- #1
fredpeterson57
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Context: Let R be a unital ring. The characteristic of R is the smallest positive integer n such that $n\cdot 1=0$. If no such n exists, we say R has characteristic 0. We denote the characteristic of a ring by char(R).
I'm particularly lost as to how to prove the following propositions:
(a) Every unital ring of characteristic zero is infinite (I'm thinking of using a proof by contradiction for this, but I have no idea how)
(b) The characteristic of an integral domain is either 0 or prime (if I somehow manage to show that if the characteristic of an integral domain is composite or 1, then it is not an integral domain, then I think I will be able to prove this).
I'm particularly lost as to how to prove the following propositions:
(a) Every unital ring of characteristic zero is infinite (I'm thinking of using a proof by contradiction for this, but I have no idea how)
(b) The characteristic of an integral domain is either 0 or prime (if I somehow manage to show that if the characteristic of an integral domain is composite or 1, then it is not an integral domain, then I think I will be able to prove this).