Primary Ideals, prime ideals and maximal ideals - D&F Section 15.2

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Math Amateur
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I am studying Dummit and Foote Section 15.2. I am trying to understand the proof of Proposition 19 Part (5) on page 682 (see attachment)

Proposition 19 Part (5) reads as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proposition 19.

... ...

(5) Suppose M is a maximal ideal and Q is an ideal with [tex]M^n \subseteq Q \subseteq M[/tex] for some [tex]n \ge 1[/tex].

Then Q is a primary idea, with rad Q = M

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The proof of (5) above reads as follows:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Proof.

Suppose [tex]M^n \subseteq Q \subseteq M[/tex] for some [tex]n \ge 1[/tex] where M is a maximal idea.

Then [tex]Q \subseteq M[/tex] so [tex]rad \ Q \subseteq rad \ M = M[/tex].

... ... etc

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My problem is as follows:

Why can we be sure that rad M = M?

I know that M is maximal and so no ideal in R can contain M. We also know that [tex]M \subseteq rad \ M[/tex]

Thus either rad M = M (the conclusion D&F use) or rad M = R?

How do we know that [tex]rad \ M \ne R[/tex]?

Would appreciate some help.

Peter
 
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Like you said, we have [tex]M \subseteq \mbox{Rad} \ M[/tex] which implies that [tex]M = \mbox{Rad}\ M[/tex] as [tex]M[/tex] is a maximal ideal. Why is [tex]\mbox{Rad} \ M \neq R[/tex]? Suppose that [tex]\mbox{Rad} \ M = R[/tex] then [tex]M=R[/tex] but that's impossible by definition of a maximal ideal.
 
Siron said:
Like you said, we have [tex]M \subseteq \mbox{Rad} \ M[/tex] which implies that [tex]M = \mbox{Rad}\ M[/tex] as [tex]M[/tex] is a maximal ideal. Why is [tex]\mbox{Rad} \ M \neq R[/tex]? Suppose that [tex]\mbox{Rad} \ M = R[/tex] then [tex]M=R[/tex] but that's impossible by definition of a maximal ideal.


Thanks for the helpful post, Siron

Peter