Types of Ring Homomorphisms
A bijective ring homomorphism is called a ring isomorphism. A ring homomorphism whose domain is the same as its range is called a ring endomorphism. A ring automorphism is a bijective endomorphism.
Injective ring homomorphisms are identical to monomorphisms in the category of rings: If f:R→S is a monomorphism which is not injective, then it sends some r1 and r2 to the same element of S. Consider the two maps g1 and g2 from Z to R which map x to r1 and r2, respectively; f g1 and f g2 are identical, but since f is a monomorphism this is impossible.
However, surjective ring homomorphisms are vastly different from epimorphisms in the category of rings. For example, the inclusion Z ⊆ Q is a ring epimorphism, but not a surjection. However, they are exactly the same as the strong epimorphisms.
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