近世代数——环笔记1

Problem

If $R$ is a finite ring (e.g., $R$ = ${\mathbb{I}}_m$), then there are only finitely many functions from $R$ to itself, and so there are only finitely many polynomial functions. How to realize?

Analysis

Since $R$ is a finite ring, set R = { a 1 , a 2 , ⋯   , a n } ( n < ∞ ) R=\{a_1,a_2,\cdots,a_n\}(n<\infty) R={a1​,a2​,⋯,an​}(n<∞), what we want to prove is for any function $f:R\to R,a_i\mapsto a_j=f(a_i),1\le i,j\le n$, there is a polynomial $g(x)$ in $R[x]$, such that $g(a_i)=f(a_i)$, namely we want to the existence of correspond polynomial for each map.
Let’s take a easy example before we prove the proposition.
Consider ${\mathbb{I}}_3$, is there a polynomial such that $[0{]}_3\mapsto [2{]}_3,[1{]}_3\mapsto [0{]}_3,[2{]}_3\mapsto [1{]}_3$？
It’s not so hard. Using the method of undetermined coefficients, assume $g(x)=[a{]}_3\cdot x+[b{]}_3\cdot x^2+[2{]}_3$(since $[0{]}_3\mapsto [2{]}_3$),then
$$\{\begin{array}{c}[a{]}_3+[b{]}_3+[2{]}_3=[0{]}_3\\ \\ [2a{]}_3+[4b{]}_3+[2{]}_3=[1{]}_3\end{array}\Rightarrow \{\begin{array}{c}a+b+2=3k_1\\ \\ 2a+4b+2=3k_2+1\end{array}$$
find a easy solution such as $\{\begin{array}{c}a=0\\ b=1\end{array}$, hence a feasible polynomial is $g(x)=x^2+2$.Next we start our proof for general situations.
For a 1 = b 1 , a 2 = b 2 , ⋯   , a n = b n   ( { b 1 , ⋯   , b n } ⊂ R = { a 1 , ⋯   , a n } ) a_1=b_1,a_2=b_2,\cdots,a_n=b_n~(\{b_1,\cdots,b_n\}\sub R=\{a_1,\cdots,a_n\}) a1​=b1​,a2​=b2​,⋯,an​=bn​ ({b1​,⋯,bn​}⊂R={a1​,⋯,an​}), using the method of undetermined coefficients, assume $g(x)=c_{n-1}{x}^{n-1}+c_{n-2}{x}^{n-2}+\cdots +c_{1}x+c_0$, then we have
$$\{\begin{array}{c}{c}_{n-1}{a}_1^{n-1}+c_{n-2}{a}_1^{n-2}+\cdots +c_1{a}_1+c_0=b_1\\ \\ c_{n-1}{a}_2^{n-1}+c_{n-2}{a}_2^{n-2}+\cdots +c_1{a}_2+c_0=b_2\\ \dots \\ c_{n-1}{a}_n^{n-1}+c_{n-2}{a}_n^{n-2}+\cdots +c_1{a}_n+c_0=b_n\end{array}$$
the coefficient determinant is $\left|\begin{array}{ccccc}{a}_1^{n-1}& a_1^{n-2}& \cdots & a_1& c_0\\ a_2^{n-1}& a_2^{n-2}& \cdots & a_2& c_0\\ \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots \\ a_n^{n-1}& a_n^{n-2}& \cdots & a_n& c_0\end{array}\right|$, in fact, this is a Vandermonde determinant,

$\left|\begin{array}{ccccc}{a}_1^{n-1}& a_1^{n-2}& \cdots & a_1& c_0\\ a_2^{n-1}& a_2^{n-2}& \cdots & a_2& c_0\\ \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots \\ a_n^{n-1}& a_n^{n-2}& \cdots & a_n& c_0\end{array}\right|=c_0\left|\begin{array}{ccccc}{a}_1^{n-1}& a_1^{n-2}& \cdots & a_1& 1\\ a_2^{n-1}& a_2^{n-2}& \cdots & a_2& 1\\ \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots & \cdots \\ a_n^{n-1}& a_n^{n-2}& \cdots & a_n& 1\end{array}\right|=c_0{\prod }_{1\le j<i\le n}(a_i-a_j)$

since the elements in the collection are mutually exclusive, the value of coefficient determinant is nonzero, the equations have solution, by Cramer’s Rule. For any map, we can find its correspond polynomial.

Application

3.20 Show that if $R$ is a commutative ring, then $R[x]$ is never a field. Hint. If $x^{-1}$ exists, what is its degree?

Solution: By contradiction, if $R[x]$ is field, each nonzero element has its reverse, so we make a map: $\varphi :R[x]\to R[x],x\mapsto x^{-1}$, the discussion before hints us we can find a polynomial $f:f=\varphi$, since $f(x)$ is a polynomial, we can discuss its degree. Since $f(x)=\varphi (x)=x^{-1}$, we have $xf(x)=1$. But the degree of the left side is at least 1, while the degree of the right side is 0. Contradiction!
Hence, if $R$ is a commutative ring, then $R[x]$ is never a field.