transcendence degree
The transcendence degree![]()
of a set over a field , denoted , is the size of the maximal subset of such that all the elements of are algebraically independent
![]()
.
The transcendence degree of a field extension over is the transcendence degree of the minimal subset of needed to generate over .
Heuristically speaking, the transcendence degree of a finite set![]()
is obtained by taking the number of elements in the set, subtracting the number of algebraic elements in that set, and then subtracting the number of algebraic relations
![]()
between distinct pairs of elements in .
Example 1 (Computing the Transcendence Degree).
The set has transcendence over since there arefour elements, is algebraic, and the polynomial gives an algebraic dependence between and (i.e. is a root of ), giving . Ifwe assume the conjecture that and are algebraicallyindependent, then no more dependencies can exist, and we can concludethat, in fact, .