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Glossaryring theory

Ring theory isbranchmathematicswhich ringsstudied: that is, structures supporting both an addition andmultiplication operation. This isglossarysome terms ofsubject.

Tablecontents
1 Definition ofring
2 Typeselements
3 Homomorphismsideals
4 Typesrings
5 Miscellaneous

Definition ofring

A ringan abelian group (R,+) togetheran associative operation * whichdistributive over +has an identity element 1respect*. The operation +referred asaddition*referred asmultiplication. The identity elementrespect+written as 0.

The ringjust one elementcalledtrivial ring.

;Characteristic : The characteristic ofring issmallest positive integer n satisfying n1=0 ifexists0 otherwise. In particular ne=0all elements e ofring.

Typeselements

; Idempotent : An element e ofringidempotent if e2 = e.

; Central : An element r ofring Rcentral if xr = rxall xR. The setall central elements formssubringR, known ascenterR.

; Nilpotent : An element rRnilpotent if there existspositive integer n such that rn = 0.

; Unit or invertible element : An element r ofring R isunit if there exists an element r-1 such that rr-1=r-1r=1. This element r-1uniquely determined by ris calledmultiplicative inverser. The setunits formsgroup under multiplication.

; Zero divisor : A nonzero element rRsaidbezero divisor if there exists s ≠ 0 such that sr=0 or rs=0. Ifring hasZero divisor whichalsounit, thenring has no other elementsistrivial ring.

Homomorphismsideals

; Factor ring : Givenring Ran ideal IR,factor ring isset R/Icosets {a+I : aR} togetheroperations (a+I)+(b+I)=(a+b)+I(a+I)*(b+I)=ab+I. The relationship between ideals, homomorphisms,factor ringssummed up infundamental theorem on homomorphisms.

; Finitely generated ideal : A left ideal Ifinitely generated if there exist finitely many elements a1,...,an such that I = Ra1 + ... + Ran. A right ideal Ifinitely generated if there exist finitely many elements a1,...,an such that I = a1R + ... + anR. A two-sided ideal Ifinitely generated if there exist finitely many elements a1,...,an such that I = Ra1R + ... + RanR.

; Ideal : A left ideal IR issubgroup or (R,+) such that aIIall aR. A right ideal issubgroup(R,+) such that IaIall aR. An ideal (sometimesemphasis:two-sided ideal) issubgroup whichbothleft ideal andright ideal.

; Jacobson radical : The intersectionall maximal left ideals inring formstwo-sided ideal,Jacobson radical ofring.

; Kernel ofring homomorphism : It ispreimage0 incodomain ofring homomorphism. Every ideal iskernel ofring homomorphismvice versa.

; Maximal ideal : A left ideal ofring R whichnot containedany other left ideal but R itselfcalledmaximal left ideal. Maximal right idealsdefined similarly. In commutative rings, thereno difference,one speaks simplymaximal ideals.

; Nilradical : The setall nilpotent elements incommutative ring forms an ideal,nilradical ofring. The nilradicalequal tointersectionallmaximal ideals,also equal tointersectionallprime ideals.

; Prime ideal : An ideal P incommutative ring Rprime if PRifall abRabP, we have aP or bP. Every maximal ideal incommutative ringprime.

; Principal ideal :principal left ideal inring R isleft ideal ofform Rasome element aR;principal right ideal isright ideal ofform aRsome element aR;principal ideal istwo-sided ideal ofform RaRsome element aR''.

; Radicalan ideal : The radicalan ideal I incommutative ring consistsall those ring elementspowerwhich liesI. Itequal tointersectionall maximal ideals containing I.

; Ring homomorphism : A function f : RS between rings (R,+,*)(S,⊕,×) isring homomorphism ifhasspecial properties that

f(a + b) = f(a) ⊕ f(b)
f(a * b) = f(a) × f(b)
f(1) = 1

for any elements abR.

; Ring isomorphism : A ring homomorphism thatbijective isring isomorphism. The inversean isomorphism,turns out,alsoring homomorphism. Two ringsisomorphic if there existsring isomorphism between them. Isomorphic rings can be thought as essentiallysame, onlydifferent labels onindividual elements.

Typesrings

; Artinian ring : A ring satisfyingdescending chain conditionleft idealsleft artinian; ifsatisfiesdescending chain conditionright ideals, itright artinian; if itboth leftright artinian, itcalled artinian''. Commutative artinian ringsnoetherian.

; Boolean ring : A ringwhich every elementidempotent isboolean ring.

; Commutative ring : A ring Rcommutative ifmultiplicationcommutative, i.e. rs=srall r,sR.

; Dedekind domain :

; Division ring or skew field : A ringwhich every nonzero element isunit1≠0 isdivision ring.

; Euclidean domain : An integral domainwhichdegree functiondefined so that "divisionremainder" can be carried outcalledEuclidean domain (becauseEuclidean algorithm worksthese rings). All Euclidean domainsprincipal ideal domains.

; Field : A commutative division ring isfield. Every finite division ring isfield, asevery finite integral domain. Field theoryindeed an older branchmathematics than ring theory.

; Integral domain : A commutative ring without zero divisorsin which 1≠0an integral domain.

; Local ring : A ring withunique maximal left ideal islocal ring. These rings also haveunique maximal right ideal, andleft andright unique maximal ideals coincide.

; Noetherian ring : A ring satisfyingascending chain conditionleft idealsleft noetherian;ring satisfyingascending chain conditionright idealsright noetherian;ring thatboth leftright noetheriannoetherian. A ringleft noetherian ifonly if all its left idealsfinitely generated; analogouslyright noetherian rings.

; Semi-simple ring :

; Simple ring : A ringno two-sided Ideals.

; Unique factorization domain :

; Principal ideal domain : An integral domainwhich every idealprincipal isprincipal ideal domain. All principal ideal domainsunique factorization domains.

Miscellaneous

; Direct productdirect sums : Thesewaysconstruct new rings from given ones; please refer tocorresponding linksexplanation.

; Krull dimension ofcommutative ring : The maximal length ofstrictly increasing chainprime ideals inring.

; Localization ofring : A techniqueturngiven setelements ofring into units in"best possible" way.

; Subring : A subset S ofring (R,*,+) which remainsring when +*restrictedScontainsmultiplicative identity 1RcalledsubringR.

; Rig : A rigan algebraic structure satisfyingsame properties asring, except that addition need only be an abelian monoid operation, rather than an abelian group. The term "rig"meantsuggest thatis"ring" without "n"egatives.

; Rng : A rngan algebraic structure satisfyingsame properties asring, except that multiplication need not have an identity element. The term "rng"meantsuggest thatis"ring" without an "i"dentity.


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