Ring Theory

Gopikrishnan C. R.
September 18, 2015
Learning Objectives
To identify algebraic spaces endowed with two binary operations - Rings and subrings.
Unity and units.
Multiplicative inverse and division rings.
Skew field and field.
Zero divisors and integral domains.
Characteristic of a ring.
Fermats Little Theorem, Eulers totient function, Eulers Theorem
Partition of a ring into distinct cells or blocks and induced operation of these cells.
Identify that these cells are cosets of multiplication.
Ideals.

Rings

One of the primary motivations of abstract algebra was to study of roots of polynomials and the
spaces in which these roots lie. Every polynomial equation contains two binary operations viz.
addition and multiplication. There fore to study the solutions or roots of algebraic polynomial,s
we must study the properties of algebraic structures endowed with two binary operations. These
are called rings.
Definition 1 (Ring). A ring hR, +, i is a set R together with two binary operations + and ,
which we call as addition and multiplication respectively which satisfy the following properties.
1. hR, +i is an abelian group.
2. Multiplication is associative.
3. Left and right distributive law hold in R. That is,
a(b + c) = ab + ac
(a + b)c = ac + bc
Example 1. hR, +, i, hQ, +, i, hC, +, i
1

Example 2. hZn , +n , n i
Notation 1. For a natural number n, we define,
n.a = a + a + + a

(added n times)

For any integer n such that n < 0, we define,

n.a = (a) + (a) + + (a)

(added |n| times)

Theorem 1. Let hR, +, i be a ring with additive identity 0, then for any a, b R, we have,
1. 0a = a0 = 0,
2. a(b) = (a)b = ab,
3. (a)(b) = ab.
Proof.

1.
0.a = (0 + 0).a = 0.a + 0.a
(by distributivity)
0.a = 0
(by calcellation laws in the group hR, +i)

2.
a(b) + ab = a(b + b)
(by distributivity)
= a.0 = 0
(by 1)
a(b) = ab
Similarly (a)b = ab
3.
(a)(b) = ((a)b) = ((ab)) = ab.

Definition 2 (Ring isomorphism). Two rings R and R0 are said to be isomorphic to each other
if there exists a map : R R0 such that for every a, b R
1. is well defined and bijective.
2. (a + b) = a + b,
3. (ab) = (a)(b),
Example 3. hZ, +, i
= h2Z, +, i
Definition 3 (Subring). A subset S R is called a subring of R, if S itself is a ring under
the same binary operations defined on R.
Example 4. h2Z, +, i is a subring of hZ, +, i.
Definition 4 (Unity and Units). An element 1 R where R is a ring is called a unity of R
if for every a R, we have a.1 = 1.a = a. An element a R is called a unit element if there
exists b R such that a.b = 1. That means an element in R is unit if it has a multiplicative
inverse.
2

Note 1. There are rings without unity. For instance consider h2Z, +, i; for no a 2Z we
have a.b = b for every b 2Z. Indeed, this is because the unity of multiplication is 1 and one
is not even.
There are elements in rings which are not units. For example, take hZ, +, i. No integer
other than 1 has an integer multiplicative inverse. Thus except 1 all other elements in R are non
unit elements. This in fact substantiate the name unit element (in some sense unit elements
behave like 1).
Definition 5 (Skew Field). A ring hR, +, i in which the multiplication is abelian, that is
a.b = b.a for every a, b R, is called a commutative ring. A ring with unity in which all
elements are unit elements is called a division ring or a skew field.
Definition 6 (Field). A commutative division ring or a commutative skew field is called a
Field.
Example 5. R, C, Q are fields.
Definition 7 (Direct Product of Rings). Let R1 and R2 be rings. Then define R1 R2 :=
{(r1 , r2 ) : r1 R1 , r2 R2 }. Define the following operations on R1 R2 as,
(r1 , r2 ) + (r3 , r4 ) = (r1 + r3 , r2 + r4 )
(r1 , r2 ).(r3 , r4 ) = (r1 .r3 , r2 .r4 )
Then hR1 R2 , +, .i is a ring, called the direct product of R1 and R2 . Note that the first sum
in (r1 + r3 , r2 + r4 ) is the addition in R1 and the second sum is the addition in R2 as r1 , r3 R1
and r2 , r4 R2 . The same also holds for multiplication also. We can extend the same concept
to direct product of n rings R1 R2 Rn .

Integral Domains

Definition 8 (Zero divisors). Let R be a ring. A non zero element a R is called a zero
divisor if there exists a non zero element b R such that a.b = 0. In this case we shall call a
as the left zero divisor and B as the right zero divisor.
Example 6. Consider Z14 . We have in Z14 ,
2.7 = 0, 7.4 = 0, 7.8 = 0.

(1)

Thus 2, 7, 4 and 8 are zero divisors in Z14 . Theory of rings may feel bizare. From our usual
understanding of numbers if xy = 0 then either x = 0 and y = 0. But in rings like Z14 there
are non zero numbers whose product is still zero. The case of xy = 0 x = 0 or y = 0 worked
in case of zero divisors since R contains no zero divisors. This property of R attributes to the
fact that R is a field, which we shall see in detail further ahead.
Theorem 2. a Zn is a zero divisor iff (a, n) 6= 1.
Proof. Assume that (a, n) = 1. Then we must prove that a is non zero divisor. Let a.s = 0 for
some s Zn . Since n|0 n|a.s. But (a, n) = 1 n|s. That is s is a multiple of n. Any multiple
of n is zero in Zn . Hence s = 0. Therefore a is a non zero divisor.
Conversely assume that (a, n) = d, d > 1. Then,
 n  a.n
a
=
= .n = 0
(2)
a.
d
d
d
a
a
as .n is a multiple of zero and Zn . Hence a is a zero divisor.
d
d
3

Corollary 1. If p is prime, then Zp has no zero divisors.

Proof. For any a Zp , (a, p) = 1. Hence a is non zero divisor by the above theorem.
Theorem 3. The cancellation laws holds in a ring R iff R contains no zero divisors.
Proof. Suppose that cancellation laws hold in R. That means, a.b = a.c b = c. Let a 6= 0
and a.b = 0 in R. This implies,
a.b = 0 = a.0 b = 0

(by cancellation law)

Hence R has no zero divisors.

Conversely assume that R has no zero divisors. We have to prove that cancellation laws
hold in R. That is, if a 6= 0, ab = ac b = c. Let ab = ac. Then
ab = ac a(b c) = 0
bc=0
( a 6= 0)
b = c.
Thus cancellation laws hold in R.
Definition 9 (Integral Domains). A commutative ring R with unity is called an integral domain
if it does not contain any zero divisors.
Theorem 4. Every field is an integral domain.
Proof. Let F is a field. That is F is a commutative ring with unity in which all elements has
a multiplicative inverse. we have to prove that F is an integral domain. Towards this end, it
is enough to establish if ab = 0 a = 0 or b = 0. Let ab = 0 and a 6= 0. Since a 6= 0, there
exists c such that ac = ca = 1. Thus,
b = 1.b = (ca).b = c(ab) = c.0 = 0
This implies R has no zero divisors.
Theorem 5. Every finite integral domain is a field.
Proof. Let D = 0, 1, a1 , , an be a finite integral domain. Let a D and a 6= 0 and a 6= 1. If
a = 1 then the multiplicative of a is a itself. Consider
a.1, a.0, a.a1 , , a.an

(3)

Let a.ai = a.aj . Since a 6= 0 and D contains no zero divisors, cancellation laws implies, ai = aj .
Therefore the elements a.1, a.0, a.a1 , , a.an are all distinct. Hence D = {a.1, a.0, a.a1 , , a.an }.
We have 1 D. Thus 1 = a.ai as 1 6= 0, 1 6= a. This implies ai is the multiplicative inverse of
a. Hence all elements in D has a multiplicative inverse and D is a field hence.
Note 2. Zp is an integral domain and is also finite. Thus Zp is a field.
Definition 10 (Characteristic of a ring). Let for every element a R, where R is a ring,
there exists a natural number n such that n.a = 0. Then the smallest such n is called the
characteristic of the ring denoted by ch(R). If there does not exists any such n, we shall say
the characteristic of the ring is 0.
Example 7.
ch(Zn ) = n, ch(R) = ch(Z) = 0.
4

(4)

Theorem 6. ch(R) = n iff n is the smallest positive integer such that n.1 = 0.
Proof. Let ch(R) = n. That is n is the smallest positive integer such that n.a = 0. In particular
for a = 1 we have n.1 = 0, and n is the smallest such integer.
Conversely assume that n is the smallest positive integer such that n.1 = 0. Then we must
have for any a R,
n.a = a + a + + a = a(1 + 1 + + 1) = a(n.1) = a.0 = 0
This proves the theorem.
Theorem 7 (Fermats little theorem). If a is an integer not dividing p, a prime, then ap a
(mod p).
Proof. Let a r (mod p). Then ap rp (mod p). If we can show that rp r (mod p),
then we shall obtain the desired result. Note that 0 < r < p. That is r Zp . Zp . We have
for any group G of order n, an = e for every a G. Thus rp = 1 in Zp . That is rp1 1
(mod p) rp r (mod p).
Definition 11 (Eulers totient function). For any integer n > 0, define the totient function
as,
(n) = |U (n)|
(5)
This (n) is the count of integers relatively prime to n and less than n.
Note 3.

1. If (m,n) = 1, then (mn) = (m)(n).

2. For a prime p, (p) = p 1

3. For a prime p, (pk ) = pk1 (p 1)
Theorem 8 (Euler). If n is an integer and (a, n) = 1, then a(n) 1 (mod n).
Proof. Let U (n) = {k1 , k2 , , k(n) }.
where (ki , n) = 1, ki < n. Consider {ak1 , ak2 , , k(n) }. If aki = akj , then by cancellation
laws we have ai = aj . Thus {ak1 , ak2 , , k(n) } are all distinct. As (a,n) = 1 and (ki , n) = n,
we must have (aki , n) = 1. Thus aki mod n U (n). That is U (n) = {ak1 , ak2 , , ak(n) }
mod n. Hence,
k1 k2 k(n) = ak 1.ak2 . a.k(n)
k1 k2 k(n) = a

(n)

mod n.

k1 k2 k(n)

mod n

1 = a(n)

mod n

Therefore a(n) 1 (mod n).