Characteristic of a ring
Let
- Prove that if
is a monomorphism of commutative rings with , then . - Prove by given an example that
is not always preserved by ring homomorphisms.
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Let $R$ be a commutative ring with $1$. The {\bfseries characteristic} $\operatorname{char}(R)$ of $R$ is the unique integer $n\geq 0$ such that $\langle n\rangle \subset {\bf Z}$ is the kernel of the homomorphism $\theta:{\bf Z}\to R$ given by
\[
\theta(m)=\begin{cases} \underbrace{1_R+\cdots +1_R}_{m}, & \text{ if }m\geq 0 \\ \underbrace{-1_R+\cdots+-1_R}_{|m|}, & \text{ if }m<0\end{cases}
\]
\begin{enumerate}[label=\alph*)]
\item Prove that if $f:R\to S$ is a monomorphism of commutative rings with $1$, then $\operatorname{char}(R)=\operatorname{char}(S)$.
\item Prove by given an example that $\operatorname{char}(R)$ is not always preserved by ring homomorphisms.
\end{enumerate}