MATH321-18S1 Rings and Fields

Tutorial 1

Thursday, 1 March, 4-5pm, Jack Erskine 446

Attempt the preparation problems before the tutorial. At the start of the tutorial your
preparation work will be checked. You can get up to a maximum of four marks for this
tutorial. You can also hand in your preparation in the MATH321/439 assignment box
(reception are on level 4 in Jack Erskine building).
Preparation Problems
√ √
1. Let d be an integer. Show that Z[ d] = {a + b d | a, b ∈ Z} is an integral domain.
2. Find all units and zero-divisors in the ring Z6 ⊕ Z5 .
3. Prove or disprove that
       
0 a  a bd 
(a) R = a, b, c ∈ Q (b) Sd =  a, b ∈ R
b c  b a 

is a subring of the matrix ring M2 (R), where d is an arbitrary (but fixed) integer.
4. Find units and zero divisors in those examples in Q 3 that are rings.
Do you find them all? Does the answer depend on the value of d ?

In-tutorial problems
5. Describe the unity, units and zero-divisors of the function ring R = ZN9 (all functions
from N to Z9 with respect to pointwise addition and multiplication).
√
6. Determine the smallest subring T of C that contains i 2. Does T have a unity?
7. (a) Verify that the units of a ring R with unity form a group under multiplication
in R.    
s 0 
(b) Find all the units in the ring M2 (R), and all units in L = s, t ∈ R .
t s 
(c) Show that the set of zero-divisors of a ring R plus 0 is not necessarily closed
under addition. (I.e., give an example of a ring R and two zero-divisors a, b ∈ R
such that a + b 6= 0 and a + b is not a zero-divisor.)
8. Find examples to show that the following rule does not always apply in Z12 .
If a2 = a, then either a = 0 or a = 1.
9. Show that if R is an integral domain and a ∈ R is such that a2 = a, then a = 0 or
a = 1.
10. Suppose that a belongs to a ring R with unity 1. If a2 = 0, show that 1 + a is a
unit of R.