Exercise 1.36

Define [ 2 ] as the set of all complex numbers of the form a + b 2 , where a , b . Show that [ 2 ] is a ring. Define λ ( α ) = a 2 + 2 b 2 for α = a + b 2 . Use λ to show that [ 2 ] is a Euclidean domain.

Answers

Proof. Note 2 = i 2 , and A = [ 2 ] .

Let α = a + b 2 , β = c + d 2 A :

1 = 1 + 0 2 A .

α β = ( a + b 2 ) ( c + d 2 ) = ( a c ) + ( b d ) 2 A .

αβ = ( a + b 2 ) ( c + d 2 ) = ( ac 2 bd ) + ( ad + bc ) 2 A .

So A is a subring of ( , + , × ) : [ 2 ] is a ring.

Let z = a + b 2 be any complex number, and define integers a 0 , b 0 such that | a a 0 | 1 2 , | b b 0 | 1 2 (it suffice to take for a 0 the nearest integer of a , that is a 0 = a + 1 2 ). Let z 0 = a 0 + b 0 2 .

As λ ( z ) = z z ¯ = a 2 + 2 b 2 , then

λ ( z z 0 ) = ( a a 0 ) 2 + 2 ( b b 0 ) 2 1 4 + 2 × 1 4 = 3 4 < 1 .

Conclusion : for any z , there exists z 0 A such that λ ( z z 0 ) < 1 .

Let ( z 1 , z 2 ) A × A , z 2 0 . We apply the preceding result to the complex z 1 z 2 : there exists q A such that | z 1 z 2 q | 1 . Let r = z 1 q z 2 . Then z 1 = q z 2 + r , λ ( r ) < λ ( z 2 ) .

So [ 2 ] is a Euclidean domain. □

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2022-07-19 00:00
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