Past exam of the commutative algebra course of the University of Oxford 2023 1 e ii Solution 2026-10-25
Since the radical of an ideal is , some positive power of belongs to . Choose the least such exponent . Then and for , with excluded because the primary ideal is proper.
Take . If , choose the largest for which , and write . Maximality of implies : otherwise , a contradiction, including when . The primary ideal condition applied to therefore forces , contrary to the choice of .
Consequently every lies in , andTogether with i, this classifies the primary ideals for a regular principal prime. The exponent is unique: if , then , and cancellation of the non-zero-divisor would give , contradicting that is proper. No Noetherian hypothesis is needed.