5
$\begingroup$

In my algebra course (taught from Artin), a principal ideal domain is defined as an integral domain such that all ideals are principal. This got me wondering:

Are there rings for which every ideal is principal, but the ring is not an integral domain?

  • 0
    This was in the related questions column (and probably in the list of possible duplicates if you used the web interface to submit the question.) Please do a search first.2017-02-17
  • 0
    Also related: http://math.stackexchange.com/q/1920478/293352017-02-17

1 Answers 1

7

Definitely! In fact there's a Wikipedia page about principal ideal rings.

The smallest example that is not a domain would be $\mathbb{Z}/4\mathbb{Z}$. More generally, you can take any principal ideal domain $R$ you know, and any ideal $I\subset R$ that is not a prime ideal, and then $R/I$ will be a principal ideal ring that is not a domain.