Invertible plus nilpotent implies invertible: Difference between revisions

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Latest revision as of 16:23, 12 May 2008

This article is about the statement of a simple but indispensable lemma in commutative algebra
View other indispensable lemmata

Statement

In a commutative unital ring, the sum of an invertible element and a nilpotent element is an invertible element.

Facts used

1+xn=(1+x)(1x+x2+(1)n1xn1)

Proof

Given: A commutative unital ring A, elements a,xA such that a is invertible, and xn=0 for some positive integer n

To prove: a+x is invertible

Proof: Since a is invertible, it suffices to prove that 1+x/a is invertible. Since xn=0, we also have (x/a)n=0. The above formula then tells us that 1+x/a is invertible, completing the proof.