We prove that a ring R is an $n \times n$ matrix ring (that is, $R \cong \mathbb {M}_n(S)$ for some ring S) if and only if there exists a (von Neumann) regular element x in R such that $l_R(x) = R{x^{n-1}}$ . As applications, we prove some new results, strengthen some known results and provide easier proofs of other results. For instance, we prove that if a ring R has elements x and y such that $x^n = 0$ , $Rx+Ry = R$ and $Ry \cap l_{R}(x^{n-1}) = 0$ , then R is an $n \times n$ matrix ring. This improves a result of Fuchs [‘A characterisation result for matrix rings’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 43 (1991), 265–267] where it is proved assuming further that the element y is nilpotent of index two and $x+y$ is a unit. For an ideal I of a ring R, we prove that the ring $(\begin {smallmatrix} R & I \\ R & R \end {smallmatrix})$ is a $2 \times 2$ matrix ring if and only if $R/I$ is so.

Let R be a finite ring and let ${\mathrm {zp}}(R)$ denote the nullity degree of R, that is, the probability that the multiplication of two randomly chosen elements of R is zero. We establish the nullity degree of a semisimple ring and find upper and lower bounds for the nullity degree in the general case.

The goal of this note is to completely determine the rings for which every nonunit is a product of a nilpotent and an idempotent (in either order).

We prove first-order definability of the prime subring inside polynomial rings, whose coefficient rings are (commutative unital) reduced and indecomposable. This is achieved by means of a uniform formula in the language of rings with signature $(0,1,+,\cdot )$. In the characteristic zero case, the claim implies that the full theory is undecidable, for rings of the referred type. This extends a series of results by Raphael Robinson, holding for certain polynomial integral domains, to a more general class.

This paper is about rings $R$ for which every element is a sum of a tripotent and an element from the Jacobson radical $J(R)$. These rings are called semi-tripotent rings. Examples include Boolean rings, strongly nil-clean rings, strongly 2-nil-clean rings, and semi-boolean rings. Here, many characterizations of semi-tripotent rings are obtained. Necessary and sufficient conditions for a Morita context (respectively, for a group ring of an abelian group or a locally finite nilpotent group) to be semi-tripotent are proved.

Let $R$ be a ring and $b,c\in R$. In this paper, we give some characterizations of the $(b,c)$-inverse in terms of the direct sum decomposition, the annihilator, and the invertible elements. Moreover, elements with equal $(b,c)$-idempotents related to their $(b,c)$-inverses are characterized, and the reverse order rule for the $(b,c)$-inverse is considered.

We prove that an integral Jacobson radical ring is always nil, which extends a well-known result from algebras over fields to rings. As a consequence we show that if every element x of a ring R is a zero of some polynomial px with integer coefficients, such that px(1) = 1, then R is a nil ring. With these results we are able to give new characterizations of the upper nilradical of a ring and a new class of rings that satisfy the Köthe conjecture: namely, the integral rings.

We use George Bergman's recent normal form for universally adjoining an inner inverse to show that, for general rings, a nilpotent regular element $x$ need not be unit-regular. This contrasts sharply with the situation for nilpotent regular elements in exchange rings (a large class of rings), and for general rings when all powers of the nilpotent element $x$ are regular.

Let R be a ring and M a monoid with twisting f:M × M → U(R) and action ω: M→ Aut(R). We introduce and study the concepts of CM-Armendariz and CM-quasi-Armendariz rings to generalise various Armendariz and quasi-Armendariz properties of rings by working on the context of the crossed product R*M over R. The following results are proved: (1) If M is a u.p.-monoid, then any M-rigid ring R is CM-Armendariz; (2) if I is a reduced ideal of an M-compatible ring R with M a strictly totally ordered monoid, then R/I being CM-Armendariz implies that R is CM-Armendariz; (3) if M is a u.p.-monoid and R is a semiprime ring, then R is CM-quasi-Armendariz. These results generalise and unify many known results on this subject.

Let $R$ be a unit-regular ring and let $\sigma $ be an endomorphism of $R$ such that $\sigma \left( e \right)\,=\,e$ for all ${{e}^{2}}\,=\,e\,\in \,R$ and let $n\,\ge \,0$. It is proved that every element of $R[x;\,\sigma ]/\left( {{x}^{n+1}} \right)$ is equivalent to an element of the form ${{e}_{0}}\,+\,{{e}_{1}}x\,+\,\cdots \,+\,{{e}_{n}}{{x}^{n}}$, where the ${{e}_{i}}$ are orthogonal idempotents of $R$. As an application, it is proved that $R[x;\,\sigma ]/\left( {{x}^{n+1}} \right)$ is left morphic for each $n\,\ge \,0$.

We define a subgraph of the zero divisor graph of a ring, associated to the ring idempotents. We study its properties and prove that for large classes of rings the connectedness of the graph is equivalent to the indecomposability of the ring and in those cases we also calculate the graph’s diameter.

The class of rings studied in this paper properly contains the class of right distributive rings which have at least one completely prime ideal in the Jacobson radical. Amongst other results we study prime and semiprime ideals, right noetherian rings with comparability and prove a structure theorem for rings with comparability. Several examples are also given.

In this paper we study in which rings a non-zero idempotent element can be presented as a sum of two nilpotent elements.