product of ideals | Problems in Mathematics

12/05/2017

Example of an Element in the Product of Ideals that Cannot be Written as the Product of Two Elements

Let $I=(x, 2)$ and $J=(x, 3)$ be ideal in the ring $\Z[x]$.

(a) Prove that $IJ=(x, 6)$.

(b) Prove that the element $x\in IJ$ cannot be written as $x=f(x)g(x)$, where $f(x)\in I$ and $g(x)\in J$.

11/10/2016

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 $J \subset P$.