A ring R is an integral domain if and only if the polynomial ring R[x] is an integral domain.

For any integral domain there can be derived an associated field of fractions.

For integral domains, we will use a⁻¹ to designate the multiplicative inverse of a (if it has one; since not all elements need have inverses, this notation can be used only where it can be shown that an inverse exists).

An integral domain is said to have strong pseudo-Dedekind factorization if each proper ideal can be factored as the product of an invertible ideal (possibly equal to the ring) and a finite product of pairwise comaximal prime ideals with at least one prime in the product.

[ℤ;+,·], [ℤₚ,+ₚ,×ₚ] with p a prime, [ℚ;+,·], [ℝ;+,·], and [ℂ;+,·] are all integral domains. The key example of an infinite integral domain is [ℤ;+,·]. In fact, it is from ℤ that the term integral domain is derived. Our main example of a finite integral domain is [ℤₚ,+ₚ,×ₚ], when p is prime.

Integral domain

Meaning

Noun