In: Advanced Math
Recall the following defintions:
(i)
is called commutative if
.
(ii) An element
is called a zero divisor if there is a non-zero element
such that either
or
.
Back to the problem:
Suppose
is a commutative ring and
such that
is a zero divisor.
Then there exists a non-zero element
such that either
or
. Here both the conditions are same because of the
commutativity.
If
is non-zero then from the definition of a zero divisor it follows
that
is a zero divisor.
If
then from the definition of a zero divisor it follows that
is a zero divisor because here
is non-zero. (Proved)