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.

We determine the metric dimension of the annihilating-ideal graph of a local finite commutative principal ring and a finite commutative principal ring with two maximal ideals. We also find bounds for the metric dimension of the annihilating-ideal graph of an arbitrary finite commutative principal ring.

We characterise finite unitary rings $R$ such that all Sylow subgroups of the group of units $R^{\ast }$ are cyclic. To be precise, we show that, up to isomorphism, $R$ is one of the three types of rings in $\{O,E,O\oplus E\}$, where $O\in \{GF(q),\mathbb{Z}_{p^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}}\}$ is a ring of odd cardinality and $E$ is a ring of cardinality $2^{n}$ which is one of seven explicitly described types.

We study the total graph of a finite commutative ring. We calculate its metric dimension in the case when the Jacobson radical of the ring is nontrivial, and we examine the metric dimension of the total graph of a product of at most two fields, obtaining either exact values in some cases or bounds in other, depending on the number of elements in the respective fields.

In this paper we find all finite rings with a nilpotent group of units. It was thought that the answer to this was already given by McDonald in 1974, but as was shown by Groza in 1989, the conclusions that had been reached there do not hold. Here, we improve some results of Groza and describe the structure of an arbitrary finite ring with a nilpotent group of units, thus solving McDonald’s problem.

Let p be a prime, let R be a finite p-ring with identity and suppose that the radical of R has pm elements. If R is indecomposable as a ring then there are at most m+1 minimal ideals in R/Rad R.

1980 Mathematics subject classification (Amer. Math. Soc): 16 A 44.