For the domain, ideal and quotient examples below, use a commutative ring with identity 1 distinct from 0. A source problem may specify a general ring instead; do not assume its multiplication commutes unless stated or proved. A unit has a multiplicative inverse. A nonzero zero divisor multiplies some nonzero element to zero. An integral domain has no such zero divisors; cancellation of a nonzero factor then works. A field is a domain in which every nonzero element is a unit. Z is a domain but not a field; Z/6Z is neither.
이상 I는 모든 환 원소에 대해 곱셈을 흡수하는 가법 부분집합이다. 이는 부분환이 되는 것보다 강한 조건이다. Z에서 nZ는 이상이며, 곱집합 원소는 n에 대한 정수 잔여류이다. 가환환에서 R/I는 I가 극대일 때 정확히 체가 되며, I가 소일 때 정확히 적분역이 된다. 두 경우 모두 이상은proper이어야 한다.
A module allows scalars from a ring instead of requiring a field. Every abelian group is a Z-module by repeated addition, but it need not have a vector-space basis. In Z/6Z as a Z-module, 6 times the nonzero residue 1 is zero; this is torsion. For a vector space over a field, a nonzero scalar is invertible and cannot annihilate a nonzero vector.
A submodule is closed under addition and all permitted scalar actions. A linear map of modules preserves both. The kernel and image are submodules, and the quotient by the kernel is isomorphic to the image. Do not apply finite-dimensional rank-nullity to an arbitrary module without establishing an appropriate free-module setting; integer row operations and field row operations permit different divisions. In a general Boolean ring, every a satisfies a²=a. Do not assume commutativity to prove it: idempotence of a+a gives 4a=2a, hence 2a=0. Expanding (a+b)²=a+b gives ab+ba=0, and characteristic two makes −ba=ba; therefore ab=ba. Idempotence does not imply nilpotence: in F2, the nonzero element 1 satisfies 1^n=1 for every positive n.