Alphabeta Math
TheoremStatement: Literature-sourcedProof: AI-adaptedSession-authored (Fable 5 assisted)precheck passaudited 2026-08-28
How statement and proof provenance work

The first chip identifies the source of the statement or construction; the second identifies the source of its local proof or verification.

  • Literature-sourced: the exact statement appears in a cited source; only wording and notation differ.
  • AI-adapted: a semantically identical restatement of literature-sourced material, modulo indexing, notation, and boundary cases adopted by the library.
  • AI-generated: a genuinely novel statement formulated by AI, with no source for the claim itself.

These labels describe origin, not correctness: citations and verification chips remain separate evidence.

The nilradical of an Artinian ring is a nilpotent ideal

Statement

Let R be a commutative Artinian ring. Then the nilradical Nil(R) is a nilpotent ideal.

This theorem uses dependent choice only through the minimum condition for Artinian modules.

Facts & Assumptions

Given: A commutative Artinian ring R. The dependent-choice use named in the Statement is the minimum-condition step invoked below.

[L1]

Every nonempty family of submodules of an Artinian module has a minimal member. Applied to the regular module of a commutative Artinian ring, every nonempty family of ideals has a minimal member. (DCC and minimal-condition characterizations of Artinian modules).

Proof

technique · contradiction
1.1

Put N=Nil(R). The chain NN2N3 is a descending chain of ideals, so it stabilizes: Nn=Nn+1 for some n1. If already Nn=0, then N is nilpotent and there is nothing more to prove.

givenalgebra
2.1

Assume instead that Nn0. Let F={aR:aNn0}. This family is nonempty because (Nn)Nn=N2n=Nn0. By [L1], choose a minimal member a of F, and then choose aa with aNn0. Since (a)a and (a)Nn0, minimality gives a=(a). Also aNna, and because Nn=Nn+t for every t0, one has (aNn)Nn=aN2n=aNn0. So aNnF, whence minimality again gives aNn=a=(a). Therefore a=ax for some xNn.

L1step 1.1assume-contrachoosealgebra
3.1

The element x lies in N, so The nilradical and reduced rings says that x is nilpotent; say xm=0. Iterating the identity a=ax gives a=axm=0, contradicting aNn0. Thus the assumption in step 2.1 is false, and the alternative left open in step 1.1 must hold: Nn=0.

step 2.1givendischarge-contradiction
4.1

Hence the nilradical of an Artinian ring is a nilpotent ideal.

step 1.1step 3.1

Depends on

Used by

Dependency tree · two levels

9 results within two dependency steps of this one, each drawn at its shortest distance from it. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, so the chart reads left to right and ends at this result, which carries a heavier outline. Every node is a link to that result. Click elsewhere on the chart to enlarge it.

Sources