In mathematics, especially in the field of commutative algebra, a connected ring is a commutative ring A that satisfies one of the following equivalent conditions:

Examples and non-examples

Connectedness defines a fairly general class of commutative rings. For example, all local rings and all (meet-)irreducible rings are connected. In particular, all integral domains are connected. Non-examples are given by product rings such as Z×Z; here the element (1,0) is a non-trivial idempotent.

Generalizations

In algebraic geometry, connectedness is generalized to the concept of a connected scheme.

  • Jacobson, Nathan (1989), Basic algebra. II (2ed.), New York: W. H. Freeman and Company, pp.xviii+686, ISBN0-7167-1933-9, MR