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Concept
Prime ideal
Summary
In algebra, a prime ideal is a subset of a ring that shares many important properties of a prime number in the ring of integers. The prime ideals for the integers are the sets that contain all the multiples of a given prime number, together with the zero ideal.
Primitive ideals are prime, and prime ideals are both primary and semiprime.
An ideal P of a commutative ring R is prime if it has the following two properties:
If a and b are two elements of R such that their product ab is an element of P, then a is in P or b is in P,
P is not the whole ring R.
This generalizes the following property of prime numbers, known as Euclid's lemma: if p is a prime number and if p divides a product ab of two integers, then p divides a or p divides b. We can therefore say
A positive integer n is a prime number if and only if is a prime ideal in
A simple example: In the ring the subset of even numbers is a prime ideal.
Given an integral domain , any prime element generates a principal prime ideal . Eisenstein's criterion for integral domains (hence UFDs) is an effective tool for determining whether or not an element in a polynomial ring is irreducible. For example, take an irreducible polynomial in a polynomial ring over some field .
If R denotes the ring of polynomials in two variables with complex coefficients, then the ideal generated by the polynomial Y 2 − X 3 − X − 1 is a prime ideal (see elliptic curve).
In the ring of all polynomials with integer coefficients, the ideal generated by 2 and X is a prime ideal. It consists of all those polynomials whose constant coefficient is even.
In any ring R, a maximal ideal is an ideal M that is maximal in the set of all proper ideals of R, i.e. M is contained in exactly two ideals of R, namely M itself and the whole ring R. Every maximal ideal is in fact prime. In a principal ideal domain every nonzero prime ideal is maximal, but this is not true in general.
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Ring (mathematics)
In mathematics, rings are algebraic structures that generalize fields: multiplication need not be commutative and multiplicative inverses need not exist. In other words, a ring is a set equipped with two binary operations satisfying properties analogous to those of addition and multiplication of integers. Ring elements may be numbers such as integers or complex numbers, but they may also be non-numerical objects such as polynomials, square matrices, functions, and power series.
Ideal (ring theory)
In mathematics, and more specifically in ring theory, an ideal of a ring is a special subset of its elements. Ideals generalize certain subsets of the integers, such as the even numbers or the multiples of 3. Addition and subtraction of even numbers preserves evenness, and multiplying an even number by any integer (even or odd) results in an even number; these closure and absorption properties are the defining properties of an ideal.
Commutative ring
In mathematics, a commutative ring is a ring in which the multiplication operation is commutative. The study of commutative rings is called commutative algebra. Complementarily, noncommutative algebra is the study of ring properties that are not specific to commutative rings. This distinction results from the high number of fundamental properties of commutative rings that do not extend to noncommutative rings. A ring is a set equipped with two binary operations, i.e. operations combining any two elements of the ring to a third.