, K is contained in a separably-closed algebraic extension field. It is unique (up to isomorphism). The separable closure is the full algebraic closure if and only if K is a perfect field. For example, if K is a field of characteristic p and if X is transcendental over K, is a non-separable algebraic field extension. In general, the absolute Galois group of K is the Galois group of Ksep over K. See also Algebraically closed field Algebraic extension Puiseux expansion Complete field References Field extensions