Central Exercise
for Discrete Structures 2022
Bokelavadze, Imerlishvili & Neuhauser
Exercises for week 14
1. Calculation rules in a ring
Let R be a ring and a, b, c, d ∈ R.
(1) Evaluate (a + b)(c + d).
(2) Prove that (a + b)2 = a2 + ab + ba + b2 where by x2 we mean xx.
(3) If in a ring R every x ∈ R satisfies x2 = x, prove that R must be commutative.1
2. Ideals
(1) Recall that map(X, R) denotes the ring of all real valued functions from a set X, endowed with pointwise
multiplication and addition.
Let A ⊆ X. Show that the set
IA = {f ∈ map(X, R) : f (a) = 0 for all a ∈ A}
is an ideal in map(X, R).
(2) Let U, V be ideals of a ring R. Define U + V = {u + v : u ∈ U, v ∈ V }. Prove that U + V is also an ideal
in R.
3. Normal subgroups
(1) Show that the rotation subgroup R is normal in D3 . How many elements are there in D3 /R? Can you
“identify” this group?
(2) Show that a subgroup generated by a single reflection is not a normal subgroup of D3 .
4. Irreducible polynomials
Prove that
(1) x2 + x + 1 is irreducible over Z2 .
(2) x2 + 1 is irreducible over Z7 .
(3) x3 − 9 is irreducible over Z31 .
(4) x3 − 9 is reducible over Z11 .
Hint: If the polynomials above are reducible, one of the factors has to be linear.
5. Galois fields
During the lecture, we constructed finite fields as factor rings of polynomial rings with coefficients in prime fields
by irreducible polynomials.
In this exercise, we will try a more hands on approach to construct Galois fields.
Since these fields are determined by the number of elements, there should really be a unique way to construct them.
To demonstrate what we mean, let us adjoin a single element a to Z2 and try to define addition and multiplication
on Z2 ∪ {a}. Addition must be commutative and we have
0+0=1+1=0
1+0=1
0+a=a
Also, by distributive property, we must have a + a = a · (1 + 1) = a · 0 = 0.
What about a + 1? if we put a + 1 = 0 it follows that a = 1, which we do not want. Similarly a + 1 = 1 implies
a = 0 and a + 1 = a means 1 = 0. Therefore, we are forced to adjoin one more element, namely a + 1, and consider
a four element set {0, 1, a, a + 1}.
Addition is now settled, how about commutative multiplication? Multiplication by 0 and 1 is obvious. Other
than that, we need only see what a · a, a · (a + 1) and (a + 1) · (a + 1) are.
1A ring in which x2 = x for all elements is called a Boolean ring.
1
Central Exercise Discrete Structures 2022
We can’t have a2 = a, for then a · (a − 1) = 0 and we are supposing a ∈ / {0, 1}; similarly, a2 6= 0. If a2 = 1, then
2 2 2
(a − 1) = a − 1 = 0, which is also impossible. So, we must have a = 1 + a.
Next, using this, a · (a + 1) = a2 + a = 1 + a + a = 1. Finally, using that 1 + 1 = 0, (a + 1) · (a + 1) = a2 + 1 = a.
Multiplication is completely determined.
Check that indeed, we have a four element field. Go through a similar process by adjoining an element to Z3 to
construct a nine element field.
