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Just started learning algebra. So it's defined that ring is the ring not requiring a multiple 1, while unital ring does. Given a ring, is it always possible to extend it to a unital ring?

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Starting with a ring $A$ having not necessarily a multiplicative identity. Consider the direct sum $\mathbb{Z}\oplus A$ with the following addition $(m,\alpha)+(n,\beta)=(m+n,\,\alpha+\beta)$ and multiplication $(m,\alpha).(n,\beta)=(mn,\, m\beta+n\alpha+\alpha\beta)$. You can check it is a ring with identity $(1,0)$ and identifying $(0,\alpha)$ with $\alpha$ (and not $(0,\alpha)$ as in previous) makes it an extension of $A$.

  • It's a little confusing to use both ordered pairs and sums of pairs in your notation. It would probably be best to do what every book does and just use ordered pairs... – rschwieb Jan 21 '15 at 11:08