Proposition. [1709]

Let $\alpha \in \overline{F}$ with minimal polynomial $m_{\alpha, F}(x) \in F[x]$.

  1. $\# \{ F\text{-embeddings }\varphi : F(\alpha) \to \overline{F} \} = \# \{ \text{roots of }m_{\alpha, F}(x) \text{ in } \overline{F} \}$
  2. $\#\{ F\text{-embeddings }\varphi : F(\alpha) \to \overline{F} \} \leq [F(\alpha) : F]$ and the equality holds if and only if $\alpha$ is separable over $F$.