Definition
If R is an integral domain, define a relation ~ on nonzero fractional ideals of R by I ~ J whenever there exist nonzero elements a and b of R such that (a)I = (b)J. (Here the notation (a) means the principal ideal of R consisting of all the multiples of a.) It is easily shown that this is an equivalence relation. The equivalence classes are called the ideal classes of R. Ideal classes can be multiplied: if denotes the equivalence class of the ideal I, then the multiplication = is well-defined and commutative. The principal ideals form the ideal class which serves as an identity element for this multiplication. Thus a class has an inverse if and only if there is an ideal J such that IJ is a principal ideal. In general, such a J may not exist and consequently the set of ideal classes of R may only be a monoid.
However, if R is the ring of algebraic integers in an algebraic number field, or more generally a Dedekind domain, the multiplication defined above turns the set of fractional ideal classes into an abelian group, the ideal class group of R. The group property of existence of inverse elements follows easily from the fact that, in a Dedekind domain, every non-zero ideal (except R) is a product of prime ideals.
Read more about this topic: Ideal Class Group
Famous quotes containing the word definition:
“Was man made stupid to see his own stupidity?
Is God by definition indifferent, beyond us all?
Is the eternal truth man’s fighting soul
Wherein the Beast ravens in its own avidity?”
—Richard Eberhart (b. 1904)
“No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this—”devoted and obedient.” This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.”
—Florence Nightingale (1820–1910)
“Although there is no universal agreement as to a definition of life, its biological manifestations are generally considered to be organization, metabolism, growth, irritability, adaptation, and reproduction.”
—The Columbia Encyclopedia, Fifth Edition, the first sentence of the article on “life” (based on wording in the First Edition, 1935)