# Category: Ring theory

## Problem 203

Let $R$ be a commutative ring. Let $S$ be a subset of $R$ and let $I$ be an ideal of $I$.
We define the subset
$(I:S):=\{ a \in R \mid aS\subset I\}.$ Prove that $(I:S)$ is an ideal of $R$. This ideal is called the ideal quotient, or colon ideal.

## Problem 199

Let $R$ be the ring of all continuous functions on the interval $[0,1]$.
Let $I$ be the set of functions $f(x)$ in $R$ such that $f(1/2)=f(1/3)=0$.
Show that the set $I$ is an ideal of $R$ but is not a prime ideal.

## Problem 198

Let $R$ be a commutative ring with $1$. Prove that the principal ideal $(x)$ generated by the element $x$ in the polynomial ring $R[x]$ is a prime ideal if and only if $R$ is an integral domain.

Prove also that the ideal $(x)$ is a maximal ideal if and only if $R$ is a field.

## Problem 197

Let $R$ be a ring with unit $1\neq 0$.

Prove that if $M$ is an ideal of $R$ such that $R/M$ is a field, then $M$ is a maximal ideal of $R$.
(Do not assume that the ring $R$ is commutative.)

## Problem 192

Show that any finite integral domain $R$ is a field.

## Problem 188

Denote by $i$ the square root of $-1$.
Let
$R=\Z[i]=\{a+ib \mid a, b \in \Z \}$ be the ring of Gaussian integers.
We define the norm $N:\Z[i] \to \Z$ by sending $\alpha=a+ib$ to
$N(\alpha)=\alpha \bar{\alpha}=a^2+b^2.$

Here $\bar{\alpha}$ is the complex conjugate of $\alpha$.
Then show that an element $\alpha \in R$ is a unit if and only if the norm $N(\alpha)=\pm 1$.
Also, determine all the units of the ring $R=\Z[i]$ of Gaussian integers.

## Problem 179

Prove that $\sqrt[m]{2}$ is an irrational number for any integer $m \geq 2$.

## Problem 177

Let $R$ be a principal ideal domain (PID). Let $a\in R$ be a non-unit irreducible element.

Then show that the ideal $(a)$ generated by the element $a$ is a maximal ideal.

## Problem 175

Let $R$ be a principal ideal domain (PID) and let $P$ be a nonzero prime ideal in $R$.
Show that $P$ is a maximal ideal in $R$.

## Problem 174

Let $R$ be a commutative ring and let $P$ be an ideal of $R$. Prove that the following statements are equivalent:

(a) The ideal $P$ is a prime ideal.

(b) For any two ideals $I$ and $J$, if $IJ \subset P$ then we have either $I \subset P$ or $J \subset P$.

## Problem 173

Let $R$ be a commutative ring. An ideal $I$ of $R$ is said to be irreducible if it cannot be written as an intersection of two ideals of $R$ which are strictly larger than $I$.

Prove that if $\frakp$ is a prime ideal of the commutative ring $R$, then $\frakp$ is irreducible.

## Problem 172

Let $R$ be a commutative ring.

Then prove that $R$ is a field if and only if $\{0\}$ is a maximal ideal of $R$.

## Problem 171

Let $R$ be a commutative ring with $1 \neq 0$.
An element $a\in R$ is called nilpotent if $a^n=0$ for some positive integer $n$.

Then prove that if $a$ is a nilpotent element of $R$, then $1-ab$ is a unit for all $b \in R$.

## Rings $2\Z$ and $3\Z$ are Not Isomorphic
Prove that the rings $2\Z$ and $3\Z$ are not isomorphic.