Principal ideal domain

This article defines a property of integral domains, viz., a property that, given any integral domain, is either true or false for that.
View other properties of integral domains | View all properties of commutative unital rings
VIEW RELATED: Commutative unital ring property implications | Commutative unital ring property non-implications |Commutative unital ring metaproperty satisfactions | Commutative unital ring metaproperty dissatisfactions | Commutative unital ring property satisfactions | Commutative unital ring property dissatisfactions

Definition

Symbol-free definition

An integral domain is termed a PID or Principal Ideal Domain if every ideal in it is principal.

Relation with other properties

Stronger properties

• Euclidean domain
• Polynomial ring over a field

Weaker properties

• Dedekind domain
• Bezout domain
• Noetherian domain
• Unique factorization domain
• Elementary divisor domain

Metaproperties

Polynomial-closedness

This property of commutative unital rings is not closed under passing to the polynomial ring

The polynomial ring over a PID need not be a PID. Two examples are the polynomial ring over the integers, and the polynomial ring in two variables over a field. In fact, the polynomial ring over a ring is a PID iff that ring is a field.