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 ar ...

, particularly in

abstract algebra In mathematics, more specifically algebra, abstract algebra or modern algebra is the study of algebraic structures, which are set (mathematics), sets with specific operation (mathematics), operations acting on their elements. Algebraic structur ...

, a

ring (The) Ring(s) may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell Arts, entertainment, and media Film and TV * ''The Ring'' (franchise), a ...

''R'' is said to be stably finite (or weakly finite) if, for all

square matrices In mathematics, a square matrix is a matrix with the same number of rows and columns. An ''n''-by-''n'' matrix is known as a square matrix of order Any two square matrices of the same order can be added and multiplied. Square matrices are often ...

''A'' and ''B'' of the same size with entries in ''R'', ''AB'' = 1 implies ''BA'' = 1. This is a stronger property for a ring than having the

invariant basis number In the mathematical field of ring theory, a ring ''R'' has the invariant basis number (IBN) property if all finitely generated free modules over ''R'' have a well-defined rank. In the case of fields, the IBN property is the fact that finite-dime ...

(IBN) property. Namely, any

nontrivial In mathematics, the adjective trivial is often used to refer to a claim or a case which can be readily obtained from context, or a particularly simple object possessing a given structure (e.g., group (mathematics), group, topological space). The n ...

A trivial ring is stably finite but doesn't have IBN. stably finite ring has IBN.

Commutative ring In mathematics, a commutative ring is a Ring (mathematics), ring in which the multiplication operation is commutative. The study of commutative rings is called commutative algebra. Complementarily, noncommutative algebra is the study of ring prope ...

Noetherian ring In mathematics, a Noetherian ring is a ring that satisfies the ascending chain condition on left and right ideals. If the chain condition is satisfied only for left ideals or for right ideals, then the ring is said left-Noetherian or right-Noethe ...

s and

Artinian ring In mathematics, specifically abstract algebra, an Artinian ring (sometimes Artin ring) is a ring that satisfies the descending chain condition on (one-sided) ideals; that is, there is no infinite descending sequence of ideals. Artinian rings are ...

s are stably finite.

Subring In mathematics, a subring of a ring is a subset of that is itself a ring when binary operations of addition and multiplication on ''R'' are restricted to the subset, and that shares the same multiplicative identity as .In general, not all s ...

s of stably finite rings and

matrix ring In abstract algebra, a matrix ring is a set of matrices with entries in a ring ''R'' that form a ring under matrix addition and matrix multiplication. The set of all matrices with entries in ''R'' is a matrix ring denoted M''n''(''R'') (alternat ...

s over stably finite rings are stably finite. A ring satisfying Klein's nilpotence condition is stably finite.

Notes

References

Ring theory {{Abstract-algebra-stub