WABASH C OLLEGE , D EPARTMENT OF M ATHEMATICS

MAT332 Ring Theory Assignment

Mason Keller
April 18, 2016

1 A C ONDITION ON M ULTIPLYING I DEALS IN P.I.D. S

First, define the product and of two ideals I , J as
(
)
n
X
I J :=
i k j k : n N, i k I , j k J ,
k=1

I + J := i + j : i I , j J

T
We wish to show that if I , J are ideals in a P.I.D. R, then I J = I J if and only if I + J = R.
Suppose I = (a) and J = (b). Our definition of I J is easily manipulated to show that I J = (ab).
T
Now, I J is the set of all multiples of both a and b, so each element is a multiple of l cm(a, b).
I + J = (a, b) = R = (1), which is to say that "a and b are coprime" is equivalent to I + J = R.
l cm(a, b) = ab if and only if g cd (a, b) = 1, and the desired result follows.

2 E XAMPLE OF R ING I SOMORPHISM T HEOREMS

We wish to discover some properties of Z[x]/(5, x 2 3) = R. First we note that the ideals (5)
and (x 2 3) are both subsets of (5, x 2 3), and conclude that R
= (Z[x]/(5))/((5, x 2 3)/(5)).
Further, Z[x]/(5)
= Z/(5)[x]. We have now moved from Z[x]/(5, x 2 3) to Z5 [x]/(5, x 2 3)/(5).
The denominator quotient is the set of remainders from the operation a(x)5+b(x)(x 2 3)/5.
These remainders are simply polynomials with a factor of x 2 3 with coefficients from Z5 .
But this is just the ideal (x 2 3) in Z5 . So we have R = Z5 [x]/(x 2 3). We can now move to
p
where x 2 3. x has precisely the same numerical properties as 2 3, and moving
R = Z5 [x]

p
2
from Z5 back to Z/(5) gives us the desired isomorphism to Z[ 3]/(5), which is a field of 25
elements.

3 A S UFFICIENT C ONDITION FOR A FACTORIAL D OMAIN TO BE A P.I.D.

Suppose R is a factorial domain. We wish to show that it is sufficient for every prime ideal to
be maximal to guarantee that R is a P.I.D.. Consider the set of non-principal ideals. This is a
poset, ordered by set containment. Now, each totally ordered subset has a maximal element
because the union of the subset elements (which is really a union of a chain of ideals) is also
an ideal. Said maximal element surely cannot be principal, since no element in the chain is
principal. By Zorns lemma we can arrive at a maximal element for our whole poset, say x. A
prime ideal will be principal (by virtue of R being factorial), so x must not be a prime ideal.
Since x is not prime, there are a 1 and a 2 so that neither a i x but a 1 a 2 x. Also, x + (a i ) will
be a principal ideal, since it is bigger than x. But
[x + (a 1 )] [x + (a 2 )] = x + (a 1 a 2 ) + [x (a 1 ) + x (a 2 )] = x + (a 1 a 2 ) = x,
the leftmost side of which is principal. So x must be principal, which is a contradiction. Our
poset must have been empty all ideals were principal to begin with.

4 FACTORING IN F[ X , Y ]
Let F be an infinite field, and let f F [x, y]. Suppose f (a, a) = 0 for all a F . We wish to show
that x y is a factor of f (x, y). Because x y has a leading coefficient in y which is a unit, we
can do polynomial long division without passing to F (x)[y]. The remainder additionally, has
to be constant in y, and so is also an element of F [x]. It has roots everywhere though, so it
must be 0, otherwise it could only have a finite number of roots. This means that f (x, y) =
q(x, y)(x y), which is what we desired.