de

rale de Lausanne
Ecole Polytechnique Fe
partement de mathe
matiques
De
Prof. E. Bayer Fluckiger
Algebra for digital communications
Section de syst`emes de communication

Exercise sheet 4

winter semester 2004-2005

9.11.04

Exercise 1
Let R be a ring and x R. Suppose there exists a positive integer n such that xn = 0. Show
that 1 + x is a unit, and so is 1 x.
Exercise 2
Consider the following elements.
1. 3 Z/21Z.
2. 5 Z/21Z.
3. 5 Z/25Z.
4. 12 Z/23Z.
For each of them, decide if it is unit. If yes, give its inverse. If not, show explicitly that it is a
zero divisor.
Exercise 3
Let A,B be two rings, and let f : A B be a ring homomorphism. Show that the image of f
Im(f ) is a subring of B.
Exercise 4
Let n, m Z such that m|n. Consider the map
f : Z/nZ Z/mZ
which maps an element of Z/nZ to its class modulo m.
1. Show that the map f is well defined (i.e. the image of f does not depend on the representative).
2. Show that f is a ring homomorphism. Is it onto ?
3. Compute the kernel Ker(f ) of f . In particular, what is its cardinality ? Is f one-to-one ?
4. Show that the image of a unit of Z/nZ is a unit of Z/mZ.
5. What can we say if we remove the condition m|n ? Is there always such a ring homomorphism g : Z/nZ Z/mZ ?
Challenge Exercise 1
Let R be a ring, and let a 6= 0 R such that there exists an integer n with an = 0. Show that
R (R[X]) and R 6= R[X] , where R and R[X] denote respectively the group of units of
R and R[X].