Rng (algebra)

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In abstract algebra, a rng (pronounced "rung" ) or non-unital ring or pseudo-ring is an alternative name for a ring that does not assume the existence of a multiplicative identity. The term rng is meant to suggest that it is a ring without i, that is, without the requirement for an identity element. There is no consensus in the community as to whether the existence of a multiplicative identity must be one of the ring axioms (see Ring (mathematics) § History). The term rng was coined to alleviate this ambiguity when people want to refer explicitly to a ring without the axiom of multiplicative identity. A number of algebras of functions considered in analysis are not unital, for instance the algebra of functions decreasing to zero at infinity, especially those with compact support on some (non-compact) space. Rngs appear in the following chain of class inclusions: rngs ⊃ rings ⊃ commutative rings ⊃ integral domains ⊃ integrally closed domains ⊃ GCD domains ⊃ unique factorization domains...

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