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Characteristic (algebra)
In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring , often denoted , is defined to be the smallest positive number of copies of the ring's multiplicative identity () that will sum to the additive identity (). If no such number exists, the ring is said to have characteristic zero. That is, is the smallest positive number such that: : \underbrace_ = 0 if such a number exists, and otherwise. Motivation The special definition of the characteristic zero is motivated by the equivalent definitions characterized in the next section, where the characteristic zero is not required to be considered separately. The characteristic may also be taken to be the exponent of the ring's additive group, that is, the smallest positive integer such that: : \underbrace_ = 0 for every element of the ring (again, if exists; otherwise zero). This definition applies in the more general class of rngs (see '); for (unital) rings the two definitions are equivalent due to their distributive law. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include number theory (the study of numbers), algebra (the study of formulas and related structures), geometry (the study of shapes and spaces that contain them), Mathematical analysis, analysis (the study of continuous changes), and set theory (presently used as a foundation for all mathematics). Mathematics involves the description and manipulation of mathematical object, abstract objects that consist of either abstraction (mathematics), abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicspurely abstract entities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. Mathematics uses pure reason to proof (mathematics), prove properties of objects, a ''proof'' consisting of a succession of applications of in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Image (mathematics)
In mathematics, for a function f: X \to Y, the image of an input value x is the single output value produced by f when passed x. The preimage of an output value y is the set of input values that produce y. More generally, evaluating f at each Element (mathematics), element of a given subset A of its Domain of a function, domain X produces a set, called the "image of A under (or through) f". Similarly, the inverse image (or preimage) of a given subset B of the codomain Y is the set of all elements of X that map to a member of B. The image of the function f is the set of all output values it may produce, that is, the image of X. The preimage of f is the preimage of the codomain Y. Because it always equals X (the domain of f), it is rarely used. Image and inverse image may also be defined for general Binary relation#Operations, binary relations, not just functions. Definition The word "image" is used in three related ways. In these definitions, f : X \to Y is a Function (mat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freshman's Dream
The freshman's dream is a name given to the erroneous equation (x+y)^n=x^n+y^n, where n is a real number (usually a positive integer greater than 1) and x,y are non-zero real numbers. Beginning students commonly make this error in computing the power of a sum of real numbers, falsely assuming powers distribute over sums. When ''n'' = 2, it is easy to see why this is incorrect: (''x'' + ''y'')2 can be correctly computed as ''x''2 + 2''xy'' + ''y''2 using distributivity (commonly known by students in the United States as the FOIL method). For larger positive integer values of ''n'', the correct result is given by the binomial theorem. The name "freshman's dream" also sometimes refers to the theorem that says that for a prime number ''p'', if ''x'' and ''y'' are members of a commutative ring of characteristic ''p'', then (''x'' + ''y'')''p'' = ''x''''p'' + ''y''''p''. In this more exotic type of arithmetic, the "mistak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complex Number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a + bi, where and are real numbers. Because no real number satisfies the above equation, was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. For the complex number is called the , and is called the . The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols \mathbb C or . Despite the historical nomenclature, "imaginary" complex numbers have a mathematical existence as firm as that of the real numbers, and they are fundamental tools in the scientific description of the natural world. Complex numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with real or complex coefficie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quotient Ring
In ring theory, a branch of abstract algebra, a quotient ring, also known as factor ring, difference ring or residue class ring, is a construction quite similar to the quotient group in group theory and to the quotient space in linear algebra. It is a specific example of a quotient, as viewed from the general setting of universal algebra. Starting with a ring R and a two-sided ideal I in , a new ring, the quotient ring , is constructed, whose elements are the cosets of I in R subject to special + and \cdot operations. (Quotient ring notation almost always uses a fraction slash ""; stacking the ring over the ideal using a horizontal line as a separator is uncommon and generally avoided.) Quotient rings are distinct from the so-called "quotient field", or field of fractions, of an integral domain as well as from the more general "rings of quotients" obtained by localization. Formal quotient ring construction Given a ring R and a two-sided ideal I in , we may define an e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Irreducible Polynomial
In mathematics, an irreducible polynomial is, roughly speaking, a polynomial that cannot be factored into the product of two non-constant polynomials. The property of irreducibility depends on the nature of the coefficients that are accepted for the possible factors, that is, the ring to which the coefficients of the polynomial and its possible factors are supposed to belong. For example, the polynomial is a polynomial with integer coefficients, but, as every integer is also a real number, it is also a polynomial with real coefficients. It is irreducible if it is considered as a polynomial with integer coefficients, but it factors as \left(x - \sqrt\right)\left(x + \sqrt\right) if it is considered as a polynomial with real coefficients. One says that the polynomial is irreducible over the integers but not over the reals. Polynomial irreducibility can be considered for polynomials with coefficients in an integral domain, and there are two common definitions. Most often, a pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modular Arithmetic
In mathematics, modular arithmetic is a system of arithmetic operations for integers, other than the usual ones from elementary arithmetic, where numbers "wrap around" when reaching a certain value, called the modulus. The modern approach to modular arithmetic was developed by Carl Friedrich Gauss in his book '' Disquisitiones Arithmeticae'', published in 1801. A familiar example of modular arithmetic is the hour hand on a 12-hour clock. If the hour hand points to 7 now, then 8 hours later it will point to 3. Ordinary addition would result in , but 15 reads as 3 on the clock face. This is because the hour hand makes one rotation every 12 hours and the hour number starts over when the hour hand passes 12. We say that 15 is ''congruent'' to 3 modulo 12, written 15 ≡ 3 (mod 12), so that 7 + 8 ≡ 3 (mod 12). Similarly, if one starts at 12 and waits 8 hours, the hour hand will be at 8. If one instead waited twice as long, 16 hours, the hour hand would be on 4. This ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Division Ring
In algebra, a division ring, also called a skew field (or, occasionally, a sfield), is a nontrivial ring in which division by nonzero elements is defined. Specifically, it is a nontrivial ring in which every nonzero element has a multiplicative inverse, that is, an element usually denoted , such that . So, (right) ''division'' may be defined as , but this notation is avoided, as one may have . A commutative division ring is a field. Wedderburn's little theorem asserts that all finite division rings are commutative and therefore finite fields. Historically, division rings were sometimes referred to as fields, while fields were called "commutative fields". In some languages, such as French, the word equivalent to "field" ("corps") is used for both commutative and noncommutative cases, and the distinction between the two cases is made by adding qualificatives such as "corps commutatif" (commutative field) or "corps gauche" (skew field). All division rings are simple. That is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Integral Domain
In mathematics, an integral domain is a nonzero commutative ring in which the product of any two nonzero elements is nonzero. Integral domains are generalizations of the ring of integers and provide a natural setting for studying divisibility. In an integral domain, every nonzero element ''a'' has the cancellation property, that is, if , an equality implies . "Integral domain" is defined almost universally as above, but there is some variation. This article follows the convention that rings have a multiplicative identity, generally denoted 1, but some authors do not follow this, by not requiring integral domains to have a multiplicative identity. Noncommutative integral domains are sometimes admitted. This article, however, follows the much more usual convention of reserving the term "integral domain" for the commutative case and using " domain" for the general case including noncommutative rings. Some sources, notably Lang, use the term entire ring for integral domain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field (mathematics)
In mathematics, a field is a set (mathematics), set on which addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (mathematics), division are defined and behave as the corresponding operations on rational number, rational and real numbers. A field is thus a fundamental algebraic structure which is widely used in algebra, number theory, and many other areas of mathematics. The best known fields are the field of rational numbers, the field of real numbers and the field of complex numbers. Many other fields, such as field of rational functions, fields of rational functions, algebraic function fields, algebraic number fields, and p-adic number, ''p''-adic fields are commonly used and studied in mathematics, particularly in number theory and algebraic geometry. Most cryptographic protocols rely on finite fields, i.e., fields with finitely many element (set), elements. The theory of fields proves that angle trisection and squaring the circle cannot be done with a compass and straighte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prime Number
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a Product (mathematics), product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways of writing it as a product, or , involve 5 itself. However, 4 is composite because it is a product (2 × 2) in which both numbers are smaller than 4. Primes are central in number theory because of the fundamental theorem of arithmetic: every natural number greater than 1 is either a prime itself or can be factorization, factorized as a product of primes that is unique up to their order. The property of being prime is called primality. A simple but slow primality test, method of checking the primality of a given number , called trial division, tests whether is a multiple of any integer between 2 and . Faster algorithms include the Miller–Rabin primality test, which is fast but has a small chance of error ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zero Divisor
In abstract algebra, an element of a ring is called a left zero divisor if there exists a nonzero in such that , or equivalently if the map from to that sends to is not injective. Similarly, an element of a ring is called a right zero divisor if there exists a nonzero in such that . This is a partial case of divisibility in rings. An element that is a left or a right zero divisor is simply called a zero divisor. An element that is both a left and a right zero divisor is called a two-sided zero divisor (the nonzero such that may be different from the nonzero such that ). If the ring is commutative, then the left and right zero divisors are the same. An element of a ring that is not a left zero divisor (respectively, not a right zero divisor) is called left regular or left cancellable (respectively, right regular or right cancellable). An element of a ring that is left and right cancellable, and is hence not a zero divisor, is called regular or cancellabl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
