Gauss's lemma

Over a UFD, primitive polynomials factor over the fraction field exactly when they factor over the ring.
Gauss’s lemma

Gauss’s lemma: Let RR be a with KK. If fR[x]f\in R[x] is , then any factorization f=ghf=gh in the K[x]K[x] can be written (after multiplying g,hg,h by nonzero scalars in KK) as a factorization f=ghf=g'h' with g,hR[x]g',h'\in R[x] primitive. In particular, a primitive fR[x]f\in R[x] is in R[x]R[x] if and only if it is irreducible in K[x]K[x].

This rests on the and is the key bridge between factorization over RR and over its field of fractions.