Abstract Algebra/Polynomial Rings
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Although there is a theory of non-commutative polynomial rings, it presents some difficulties and will not be treated on this page. Thus, we will work only with commutative rings for their polynomial rings.
The degree of a polynomial a0 + a1X + ... + anXn is defined to be n. If R is a field, and f and g are polynomials of R[X], then we can divide f by g to get f=gq+r. However, we can also do this for any arbitrary ring if the leading coefficient of g is 1.