Universal Algebra

June 26, 2023

Contents

1 Rings 2
1.1 Division Ring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Integral Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.1 Fraction Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 Unique Factorisation Domains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3.1 Euclidean Domains and PIDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3.2 UFD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4 Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.5 Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6 Creating New Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.6.1 Quotients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.2 Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.6.3 Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.7 Maximal Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.8 Prime Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.9 Noetherian Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.10 Polynomial Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2 Field Extensions 15
2.1 Algebraic Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Extension Degree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 Constructable Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 Splitting Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.5 Galois Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

3 Modules 21
3.1 Quotients of Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Free Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.2.1 Free Zmodules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.3 Not Free Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4 Modules of Noetherian Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.5 Decomposing Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

1
Chapter 1

Rings

Definition:
A ring R is set with two operations (+, ·) such that

• (R, +) is an abelian group

• (R, ·) is a monoid
• The operations distribute;(a + b) · c = a · c + b · c and a · (b + c) = a · b + a · c

The multiplication operation will often be written simply as concatenation.

A subring of a ring is a subset that forms a ring when given the restriction of the operations as its operations.
A ring will be called a commutative ring iff the multiplication operation is commutative

2
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 3

Division Ring
Definition:
An element a ∈ R is a unit iff ∃b ∈ R such that ab = ba = 1 (where 1 is the unit from the multiplicative monoid)

Note that if an inverse exists then it is unique, moreover R× = { Units in R} forms a group under multiplication.

Definition:
A ring is a division ring if all nonzero elements are units

Definition:
A field is a commutative division ring
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 4

Integral Domain
Definition:
a, b are zero divisors in R iff ab = 0 and a, b , 0

Lemma
R has no zero divisors iff ∀a, b, c ∈ R, a , 0 we have that

ab = ac =⇒ b = c and ba = bc =⇒ b = c

This is known as the cancelation law.

Definition:
A non-zero commutative ring with no zero divisor is an integral domain

Lemma
Ever integral domain with finitely many elements is a field

Proof.
□

Fraction Fields
Definition:
We define an equivilence relation on R × R, R any integral domain, as follows

∀a, b ∈ R, b , 0; (a, b) ∼ (a′ , b′ ) ⇐⇒ ab′ = ba′

Definition:
The field of fractions of R, F, is the set of equivilence classes under the above relation with operations defined
as
• (a, b) + (c, d) = (ad + bc, bd)
• (a, b)(c, d) = (ab, cd)

F is a field. Moreover R embeds as a subring of F (a 7→ (a, 1))

Lemma

If R is embedded as a subring of F’, a field, then F embeds in F’ by (a, b) 7→ ab−1

Proof. □

From here on in we assume rings are commutative

CHAPTER 1. RINGS 5

Unique Factorisation Domains

Consider an integral domain R. We set up some terminology: Let a, b, c ∈ R
• u ∈ R is a unit iff (u) = R
• a|b iff ∃c ∈ R, b = ac iff (b) ⊆ (a)
• a is a proper divisor of b iff b = ac and neither a nor c is a unit iff (b) ⊂ (a) ⊂ R
• a and b are associates iff ∃u ∈ R a unit b = ua iff b|a and a|b iff (b) = (a)
• a is irreducible iff a is not a unit and the only divisors of a are units and associates iff (a) , R and a has no proper
divisors
• p ∈ R is prime iff p is not a unit and p|ab =⇒ p|a ∨ p|b iff ab ∈ (p) =⇒ a ∈ (p) ∨ b ∈ (p)
• a and b are relatively prime iff u|a ∧ u|b =⇒ u is a unit in R

Euclidean Domains and PIDs

A size function on an integral domain is any map σ : R \ {0} → N0

Definition:
An integral domain is a Euclidean domain iff there exists a size function, σ, such that

∀a, b ∈ R, a , 0 =⇒ (∃q, r ∈ R)(b = aq + r ∧ [r = 0 ∨ σ(r) < σ(a)])

i.e. Division with remainder is possible

Definition:
An integral domain in which every ideal is principle is a principle ideal domain (PID)

Lemma
Every Euclidean domain is a PID

The greatest common divisor, d, of two elements in an integral domain, a, b ∈ R, is any element in R satisfying
• d|a ∧ d|b
• c|a ∧ c|b =⇒ c|d

Does it make sense to talk of GCD in an arbitrary ring (bearing in mind that they might not always exist)

Lemma
In a PID with a, b ∈ R such that a , 0 or b , 0 we have that ∃d ∈ R such that (a, b) = (d) and d is the gcd of a
and b.

Moreover ∃r, s ∈ R such that d = ra + sb

Lemma
A prime element of an integral domain is irreducible
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 6

Lemma
For a PID R
• a, b ∈ R are relatively prime =⇒ ∃r, s ∈ R such that ra + sb = 1

• a ∈ R irreducible iff a is prime

• maximal ideals are principle ideals generated by irreducible

UFD
Definition:
An integral domain is a unique factorisation domain iff
• You can factor an element into a finite product of irreducibles

• The factorisation is essentially unique. Specifically any two factorisations will be of the same number of
irriducibles and they will differ only by the irriducibles being associates of one another
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 7

Homomorphisms
Definition:
A ring homomorphism is a map ϕ : R → T such that ∀a, b, c ∈ R
• ϕ(1R ) = 1T

• ϕ(a + bc) = ϕ(a) + ϕ(b)ϕ(c)

An isomorphism is a bijective homomorphism

Lemma
There is exactly one homomorphism ϕ : Z → R (R any ring).

Proof. The morphism must send 1 to 1 and this determines the map. □

A morphism is injective iff it has kernel equal to {0}

Definition:
The characteristic of a ring is the nonnegative integer n such that ker(Z → R) = (n).
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 8

Ideals
Definition:
An ideal, I, of a ring, R, is a nonempty subset of R that is closed under addition and mulitplication by R., i.e.
• ∀s, t ∈ I, s + t ∈ I

• ∀s ∈ I, r ∈ R, rs ∈ I

This is equivalent to saying that an ideal is a subset that is closed under R linear combinations of its elements.

Definition:
The principle (left) ideal generated by a ∈ R is

aR = (a) = {ra : r ∈ R}

We say that an ideal is proper iff it is not (0) or (1) = R.

In general the ideal generated by a collection, (a1 , ..., an ), are the R linear combinations of these ai ’s.

(a1 , ..., an ) = {r1 a1 + ... + rn an : ri ∈ R}

Lemma
The kernel of a ring homomorphism is an ideal

Some facts about ideals

• The only ideals of a field are (0) and (1)
• A ring is a field iff it has exactly two ideals ((0), R)
• Every homomorphism from a field to a ring is injective

Proof.
□

Lemma
The ideals of Z are (n) ∀n ∈ Z. These are the additive subgroups of Z

Proof. □

Theorem
Let ϕ : R → T be a surjective ring homomorphisms.
∼
{ ideals of R containing ker(ϕ)} −
→ { ideals of T}

Proof. □
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 9

Creating New Rings

Quotients
Given a ring R and an ideal I we can form the quotient ring by taking the set R/I to be the collection of additive cosets
and we give this the operations
• (a + I) + (b + I) = (a + b) + I

• (a + I)(b + I) = (ab) + I
The natural projection map R → R/I, a 7→ a + I is a surjective ring homomorphism with kernel exaactly I.

Isomorphism Theorems
Let ϕ : R → T a ring homomorphism, I ⊆ J ideals of R and S a subring of R.

Theorem

I ⊆ ker(ϕ) =⇒ ∃!ϕ̄ : R/I → T ; ϕ̄ ◦ π = ϕ

ϕ surjective =⇒ R/ker(ϕ)  T
(S + I)/I  S /(S ∩ I)
(R/I)/(J/I)  R/J

Proof. □

Products
Given two rings R, T we can construct their product as a ring by taking the set to be the cartesian product and the
operations to be defined component wise.
This construction comes with two surjective ring homomorphisms (the projections), R × T → R and R × T → T .
The kernel of these maps is a ring although not a subring of R × T (unless R or T are 0)

Idempotents

Definition:
e ∈ R is idempotent iff e = ee

Note that if e is idempotent then so is e′ = 1 − e

Idempotents satisfy some basic properties
• e′ + e = 1
• ee′ = 0
• (e) is a ring when given the operations of R

• ϕ : R → eR, a 7→ ea is a ring homomorpphism

• (e) is not a subring unless e = 1
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 10

Proof. □

Lemma

R  eR × e′ R

Proof. □

Other
Definition:
Mn (R) is the ring of n × n matricies with entries from R.

Operations are matrix multiplication and addition as familiar

Definition:
For any group G and ring R we can construct

R(G) = {r1 g1 + ... + rn gn : ri ∈ R, gi ∈ G}

with operations

• ( ai gi )( bi hi ) = (ai bi )gi hi
P P P

• ( ai gi ) + ( bi hi ) = ai gi + bi hi
P P P P
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 11

Maximal Ideals
Definition:
An ideal I ⊆ R is maximal iff
• I , (1) = R

• ∀J ⊆ R ideal I ⊂ J =⇒ J = R

i.e. The only idea bigger than a maximal ideal is the whole ring.

Lemma
The kernel of a surjective homomorphism between rings ϕ : R → T is maximal iff T is a field

Lemma

I ⊆ R a maximal ideal ⇐⇒ R/I is a field

Lemma
The zero ideal, (0), of R is maximal iff R is a field

Theorem
The maximal ideals of Z are principle ideals generated by primes
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 12

Prime Ideals
Definition:
P ⊆ R an ideal is prime iff
• P , R and [I, J ⊆ R ideals such that I J ⊆ P =⇒ I ⊆ P or J ⊆ P]

• P , R and [a, b ∈ R such that ab ∈ P =⇒ a ∈ P or b ∈ P]

We have the following special cases

• The zero ideal is prime iff R is an integral domain

• Any maximal ideal is prime
• A principle ideal is prime iff it is generated by a prime (in the ring)

Check the truth of the second condition

CHAPTER 1. RINGS 13

Noetherian Rings
Definition:
A ring is Noetherian iff every ideal is finitely generated

Lemma
Every ideal of a Noetherian ring every proper ideal is contained in a maximal ideal

Lemma
R Noetherian and I ⊆ R an ideal =⇒ R/I is Noetherian
CHAPTER 1. RINGS 14

Polynomial Rings
Chapter 2

Field Extensions

Definition:
Let F ⊂ K be a pair of fields. Then K is called a field extension of F.

We denote this as K/F.

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CHAPTER 2. FIELD EXTENSIONS 16

Algebraic Elements
Definition:
An element α ∈ F is algebraic over F iff there is some monic polynomial f ∈ F[x] such that f (α) = 0

An element of F that is not algebraic is called transcendental over F.

For any algebraic α ∈ F there is some unique irriducible monic polynoial f ∈ F[x] such that f (α) = 0. Assume
that g(α) = 0 is another monic polynomial over F then g = f
• iff g is the lowest degree polynomial satisfied by α
• (g) is maximal (in F[x])

We denote this unique polynomial f by irrF (α) and define degF (α) = degF (irrF (α)).

Definition:

F[α] = {bn αn + ... + b1 α + b0 : n ∈ N, bi ∈ F}

F(α) is the field of fractions of F[α]

Lemma
Let α be algebraic over F then
F[x]/irrF (α)  F[α]
Moreover if F[α] is a field then F[α] = F(α)

Lemma

degF (α) = n =⇒ (a, α, ..., αn−1 ) is a basis of F(α) as an F vector space

Theorem
Let F be a field and K/F, L/F two extensions. Let α ∈ K, β ∈ L F algebraic.
∼
→ F(β), α 7→ β, ϕ|F = idF ⇐⇒ irrF (α) = irrF (β)
∃ϕ : F(α) −

Such an isomorphism is called an F isomorphism.

Lemma
ϕ : K → L an F isomorphism. Let f ∈ F[x] such that α ∈ K f (α) = 0 then f (ϕ(α)) = 0
CHAPTER 2. FIELD EXTENSIONS 17

Extension Degree
A field extension K/F can be considered an F vector space, using the operations of K. The dimension of K as an F
vector space is called the degree of the field extension.

[K : F] = dimF (K)

K/F is a finite field extension iff [K : F] < ∞.

Lemma

[K : F] = 1 ⇐⇒ K = F

Theorem
Let F be a field of characteristic > 2 and K/F an extension such that [K : F] = 2 then K = F(δ) for some δ ∈ K
such that δ2 ∈ F

Such an extension is called a quadratic extension.

Lemma
α ∈ K F algebraic =⇒ [F(α) : F] = degF (α)

This implies that α is algebraic over F iff [F(α) : F] < ∞.

Theorem
Let F ⊂ K ⊂ L finite field extension
[L : F] = [L : K][K : F]

Lemma
A finite extension is generated by finitely many algebraic elements
CHAPTER 2. FIELD EXTENSIONS 18

Constructable Numbers
CHAPTER 2. FIELD EXTENSIONS 19

Splitting Fields
CHAPTER 2. FIELD EXTENSIONS 20

Galois Theory
Let K/F e a finite extension

Definition:
An F-automorphism of K is an F-isomorphims ϕ : K → K

Definition:
The set of F-automorphisms of K form a group under composition, which we call the Galois group. We denote
this G(K/F)

Definition:
K/F is a Galois extension iff
|G(K/F)| = [K : F]
Chapter 3

Modules

Definition:
A module M over a ring R is
• An abelian group under addition (M, +)

• A function · : R × M → M satisfying the vector space axioms

A submodule of a module is a subset closed under the restrictions of the operations.

Lemma
R is a submodule over itself, and the its submodules are precisely its ideals

Definition:
A map between R modules ϕ : M → N is a homomorphism iff ∀u, v ∈ M, r ∈ R we have ϕ(ru+v) = rϕ(u)+ϕ(v)

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CHAPTER 3. MODULES 22

Quotients of Modules
For M an R module and W ⊆ M a submodule we can define the quotient module as
• Set: M/W = {m + W : m ∈ M}

• Addition: [v] + [u] = [v + u]

• Ring Action: r[u] = [ru]
This is in fact an R module and the cannonical projection is a homomorphism of R modules.

Theorem
First Isomorphism Theorem: f : M → W a surjective homomorphism of modules then

W  V/ker( f )

Theorem
f : M → W a surjective R module homomorphism
∼
{ submodules of V containing the ker( f )} −
→ { submodules of W }
CHAPTER 3. MODULES 23

Free Modules
An ordered set (v1 , ..., vn ) ⊂ M n is said to span M iff ∀v ∈ M there are elements (r1 , ..., rn ) such that v = r1 v1 + ... + rn vn .
We call these generators. An R module is finitely generated iff there exists a finite set of generators.
We say that (v1 , ..., vn ) ∈ M n is an independent set iff r1 v1 + ... + rn vn = 0 =⇒ r1 = ... = rn = 0

Definition:
A basis of a module M is an independent set of generators.

A set of generators is unique iff the expression for each element in terms of the generators is unique.
A module is free iff it has a basis

Lemma
An R module, M, is free iff ∃n such that M  Rn

Any two bases for a free module are related by an invertable R matrix. Thus any two bases of the same module will
have the same cardinality.
The number of elements in a basis is called the rank of the module.

Free Z modules
Lemma
Let W ⊆ M a submodule of a free Z module of rank n. Then W is a free Z module with rank ≤ n
CHAPTER 3. MODULES 24

Not Free Modules

CHAPTER 3. MODULES 25

Modules of Noetherian Rings

Let M be an R module

Lemma
Every submodule of M is finitely generated iff no infinite strictly increasing chain of submodules of M exists

Lemma
If R is Noetherian then every submodule of a finitely generated R module is finitely generated
CHAPTER 3. MODULES 26

Decomposing Modules