Equational criterion for flatness (${\sum }_i{a}_i{m}_i=0⟹m_i={\sum }_j{b}_{ij}{n}_j,{\sum }_i{a}_i{b}_{ij}=0$)

For a flat module $M$ over a commutative ring, every finite relation among elements of $M$ is a finite combination of relations among elements of the ring itself, in the displayed sense. To obtain this, tensor the kernel of the linear map $A^r\to A$, $(u_i)\mapsto {\sum }_i{a}_i{u}_i$, with $M$. Flatness says that this tensor maps onto the kernel in $M^r$. Writing an element of that tensor as a finite sum gives the columns $b_{ij}$ and the elements $n_j$. The converse follows by applying this condition to relations in a tensor product to prove that tensoring preserves injections.