Commutative Rings I

124
Definition.

Ch. 3

A subfield of a field K is a subring k of K that is also a field.

It is easy to see that a subset k of a field K is a subfield if and only if k is a subring that
is closed under inverses; that is, if a k and a = 0, then a 1 k. It is also routine to see
that any intersection of subfields of K is itself a subfield of K (note that the intersection is
not equal to {0} because 1 lies in every subfield).

E XERCISES
Rocio

3.1 Prove that a commutative ring R has a unique 1.

Glori

3.2

(i) Prove that subtraction in Z is not an associative operation.

(ii) Give an example of a commutative ring R in which subtraction is associative.

Reyn

3.3

(i) If R is a domain and a R satisfies a 2 = a, prove that either a = 0 or a = 1.

(ii) Show that the commutative ring F (R) in Example 3.7 contains infinitely many elements
f  = 0, 1 with f 2 = f .

Aless

3.4

(i) If X is a set, prove that the Boolean group B(X ) in Example 2.18 with elements the
subsets of X and with addition given by
U + V = (U V ) (V U ),
where U V = {x U : x
/ V }, is a commutative ring if one defines multiplication
U V = U V.

Migue
Rocio
Glori

We call B(X ) a Boolean ring.

Hint.
You may use some standard facts of set theory: the distributive law:
U (V W ) = (U V ) (U W ); if V  denotes the complement of V , then
U V = U V  ; and the De Morgan law: (U V ) = U  V  .
(ii) Prove that B(X ) contains exactly one unit.
(iii) If Y is a proper subset of X (that is, Y  X ), show that the unit in B(Y ) is distinct from
the unit in B(X ). Conclude that B(Y ) is not a subring of B(X ).
3.5 Show that U (Im ) = {[k] Im : (k, m) = 1}.
3.6 Find all the units in the commutative ring F (R) defined in Example 3.7.
3.7 Generalize the construction of F (R) to arbitrary commutative rings R: Let F (R) be the set of
all functions from R to R, with pointwise addition, f + g : r  f (r ) + g(r ), and pointwise
multiplication, f g : r  f (r )g(r ) for r R.
(i) Show that F (R) is a commutative ring.
(ii) Show that F (R) is not a domain.
(iii) Show that F (I2 ) has exactly four elements, and that f + f = 0 for every f F (I2 ).

Reyn

3.8

Aless

3.9 Prove that the only subring of Z is Z itself.

Hint. Every subring R of Z contains 1.

(i) If R is a domain and S is a subring of R, then S is a domain.

(ii) Prove that C is a domain, and conclude that the ring of Gaussian integers is a domain.

Sec. 3.2 First Properties

125

(i) Prove that R = {a + b 2 : a, b Z} is a domain.

(ii) Prove that R = { 12 (a + b 2) : a, b Z} is not a domain.

(iii) Using the fact that = 12 (1 + 19) is a root of x 2 x + 5, prove that R = {a + b :

a, b Z} is a domain.

Migue

3.10

Rocio

3.11 Prove that the set of all C -functions is a subring of F (R). (A function f : R R is a
C -function if it has an nth derivative f (n) for every n 1.)
Hint. Use the Leibniz rule (see Exercise 1.6 on page 12).

Glori

3.12

(i) If R is a commutative ring, define the circle operation a b by

a b = a + b ab.
Prove that the circle operation is associative and that 0 a = a for all a R.
(ii) Prove that a commutative ring R is a field if and only if {r R : r  = 1} is an abelian
group under the circle operation.
Hint. If a  = 0, then a + 1  = 1.

Reyn

3.13 Find the inverses of the nonzero elements of I11 .

Aless

3.14 (R. A. Dean) Define F4 to be all 2 2 matrices of the form


a
b


b
,
a+b

where a, b I2 .
(i) Prove that F4 is a commutative ring under the usual matrix operations of addition and
multiplication.
(ii) Prove that F4 is a field with exactly four elements.

Migue

Rocio

3.15 Prove that every domain R with a finite number of elements must be a field. (Using Proposition 3.6, this gives a new proof of sufficiency in Proposition 3.12.)
Hint. If R denotes the set of nonzero elements of R, prove that multiplication by r is an
injection R R , where r R .

3.16 Show that F = {a + b 2 : a, b Q} is a field.

Glori

3.17

Reyn

3.18 If R is a commutative ring, define a relation on R by a b if there is a unit u R with

b = ua. Prove that if a b, then (a) = (b), where (a) = {ra : r R}. Conversely, prove
that if R is a domain, then (a) = (b) implies a b.

Aless

3.19

(i) Show that F = {a + bi : a, b Q} is a field.

(ii) Show that F is the fraction field of the Gaussian integers.

(i) For any field k, prove that stochastic group (2, k), the set of all nonsingular 2 2 matrices with entries in k whose column sums are 1, is a group under matrix multiplication.
(ii) Define the affine group Aff(1, k) to be the set of all f : k k of the form f (x) =
ax + b, where a, b k and a  = 0. Prove that (2, k)
= Aff(1, k). (See Exercise 2.46
on page 80.)
(iii) If k is a finite field with q elements, prove that |(2, k)| = q(q 1).
(iv) Prove that (2, I3 )
= S3 .