 Cyclic module

A module is cyclic if one element $m$ generates it: every element is $rm$ for some scalar $r\in R$. The generating element need not give unique coefficients. The module homomorphism $R\to M$, $r\mapsto rm$, is surjective. Over a commutative ring, its kernel is the annihilator ${\mathrm{Ann}}_R(m)$, givingThus cyclic modules are exactly the quotient modules $R/I$ for ideals $I$ in $R$. For a left module over a noncommutative ring, use a left ideal and interpret the quotient as a module, with no claim that it is a quotient ring. See John A. Beachy's Abstract Algebra Online, section 10.1.

The module $\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$ is generated by $\overline{1}$, and also by $\overline{5}$, whose successive multiples are $\overline{0},\overline{5},\overline{4},\overline{3},\overline{2},\overline{1}$. The element $\overline{2}$ generates only $\{\overline{0},\overline{2},\overline{4}\}$, a submodule with three elements. A cyclic module can be infinite and free, as $\mathbb{Z}=\mathbb{Z}\cdot 1$ shows, or finite and torsion, as $\mathbb{Z}/6\mathbb{Z}$ shows. One generator counts directions of generation, not the number of elements and not freedom from relations.

In the context of abstract algebra, particularly in the study of modules over a ring, a **cyclic module** is a specific type of module that can be generated by a single element. More formally, let \( R \) be a ring and let \( M \) be a module over \( R \).