Exercises on Rings I
1. For a commutative ring R, let R× denote the set of units of R.
(a) Show that R× is an abelian group.
(b) Describe Z× , (Z[i])× , (Z[ω])× , (Z[X])× . Here ω is a primitive cube roots of
unity.
(c) Let D be a positive integer which is not a perfect square. Show that
√ √
(Z[ D])× = {x + y D | x2 − Dy 2 = ±1}.
2. A commutative ring R is said to be reduced if 0 is the only nilpotent element in R.
Prove that:
(a) Every nonzero element of Z/nZ is either a unit or a zero divisor.
(b) Z/nZ is a field if and only if n is prime.
(c) Z/pm Z has nonzero nilpotents if m > 1.
(d) If p and q are distinct primes, then Z/pqZ is a reduced ring containing zero
divisors.
(e) Z/nZ is reduced if and only if n is square-free.
3. For an ideal I of a commutative ring R, define
I[X] = {a0 + a1 X + · · · + an X n | n ≥ 0, ai ∈ I} .
Show that I[X] is an ideal of R[X] and prove that R[X]/I[X] ∼
= (R/I)[X].
4. Let A be a commutative ring with 1, f (X) ∈ A[X]\A and c be the leading coefficient
of f (X). Let φ : A → A[X]/(f (X)) be defined by φ(a) = a.
(a) Prove that if A is an integral domain, then φ is injective.
(b) Prove more generally that φ is injective if c is a non-zero divisor. Deduce that
φ is injective when f (X) is monic.
(c) Give an example to show that φ need not be injective in general.
5. Let a, b be elements in an integral domain R. Prove that Ra = Rb if and only if
a = ub for some u ∈ R× . Give an example showing the result fails when R is not a
domain.
6. Let a ̸= 0 in an integral domain R. Prove:
(a) a is irreducible ⇐⇒ aR is maximal among proper principal ideals.
(b) a is prime ⇐⇒ aR is a prime ideal.
7. Prove that the nilpotent elements of R form an ideal.
8. Prove that if u is a unit and a is a nilpotent element of R, then u + a is a unit.
9. Let R be a ring such that for every element a ∈ R, there exists integers n(a) ̸= n′ (a)
′
such that an(a) = an (a) . Show that every prime ideal in R is maximal. Conclude
that every prime ideal is maximal in a finite ring.
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10. (McCoy’s Theorem) Let f (X) ∈ R[X] be a zero divisor. Then show that a · f (X) =
0 in R[X], for some non-zero a ∈ R. (Hint: Consider the polynomial g(X) of
smallest degree such that g(X) · f (X) = 0. Write f (x) = a0 + a1 X + · · · an X n , and
g(X) = b0 + b1 X + · · · bm X m . If m = 0, then we are done. So, assume m > 0.
Show that if ai · g(X) = 0, for all i, then also we are done. Now, assume that
ai · g(X) ̸= 0 for all i. Take l to be the maximum number such that ai · g(X) ̸= 0.
Show that f (X) · g(X) = (a0 + a1 X + · · · + al X l )(b0 + b1 X + · · · + bm X m ) = 0.
Conclude that al bm = 0 and hence deg(al · g(X)) < deg g(X). Show that this gives
a contradiction.)
