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In mathematics, a subring of R is a subset of a ring is itself a ring with the restrictions of the binary operations of addition, subtraction and multiplication of R, and which contains the multiplicative identity of R. For those who define rings without requiring the existence of a multiplicative identity, a subring of R is just a subset of R that is a ring for the operations of R (this does imply it contains the additive identity of R). The latter gives a strictly weaker condition, even for rings that do have a multiplicative identity, so that for instance all ideals become subrings (and they may have a multiplicative identity that differs from the one of R). With the initial definition (which is used in this article), the only ideal of R that is a subring of R is R itself.

A subring of a ring (R, +, *) is a subgroup of (R, +) which contains the mutiplicative identity and is closed under multiplication.

For example, the ring Z of integers is a subring of the field of real numbers and also a subring of the ring of polynomials Z.

The ring Z and its quotients Z/nZ have no subrings (with multiplicative identity) other than the full ring.

Every ring has a unique smallest subring, isomorphic to either the integers Z or some ring Z/nZ with n a nonnegative integer (see characteristic).

The subring test states that for any ring R, a nonempty subset of R is a subring if it is closed under multiplication and subtraction, and contains the multiplicative identity of R.

Subring generated by a set

Let R be a ring. Any intersection of subrings of R is again a subring of R. Therefore, if X is any subset of R, the intersection of all subrings of R containing X is a subring S of R. S is the smallest subring of R containing X. ("Smallest" means that if T is any other subring of R containing X, then S is contained in T.) S is said to be the subring of R generated by X. If S = R, we may say that the ring R is generated by X.

Relation to ideals

Proper ideals are subrings that are closed under both left and right multiplication by elements from R.

If one omits the requirement that rings have a unit element, then subrings need only be non-empty and be closed under subtraction and multiplication, and ideals become subrings. Ideals may or may not have their own multiplicative identity (distinct from the identity of the ring):

• The ideal I = {(z,0)|z in Z} of the ring Z × Z = {(x,y)|x,y in Z} with componentwise addition and multiplication has the identity (1,0), which is different from the identity (1,1) of the ring. So I is a ring with unity, and a "subring-without-unity", but not a "subring-with-unity" of Z × Z.
• The proper ideals of Z have no multiplicative identity.

Profile by commutative subrings

A ring may be profiled by the variety of commutative subrings that it hosts:

• The quaternion ring H contains only the complex plane as a planar subring
• The coquaternion ring contains three types of commutative planar subrings: the dual number plane, the split-complex number plane, as well as the ordinary complex plane
• The ring of 3 x 3 real matrices also contains 3-dimensional commutative subrings generated by the identity matrix and a nilpotent ε of order 3 (εεε = 0 ≠ εε). For instance, the Heisenberg group can be realized as the join of the groups of units of two of these nilpotent-generated subrings of 3 x 3 matrices.

References

• Iain T. Adamson (1972). Elementary rings and modules. University Mathematical Texts. Oliver and Boyd. pp. 14–16. ISBN 0-05-002192-3.
• Page 84 of Lang, Serge (1993), Algebra (Third ed.), Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, ISBN 978-0-201-55540-0, Zbl 0848.13001
• David Sharpe (1987). Rings and factorization. Cambridge University Press. pp. 15–17. ISBN 0-521-33718-6.

• Ring theory