ΘρϵηΠατπ

Domain
A crone R is a domain if the product of any two nonzero elements in R is itself non-zero

Note that in other places they may call this an integral domain

Product Zero Implies Factor Zero Domain Equivalence
Suppose that R is a crone. It is a domain if and only if for every a,b∈D, ab=0 implies a=0 or that b=0
Since R is a domain if and only if for any x≠0 and y≠0 it implies that xy≠0, this statement is equivalent to it's contrapositive: xy=0 implies that x=0 or y=0 as needed.
Domain iff Cancellation
Let R be a crone. R is a domain if and only if given r,a,b∈R we have ra=rb∧r≠0⟹a=b

For the rightward implication we can use properties of a ring to see the following ra=rb⟺ra−rb=0⟺r(a−b)=0⟺

Therefore we conclude that either a−b=0 or r=0, the latter of which is impossible through our assumption that r≠0, therefore a=b.

We move on to the leftward implication where our goal is to show that R is a domain, we do so by chasing it's corollary. So let a,b∈R and assume that ab=0, note that at this point if a=0, our proof is over, therefore we assume that a≠0, note that we can rewrite ab=0 to ab=a0, then by our assumption we can conclude that b=0, which proves it.

Since ℤ4 forms a ring then we can then notice the following: ([2]x+[1])2=[2][2]x2+[2][1]x+[1][2]x+[1][1]=[4]x2+[4]x+[1]=[0]x2+[0]x+[1]=[1] Where we're noticing that the degree of the product has decreased, this is occuring because in ℤ4 there are non-zero elements which have a product of 0.

Unit
Suppose that R is a ring, then an element u∈R is said to be a unit if there exists some element v∈R such that uv=vu=1R
Zero Divisor
A non-zero element x in a ring is said to be a zero divisor if there exists some other non-zero y such that xy=0
Nilpotent
Let R be a crone, then an element x∈R is said to be nilpotent if there is some n∈ℕ1 such that xn=0R
Nilpotent Implies Zero or Zero Divisor
if x is nilpotent then x=0R or x is a

If x=0R then our proof is done, so instead let's assume that x≠0R, we know that it's nilpotent, considering {a∈ℕ1:xa=0R}⊆ℕ0 it has a least element (as it's non-empty) say l such that xl=0R, note that l>1 because x1≠0R

In that case we can see xl=xl−1x1, since l was the smallest natural number such that xl=0R then we must have xl−1≠0R since l−1∈ℕ0. Thus we can conclude that xxl−1=0R where x,xl−1≠0R so that by definition x is a zero divisor.

Constant times Nilpotent is Nilpotent
Suppose R is a crone and that x is nilpotent, then rx is nilpotent for any r∈R
Since x is nilpotent we have some n∈ℕ1 such that xn=0R, since R is commutative, then it can be shown by induction that an equation of the form (ab)n=anbn, in other words (rx)n=rnxn=rn0R=0R which proves that rx is nilpotent
One plus Nilpotent is Nilpotent
Suppose that R is a crone, and x nilpotent then 1R+x is a unit

If x1=0R, it clearly holds so lets assume that xn=0R for some n>1.

We claim that v:=1−x+x2−x3+...+(−1)n−1xn−1=∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi is 1+x's multiplicative inverse.

To see this true, we use distributivity, (1+x)(∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi)=∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi+∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi+1 Define the following S1(k):=∑i=1k−1(−1)ixi=1−x+x2−x3+...+(−1)k−1xk−1 and that S2(k):=∑i=1k−1(−1)ixi+1=x−x2+x3−x4+…(−1)k−2xk−1+(−1)k−1xk−1

Note that S2(n)=S2(n−1) because S2(n)'s last term is (−1)n−1xn=0R since xn=0R .

Through finite induction, we can show that for any j∈[2…n],S1(j)+S2(j−1)=1 which allows us to conclude that S1(n)+S2(n−1)=1 and then S1(n)+S2(n)=1 from the previous paragraph.

Finally this is good because now we continue the chain of equalities we mentioned at distributivity (1+x)(∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi)=∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi+∑i=1n−1(−1)ixi+1=S1(n)+S2(n)=1 Therefore 1+x is a unit, as needed.

The Sum of a Unit and a Nilpotent Element is a Unit
Suppose R is a crone and let u be a unit and x a nilpotent element in R , then u+x is a unit.

Since u is a unit there exists some v such that uv=vu=1, if that's the case then (u+x)v=1+vx, we know that vx is nilpotent and thus 1+vx is a unit, so we have some a such that (1+vx)a=1.

But (u+x)v=1+vx so in total we're saying ((u+x)v)a=1 by associativity we have (u+x)(va)=1 and closure of multiplication shows us indeed u+x has a multiplicative inverse so that u+x is a unit.

Field is a Ring with Units
A field is a ring R in which every non-zero element r∈R is a unit