Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani

Department of Mathematics
Algebra-1, MATH F215
First Semester 2019-20 Tutorial sheet-5 Instructor: Jitender Kumar

Topics Covered: Rings, Basic Properties, Special Class of Rings (integral domain,
divison ring and field), Characteristic of a ring
√ √
1. Show that the set R = Q[ 3] = {a + b 3 : a, b ∈ Q} is a ring under the binary
operations:
√ √ √
(a + b 3) + (c + d 3) = (a + c) + (b + d) 3
√ √ √
(a + b 3) · (c + d 3) = (ac + 3bd) + (ad + bc) 3

2. Let R be the set of all even integers. Define addition as usual and multiplication by
a · b = 12 ab. Show that R is a ring.

3. Let (R, +, ·) be a ring with unity 1. Show that (R, ⊕, ⊙) is also a ring with unity,
where
a ⊕ b = a + b + 1 and a ⊙ b = a · b + a + b.

4. Let R = {(a, b) : a, b ∈ R}. Show that (R, +, ·) is a field under the binary operations :

(a, b) + (c, d) = (a + c, b + d)
(a, b) · (c, d) = (ac − bd, bc + ad)

5. Show that the ring (Zp , +p , ·p ) is a field if and only if p is prime.

6. Let   
α −β
R= ∈ M2 (C) : ᾱ, β̄ denote the conjugate of α, β .
β̄ ᾱ
define addition + and multiplication · in R by usual matrix addition and matrix mul-
tiplication. Show that R is a division ring but not a field.

7. A ring R is called a Boolean ring if every element is idempotent i.e. x2 = x for all
x ∈ R. Suppose R is a Boolean ring. Then prove that

(i) 2x = 0 for all x ∈ R;

(ii) xy = yx for all x, y ∈ R.

8. If p is a prime number then prove that p is a divisor of (p−1)!+1 (Wilson Theorem).

9. If the characteristic of an integral domain R is a prime p. Then prove that the order of
every non-identity element in the group (R, +) is p. Hence, determine the cardinality
of a finite field.
10. Prove that the ring Z[i] = {a + bi : a, b ∈ Z}, the ring of Gaussian integers, is an
integral domain.