CHAPTER 1

Revision of ring theory

1.1. Basic definitions and examples

In this chapter we will revise and extend some of the results on rings that you have
studied on previous courses.
A ring is an algebraic object in which we can operate in a similar way as we do with
integers. Inside the set Z of integers we can perform operations of addition, substraction
and multiplication, but in general Z is not closed under division; for instance the quotient
3/2 is not an integer.
Addition and multiplication have a series of well known properties; the abstraction of
those properties is what constitutes the formal notion of ring.
D EFINITION 1.1.1. A ring is a nonempty set R together with two operations, a sum
+ and a product · satisfying the following properties:
Sum
S1 Associativity: (a + b) + c = a + (b + c) for all a, b, c ∈ R,
S2 Commutativity: a + b = b + a for all a, b ∈ R,
S3 Zero: There is an element 0 ∈ R such that a + 0 = a = 0 + a for each a ∈ R,
S4 Inverses: For each a ∈ R there is an element −a ∈ R such that a + (−a) = 0.
In what follows we will always write a − b to denote a + (−b).
R EMARK . These properties simply mean that (R, +) is an abelian group.
Product
P1 Associativity: a(bc) = (ab)c for all a, b, c ∈ R,
P2 Unit: There is an element 1 ∈ R such that 1a = a1 = a for all a ∈ R,
R EMARK . This properties mean that (R, ·) is a multiplicative monoid.
P3 Distributivity: For all a, b, c ∈ R,
a(b + c) = ab + ac,
(a + b)c = ac + bc.
Some rings satisfy an additional property for the product:
P4 Commutativity: ab = ba for all a, b ∈ R.
When this extra property is satisfied, we will say that R is a commutative ring. In this
course, we will be mostly interested on commutative rings, although we will occasionally
deal with some noncommutative examples.
E XAMPLE 1.1.2. R = {0} with the trivial operations. This is called the trivial ring,
and is the only ring for which one has 1 = 0. In all what follows, we will assume our rings
to be nontrivial, i.e. 0 �= 1.
E XAMPLE 1.1.3. The integers Z with the usual addition and multiplication.
E XAMPLE 1.1.4. The fields of rational numbers Q, real numbers R or complex num-
bers C, or in general any field F.

1
2 1. REVISION OF RING THEORY

E XAMPLE 1.1.5. The rings of integers modulo n, Z/nZ (sometimes also denoted by
Zn ) consisting of the set {a| a ∈ Z} = {0, 1, . . . , n − 1}, where a is the residue class
of a modulo n, so a = {a = rn | r ∈ Z}. Addition and multiplication are defined as
a + b := a + b, ab := ab
E XAMPLE 1.1.6. Let R be any ring, and define R[x] to be the set of all polynomials
a0 + a1 x + · · · + an xn where the coefficients ai are elements of the ring R. Then R[x]
is a ring with addition and multiplication defined in the usual way (check as an exercise!).
The ring R[x] is called the polynomial ring in one variable with coefficients in R.
E XAMPLE 1.1.7. The polynomial ring in n variables with coefficients in R, denoted
by R[x1 , . . . , xn ] and defined inductively by R[x1 , . . . , xn ] := R[x1 , . . . , xn−1 ][xn ].
E XAMPLE 1.1.8. The ring Mn (R) of n × n matrices (ai,j )i,j=1,...,n with coefficients
ai,j in R, and the usual matrix addition and multiplication.
E XAMPLE 1.1.9. The power set ring. Let X be a set, and let P(X) = {Y | Y ⊆ X}
the set of all subsets of X. On P(X) consider the operations:
• Y + Z := Y �Z = (Y ∪ Z) \ (Y ∩ Z) the symmetric difference as addition,
• Y Z := Y ∩ Z the intersection as a product.
With this operations P(X) becomes a ring with zero element 0 = ∅ and unit element
1 = X.
E XAMPLE 1.1.10. Let V be a vector space, consider the set End(V ) := {f : V →
V | f is a linear map}, then End(V ) is a ring with pointwise addition (f + g)(v) := f (v) +
g(v) and multiplication given by composition f g(v) := f (g(v)), where the zero element
is the constant map 0(v) = 0 and the unit element is the identity map Id(v) = v.
R EMARK . The ring of endomorphisms of a vector space is nothing but a matrix ring
in disguise. We will state more precisely what we mean by this once we talk about ring
isomorphisms.
E XAMPLE 1.1.11. Consider the set C(R) := {f : R → R| f continuous function} of
real-valued continuous functions. The C(R) is a ring with pointwise addition (f +g)(x) :=
f (x) + g(x) and multiplication (f g)(x) := f (x) + g(x).
R EMARK . One might wonder whether one could define a different ring structure on
C(R) by replacing pointwise multiplication by composition as a product. Unlike it hap-
pened in the case of linear map, this operation does not turn C(R) into a ring.
E XAMPLE 1.1.12. Let X be a set and R be a ring. In a similar fashion to the previous
example, the set X R of all R-valued maps f : X → R on X becomes naturally a ring with
pointwise addition and multiplication.
E XAMPLE 1.1.13. Quaternion algebras. Let F be a field (of characteristic different
from 2), and let α, β ∈ F. The quaternion algebra α Fβ is defined as the set {a + bi +
cj + dk| a, b, c, d ∈ F} with standard sum and product defined by the rules ij = k = −ji,
i2 = α, j 2 = β.
If F is a subfield of the real numbers, α F�β can also
√ be described
√ as
√ the� subring
a + b α c β + d
√ αβ , where
of M2 (C) consisting of matrices of the form √ √
c β − d αβ a−b α
a, b, c, d ∈ F.
E XAMPLE 1.1.14. The ring of power series with real coefficients
 
� 
R[[x]] := an xn | an ∈ R ∀n .
 
n≥0

In general one can construct the ring of formal power series R[[x]] with coefficients in any
ring R.
 1.2. SUBRINGS, IDEALS AND QUOTIENT RINGS 3

E XAMPLE 1.1.15. Let G be a group, R a ring, the group ring R[G] is defined as
�� �
R[G] := x∈G ax x| ax ∈ R ∀x, ax = 0 for all x except a finite number
= {f : G → R| f has a finite support} .
The addition and product are defined (in the functional notation) as follows:
• (f + g)(x) := f (x) + g(x),�
• (f g)(x) := (f ∗ g)(x) = y∈G f (y)g(y −1 x).
The product in R[G] receives the name of convolution product of functions.
R EMARK . Note that in this case the convolution product actually defines a different
ring structure in the set of functions f : G → R than the pointwise product, so this example
is actually different from Example 1.1.12; for instance, if R is a commutative ring then GR
(with the pointwise product) is also commutative, whereas the group ring R[G] will be
noncommutative whenever G is.

1.2. Subrings, ideals and quotient rings

Let R be a ring, we look at subsets of R which are in fact themselves rings in their
own right when we restrict to them the sum and product of R. More precisely, we say that
S is a subring of R if:
(i) 1R ∈ S,
(ii) S is an additive subgroup of R. In other words, whenever a, b ∈ S, one has a−b ∈ S.
(iii) S is closed under the product of R, in other words, S is a multiplicative submonoid
of R, i.e. for all a, b ∈ S one has ab ∈ S.
We will write S ≤ R to denote that S is a subring of R.
E XAMPLES 1.2.1.
(1) Z ≤ Q ≤ R ≤ C.
(2) The trivial ring {0} is NOT a subring of Z, as 1 ∈ / {0}.
(3) For any ring R, one has R ≤ R[x], where R consists of all constant polynomials
in R[x].
(4) The rings of matrices Mn (R) contain several interesting subrings. Some exam-
ples are
• The ring Dn (R) of diagonal matrices.
• The ring Un (R) of upper-triangular matrices.
• The ring Ln (R) of lower-triangular matrices. �
(5) If {Si }i∈I is a family of rings such that Si ≤ R for all i�
∈ I, then i∈I Si ≤ R.
(6) Let X ⊆ R be a subset of a ring R, define [X] := {S ≤ R| X ⊆ S} the
intersection of all subrings of R containing X. Then [X] is a subring of R,
called the subring generated by X.

� E XERCISE 1.2.2. Show that [X] can be identified with the set of all sums of the form
±x1 · · · xn where xi ∈ X ∪ {1}.
We move now to the key notion of ideal. Ideals are certain subsets of rings that play
a similar role to that of normal subgroups in group theory, in the sense they allow us to
build quotients of rings. Also, knowing the ideals of a ring in full detail often lead to a
complete description of all the modules, so understanding ideals is a fundamental topic of
this course.
D EFINITION 1.2.3. Let R be a commutative ring. A subset I ⊆ R of R is said to be
an ideal of R if it has the following properties:
I1 Additive closure: I ≤ (R, +) is an additive subgroup of R, i.e. I �= ∅ is
nonempty and for all a, b ∈ I one has a − b ∈ I.
I2 Absorbency: For all r ∈ R and for all a ∈ I one has ra = ar ∈ I.
4 1. REVISION OF RING THEORY

When I is an ideal of R we will write I � R.

R EMARK 1.2.4. In the previous definition we are assuming that R is commutative.
For noncommutative rings one has to be more careful and distinguish among the notions
of left, right and two-sided ideals.
E XAMPLES 1.2.5. (1) 0 := {0} � R the zero ideal, which is an ideal for every
ring R.
(2) R�R the total ideal, also an ideal for every ring. The ideals I which are different
from the total ideal are called proper ideals.
(3) Let R be a ring, I, J�R ideals, then I∩J�R and I+J := {i + j| i ∈ I, j ∈ J}�
R are ideals of R, respectively called the intersection and the sum of I and J.
I +J

I J

I ∩J
I ∩ J is the greatest ideal (with respect to the inclusion ordering) contained in
both I and J, whilst I + J is the least ideal�
containing both I and J.
(4) If {Iα }α∈A is a family of ideals of R, then α∈A Iα � R is also an ideal of R.
(5) If I1 , . . . , In are ideals of R, define
I1 + · · · + In := {i1 + · · · + in | ij ∈ Ij } ,
then I1 + · · · + In � R is also an ideal of R.
(6) Let R be a ring, and a ∈ R an element of R, and define (a) = Ra := {ra| r ∈ R}.
Then (a) � R is an ideal, called the principal ideal generated by a. More gener-
ally, if a1 , . . . , an ∈ R are elements of R, then the set Ra1 + · · · + Ran =
{r1 a1 + · · · + rn an | ri ∈ R} is an ideal of R, called the ideal generated by
a1 , . . . , a n .
(7) Particular examples of principal ideals are the trivial ideal 0 = (0) and the total
ideal R = (1). If R = Z, the principal ideal generated by 2 is the set (2) =
{2n| n ∈ Z} of even numbers.
Let R be a ring and I � R an ideal. For each a ∈ R we define the coset of a with
respect to I as the set
a = a + I := {a + i| i ∈ I} .
Since I is an additive subgroup of R, and (R, +) is a commutative subgroup, I is normal
in R, and thus the set R/I = {a| a ∈ R} is an additive group with addition defined by
a + b := a + b, i.e. (a + I) + (b + I) := (a + b) + I. The absorbency property of an ideal
also ensures that the product of cosets ab = ab is well defined, endowing the set R/I with
a ring structure. In particular, the zero and unit elements of R/I are 0 and 1, respectively.
E XAMPLES 1.2.6.
(1) R/0 = R,
(2) R/R = 0,
(3) Z/(n) = Z/nZ = Zn .

1.3. Ring homomorphisms

D EFINITION 1.3.1. Let R and S be rings; a map f : R → S is said to be a ring
homomorphism (or ring morphism for short) if
(1) f (1) = 1,
 1.3. RING HOMOMORPHISMS 5

(2) f (a + b) = f (a) + f (b) for all a, b ∈ R,

(3) f (ab) = f (a)f (b) for all a, b ∈ R.
If f is injective we say it is a monomorphism, if it is surjective it is called an epimorphism,
and if it is a bijection it is called an isomorphism. In this case we say that R is isomorphic
to S and write R ∼ = S.
D EFINITION 1.3.2. Let f : R → S be a ring morphism. We define the image of f as
the set
Im(f ) := f (R) = {f (r)| r ∈ R} ⊆ S,
and the kernel of f as the set
Ker(f ) := f −1 (0) = {r ∈ R| f (r) = 0} ⊆ R.
L EMMA 1.3.3. Let R and S be rings, and f : R → S be a ring homomorphism, then
the following properties hold:
(1) Im(f ) ≤ S is a subring of S,
(2) Ker(f ) � R is an ideal of R.
P ROOF.
(1). 1S = f (1R ), and hence 1S ∈ Im(f ). If s1 , s2 ∈ Im(f ) then there are r1 , r2 ∈ R such
that f (r1 ) = s1 , f (r2 ) = s2 , but then using that f is a ring morphism one has
s1 − s2 = f (r1 ) − f (r2 ) = f (r1 − r2 ) ∈ Im(f ),
s1 s2 = f (r1 )f (r2 ) = f (r1 r2 ) ∈ Im(f ),
thus Im(f ) ≤ S subring.
(2). f (0R ) = 0S , so 0R ∈ Ker(f ), and thus Ker(f ) �= ∅. Now, if a, b ∈ Ker(f ), one has
f (a − b) = f (a) − f (b) = 0 − 0 = 0,
hence a − b ∈ Ker(f ), so Ker(f ) is an additive subgroup of R. Now, for any a ∈ Ker(f ),
and for any r ∈ R one has
f (ra) = f (r)f (a) = f (r)0 = 0,
thus ra ∈ Ker(f ), and consequently Ker(f ) � R is an ideal of R.
�
T HEOREM 1.3.4 (First isomorphism theorem). Let R and S be rings, and f : R →
S be a ring homomorphism, then the mapping f (r) ↔ r = r + Ker(f ) provides an
isomorphism
R/ Ker(f ) ∼
= Im(f ).
P ROOF. Let a = a + Ker(f ) ∈ R/ Ker(f ) for a ∈ R. One has
a = b ⇔ a − b ∈ Ker(f ) ⇔ f (a − b) = 0 ⇔ f (a) = f (b),
so the application π : R/ Ker(f ) → Im(f ) given by π(a) := f (a) is well defined and
injective. Now, if b ∈ Im(f ) then there is some a ∈ R such that b = f (a), and thus
b = π(a); henceforth, π is surjective, and so it is a bijection. Now, π((1)) = f (1) = 1,
and for any a, b ∈ R one has
π(a − b) = π(a − b) = f (a − b) = f (a) − f (b) = π(a) − π(b),
π(ab) = π(ab) = f (ab) = f (a)f (b) = π(a)π(b),
hence, π is a ring homomorphism, and since it is bijective we have a ring isomorphism
R/ Ker(f ) ∼
= Im(f ). �
E XAMPLES 1.3.5.
(1) The identity map Id : R → R is a ring isomorphism. If S ≤ R is a subring, the
inclusion map iS : S → R is a ring monomorphism.
6 1. REVISION OF RING THEORY

(2) The complex conjugation map σ : C → C defined by σ(z) = z is a ring isomor-

phism.
(3) Let I � R be an ideal of R, The canonical projection πI : R → R/I is defined
by π( r) := r = r + I. It is easy to see that πI is a ring homomorphism,
πI (a) = 0 ⇔ a = 0 ⇔ a + I = I ⇔ a ∈ I, so Ker(πI ) = I. For any a ∈ R/I
we can write a = πI (a), thus πI is an epimorphism, and hence Im(πI ) = R/I.
The statement of the first isomorphism theorem in this particular case is just a
tautology, saying that R/I is isomorphic to itself.
(4) For any n ≥ 2, the ring Zn = Z/nZ is the image of the canonical projection
πn : Z → Z/(n) = Zn .
(5) Let R ≤ S subring, and a ∈ S. We define the evaluation map ea : R[x] → S
by p(x) �→ p(a), i.e. if p(x) = r0 + r1 x + · · · , +rn xn then ea (p(x)) =
r0 + r1 a + · · · , +rn an ∈ S. The evaluation map is a ring homomorphism for
which we have
�� �
Im(ea ) = {p(a)| p ∈ R[x]} = ri ai | ri ∈ R = R[a] ≤ S,
Ker(ea ) = {p(x) ∈ R[x]| p(a) = 0} .
Note that, if we assume that a ∈ R, one has
p(x) ∈ Ker(ea ) ⇔ p(a) = 0 ⇔ (x − a)|p(x) ⇔ p(x) = (x − a)r(x)
⇔ p(x) ∈ ((x − a)).
In this case one gets
Im(ea ) ∼
= R[x]/ Ker(ea ) = R/((x − a)) ∼
= R.
L EMMA 1.3.6. Let f : R → S and g : S → T be ring homomorphisms. Then the
composition g ◦ f : R → T is also a ring homomorphism.
P ROOF. The proof is immediate and follows from applying repeatedly that f and g
are homomorphisms:
(g ◦ f )(0) = g(f (0)) = g(0) = 0.
(g ◦ f )(a + b) = g(f (a + b)) = g(f (a) + f (b)) = g(f (a)) + g(f (b))
= (g ◦ f )(a) + (g ◦ f )(b).
(g ◦ f )(1) = g(f (1)) = g(1) = 1.
(g ◦ f )(ab) = g(f (ab)) = g(f (a)f (b)) = g(f (a))g(f (b))
= (g ◦ f )(a) · (g ◦ f )(b).
�
T HEOREM 1.3.7 (Second isomorphism theorem). Let R be a ring, I � R an ideal,
S ≤ R a subring; then the following properties hold:
(1) S + I ≤ R is a subring of R,
(2) I � S + I is an ideal of S + I,
(3) S ∩ I � S is an ideal of S,
(4) There is a ring isomorphism
S+I ∼ S
=
I S∩I
P ROOF.
(1). Let s1 , s2 ∈ S, i1 , i2 ∈ I, then
(s1 + i1 ) − (s2 + i2 ) = (s1 − s2 ) + (i1 − i2 ) ∈ S + I,
and thus S + I is an additive subgroup of R. Similarly,
(s1 + i1 )(s2 + i2 ) = s1 s2 + (s1 i2 + i1 s2 + i1 i2 ) ∈ S + I,
 1.3. RING HOMOMORPHISMS 7

and 1 ∈ S ⊆ S + I, so S + I is a submonoid of S, and hence S + I ≤ R is a subring.

(2). The I is additively closed because it is a subgroup of R; moreover, since S + I ⊆ R
the absorbency property for I with respect to S + I is immediate. Hence, I � S + I is an
ideal of S + I.
(3). As both I and S are additive subgroups of R, S ∩ I is also additively closed, and since
it S ∩ I ⊆ S, is is an additive subgroup of S. For the absorbency, let x ∈ S ∩ I, s ∈ S;
since x ∈ I and s ∈ S ⊆ R, absorbency property for I tells us that xs ∈ I. Also, as
x ∈ S, s ∈ S and S is a subring, we get xs ∈ S, and thus sx ∈ S ∩ I. This proves that
S ∩ I is an ideal of S.
(4). Consider the map ϕ : S → (S + I)/I given by ϕ(s) = s = s + I. Since ϕ can
be seen as the composition of the inclusion S → S + I with the canonical projection
S + I → (S + I)/I, and the composition of ring morphisms is a ring morphism by the
previous lemma, we get the ϕ is a ring morphism.
Now, for any s + i ∈ (S + I)/I, we have ϕ(s) = s, but since (s + i) − s = i ∈ I
we have s = s + i, and thus ϕ(s) = s + i. Hence ϕ is surjective, i.e. Im ϕ = (S + I)/I.
Moreover, one has
Ker ϕ = {s ∈ S| ϕ(s) = 0}
= {s ∈ S| s = 0}
= {s ∈ S| s ∈ I}
= S ∩ I,
so applying the first isomorphism theorem to the morphism ϕ we obtain the result. �
T HEOREM 1.3.8 (Third isomorphism theorem). Let R be a ring, I ⊆ J � R ideals of
R, then J/I is an ideal of R/I and moreover
R/I ∼
= R/J.
J/I
P ROOF. It is immediate to check that J/I is an ideal of R/I. consider the map ϕ :
R/I → R/J given by ϕ(x + I) := x + J. Assume that x + I = x� + I, i.e. x − x� ∈ I; as
I ⊆ J, one gets x − x� ∈ J, so x + J = x� + J; and thus ϕ is well defined. The mapping
ϕ is also obviously surjective.
Now, for the kernel of ϕ we have
Ker ϕ = {x + I ∈ R/I| ϕ(x + I) = 0}
= {x + I ∈ R/I| x + J}
= {x + I ∈ R/I| x ∈ J}
= J/I,
and the desired result follows from the first isomorphism theorem. �
C OROLLARY 1.3.9 (Correspondence theorem). Let R be a ring and I � R an ideal of
R; the map S �→ S/I defines a correspondence between the set of subrings of R containing
I and the set of subrings of R/I. Similarly, the map J �→ J/I gives a correspondence
between the set of ideals of R containing I and the set of ideals of R/I.
R EMARK 1.3.10. Note that in principle we cannot state that different ideals of R
containing I will give rise to different ideals in the quotient ring. The only bit we can be
sure of is that all ideals of R/I will be of the form J/I for some J.