Reduced Ring - Examples and Non-examples

Examples and Non-examples

• Subrings, products, and localizations of reduced rings are again reduced rings.
• The ring of integers Z is a reduced ring. Every field and every polynomial ring over a field (in arbitrarily many variables) is a reduced ring.
• More generally, every integral domain is a reduced ring since a nilpotent element is a fortiori a zero divisor. On the other hand, not every reduced ring is an integral domain. For example, the ring Z/(xy) contains x + (xy) and y + (xy) as zero divisors, but no non-zero nilpotent elements. As another example, the ring Z×Z contains (1,0) and (0,1) as zero divisors, but contains no non-zero nilpotent elements.
• The ring Z/6Z is reduced, however Z/4Z is not reduced: The class 2 + 4Z is nilpotent. In general, Z/nZ is reduced if and only if n = 0 or n is a square-free integer.
• If A is a commutative ring and N is the nilradical of A, then the quotient ring A/N is reduced.
• A commutative ring A of characteristic p for some prime number p is reduced if and only if its Frobenius endomorphism is injective.