I just can't... I don't understand it... No ELI5 helped me yet.
Here's an example with a brief explanation of what I know and where I get stuck.
Let R = Z[x] and I the set of all the polynomials from R whose coefficients add up to 0. Prove that I is the ideal of R. Is this ideal also the principal ideal? Prove that R / I is isomorphic to Z.
So, Z[x] is a set of polynomials with integers. I appears to be a specific subset of Z[x] and therefore should be a subset of R. By definition, a ring is an Abelian group for addition and a semigroup for multiplication. Next, a subring must have closure, addition/subtraction test and a multiplication of 2 elements within itself also stays inside.
An ideal further expands on the idea of a subring and only asks for 'external' multiplication by taking an element from the ring, multiplying it with an element from the subring and checking if the product remains in the subring.
Principal ideal is a specific ideal in which only 1 element can be used for multiplication and it generates the entire set. The common simple example of it I came up with is (Z/nZ), integers modulo n.
I would say I understand theory well enough (except the R / I which is the quotient ring concept I am not entirely familiar with) but I simply can't understand this or any similar task. I don't know how to solve it and literally need baby steps.
In the task itself I understand that coefficients adding up to 0 would probably mean that the 'free part' is always the answer so x - 1 would be a simple example of the kind of polynomial the ring is describing. How do prove the I is the ideal of R? I need to show it's a subring first, but I don't know how to do that either and even following the definition feels impossible to me.
Okay, let's take some 3x - 3 and 2x - 2 as examples. (3x - 3) - (2x - 2) = x - 1, so it checks out I guess. Next, multiplying with an element from the ring. Since this rule only applies to the subring I, I can take some x (the simplest polynomial from R) and then (3x - 3)x = 3x^2 - 3x, also checks out so is the ideal here done with?
Now, how would I show it's a principal ideal? Maybe it's generated by x - 1? You can add/subtract it as many times as you want and you'll get all the elements. The proof regarding the quotient ring is completely unknown to me and I would appreciate if someone could explain. Just so you guys know I had no solution to this task and was genuinely lost, now when writing it I came up with some examples which could demonstrate some things and my brain started working, hopefully it's all good.