Noncommutative ringIn mathematics, a noncommutative ring is a ring whose multiplication is not commutative; that is, there exist a and b in the ring such that ab and ba are different. Equivalently, a noncommutative ring is a ring that is not a commutative ring. Noncommutative algebra is the part of ring theory devoted to study of properties of the noncommutative rings, including the properties that apply also to commutative rings. Sometimes the term noncommutative ring is used instead of ring to refer to an unspecified ring which is not necessarily commutative, and hence may be commutative.
Nilradical of a ringIn algebra, the nilradical of a commutative ring is the ideal consisting of the nilpotent elements: It is thus the radical of the zero ideal. If the nilradical is the zero ideal, the ring is called a reduced ring. The nilradical of a commutative ring is the intersection of all prime ideals. In the non-commutative ring case the same definition does not always work. This has resulted in several radicals generalizing the commutative case in distinct ways; see the article Radical of a ring for more on this.
Reduced ringIn ring theory, a branch of mathematics, a ring is called a reduced ring if it has no non-zero nilpotent elements. Equivalently, a ring is reduced if it has no non-zero elements with square zero, that is, x2 = 0 implies x = 0. A commutative algebra over a commutative ring is called a reduced algebra if its underlying ring is reduced. The nilpotent elements of a commutative ring R form an ideal of R, called the nilradical of R; therefore a commutative ring is reduced if and only if its nilradical is zero.
Primary idealIn mathematics, specifically commutative algebra, a proper ideal Q of a commutative ring A is said to be primary if whenever xy is an element of Q then x or yn is also an element of Q, for some n > 0. For example, in the ring of integers Z, (pn) is a primary ideal if p is a prime number. The notion of primary ideals is important in commutative ring theory because every ideal of a Noetherian ring has a primary decomposition, that is, can be written as an intersection of finitely many primary ideals.
Glossary of ring theoryRing theory is the branch of mathematics in which rings are studied: that is, structures supporting both an addition and a multiplication operation. This is a glossary of some terms of the subject. For the items in commutative algebra (the theory of commutative rings), see glossary of commutative algebra. For ring-theoretic concepts in the language of modules, see also Glossary of module theory. For specific types of algebras, see also: Glossary of field theory and Glossary of Lie groups and Lie algebras.
Annihilator (ring theory)In mathematics, the annihilator of a subset S of a module over a ring is the ideal formed by the elements of the ring that give always zero when multiplied by each element of S. Over an integral domain, a module that has a nonzero annihilator is a torsion module, and a finitely generated torsion module has a nonzero annihilator. The above definition applies also in the case noncommutative rings, where the left annihilator of a left module is a left ideal, and the right-annihilator, of a right module is a right ideal.
Radical of an idealIn ring theory, a branch of mathematics, the radical of an ideal of a commutative ring is another ideal defined by the property that an element is in the radical if and only if some power of is in . Taking the radical of an ideal is called radicalization. A radical ideal (or semiprime ideal) is an ideal that is equal to its radical. The radical of a primary ideal is a prime ideal. This concept is generalized to non-commutative rings in the Semiprime ring article.
Ring theoryIn algebra, ring theory is the study of rings—algebraic structures in which addition and multiplication are defined and have similar properties to those operations defined for the integers. Ring theory studies the structure of rings, their representations, or, in different language, modules, special classes of rings (group rings, division rings, universal enveloping algebras), as well as an array of properties that proved to be of interest both within the theory itself and for its applications, such as homological properties and polynomial identities.
