On the Unit Graph of a Noncommutative Ring

Let $R$ be a ring (not necessary commutative) with non-zero identity. The unit graph of $R$, denoted by $G(R)$, is a graph with elements of $R$ as its vertices and two distinct vertices $a$ and $b$ are adjacent if and only if $a+b$ is a unit element of $R$. It was proved that if $R$ is a commutative ring and \fm is a maximal ideal of $R$ such that |R/\fm|=2, then $G(R)$ is a complete bipartite graph if and only if (R, \fm) is a local ring. In this paper we generalize this result by showing that if $R$ is a ring (not necessary commutative), then $G(R)$ is a complete $r$-partite graph if and only if (R, \fm) is a local ring and $r=|R/m|=2^n$, for some $n \in \N$ or $R$ is a finite field. Among other results we show that if $R$ is a left Artinian ring, $2 \in U(R)$ and the clique number of $G(R)$ is finite, then $R$ is a finite ring.Comment: 6 pages. To appear in Algebra Colloquiu

Progress in Commutative Algebra 2

This is the second of two volumes of a state-of-the-art survey article collection which originates from three commutative algebra sessions at the 2009 Fall Southeastern American Mathematical Society Meeting at Florida Atlantic University. The articles reach into diverse areas of commutative algebra and build a bridge between Noetherian and non-Noetherian commutative algebra. These volumes present current trends in two of the most active areas of commutative algebra: non-noetherian rings (factorization, ideal theory, integrality), and noetherian rings (the local theory, graded situation, and interactions with combinatorics and geometry). This volume contains surveys on aspects of closure operations, finiteness conditions and factorization. Closure operations on ideals and modules are a bridge between noetherian and nonnoetherian commutative algebra. It contains a nice guide to closure operations by Epstein, but also contains an article on test ideals by Schwede and Tucker and more

Automated theory formation in pure mathematics

The automation of specific mathematical tasks such as theorem proving and algebraic manipulation have been much researched. However, there have only been a few isolated attempts to automate the whole theory formation process. Such a process involves forming new concepts, performing calculations, making conjectures, proving theorems and finding counterexamples. Previous programs which perform theory formation are limited in their functionality and their generality. We introduce the HR program which implements a new model for theory formation. This model involves a cycle of mathematical activity, whereby concepts are formed, conjectures about the concepts are made and attempts to settle the conjectures are undertaken.HR has seven general production rules for producing a new concept from old ones and employs a best first search by building new concepts from the most interesting old ones. To enable this, HR has various measures which estimate the interestingness of a concept. During concept formation, HR uses empirical evidence to suggest conjectures and employs the Otter theorem prover to attempt to prove a given conjecture. If this fails, HR will invoke the MACE model generator to attempt to disprove the conjecture by finding a counterexample. Information and new knowledge arising from the attempt to settle a conjecture is used to assess the concepts involved in the conjecture, which fuels the heuristic search and closes the cycle.The main aim of the project has been to develop our model of theory formation and to implement this in HR. To describe the project in the thesis, we first motivate the problem of automated theory formation and survey the literature in this area. We then discuss how HR invents concepts, makes and settles conjectures and how it assesses the concepts and conjectures to facilitate a heuristic search. We present results to evaluate HR in terms of the quality of the theories it produces and the effectiveness of its techniques. A secondary aim of the project has been to apply HR to mathematical discovery and we discuss how HR has successfully invented new concepts and conjectures in number theory