Since is a vector space of degree 2 over then it has some basis . It must be that because if then would no longer be linearly independent. Moreover we can write as a linear combination of the basis vectors so that we have some such that which is to say that which means that is a solution to the polynomial .
The quadratic formula determines that is of the form , now if is a square, then the entire expression yields a rational, but is not rational, so we know that is not a square. Let so that . Recall that so that so that
For any number we know that where then we know that so we've proven the statement true.