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prime element (Definition)

An element $p$ in a ring $R$ is a prime element if it generates a prime ideal. If $R$ is commutative, this is equivalent to saying that for all $a,b \in R$ , if $p$ divides $ab$ , then $p$ divides $a$ or $p$ divides $b$ .

When $R = \mathbb{Z}$ the prime elements as formulated above are simply prime numbers.




"prime element" is owned by drini. [ full author list (2) | owner history (2) ]
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See Also: prime ideal, divisibility in rings, divisibility by prime number

Other names:  prime
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Cross-references: divides, equivalent, commutative, prime ideal, generates, ring
There are 37 references to this entry.

This is version 4 of prime element, born on 2002-06-12, modified 2004-04-24.
Object id is 3094, canonical name is PrimeElement.
Accessed 7129 times total.

Classification:
AMS MSC13C99 (Commutative rings and algebras :: Theory of modules and ideals :: Miscellaneous)
 16D99 (Associative rings and algebras :: Modules, bimodules and ideals :: Miscellaneous)

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