Finite Presentations and Tensor Products

Jacob Denson
July 24, 2020

A finite free presentation of an R-module N is an exact sequence

Rn Ñ Rm Ñ N Ñ 0.
More explicitly, a finite free presentation is a pair of maps i : Rn Ñ Rm and
f : Rm Ñ N such that f is surjective, and f pxq “ 0 if and only if x is in the
image of i. Why are they useful for the qual?
• They’re super duper useful to understand the structure of M bR N with-
out having to think too hard about what’s going on in the tensor of the
two modules.
• They always exist for a finitely generated module over a Noetherian ring,
and they’re often really easy to compute.
In these notes I’ll explain how to construct a finite presentation easily and show
how they can be used to understand the tensor product M bR N . To begin with,
let’s show how to construct a finite free presentation for any finitely generated
module N in three easy steps:
(Step 1): If N is finitely generated, we can find a basis v1 , . . . , vn for N , and so there
exists a surjective R-morphism f : Rm Ñ N such that for x P Rm ,
f pxq “ x1 v1 ` ¨ ¨ ¨ ` xm vm .
This is already the first map in your finite presentation of N .
(Step 2): Compute the kernel K of the map f and consider the inclusion map i 1 :
K Ñ Rm . The sequence
0 Ñ K Ñ Rm Ñ N Ñ 0
is exact, but K is not necessarily free so this isn’t a finite presentation.
The last step fixes this.
(Step 3): Since R is Noetherian, all finitely generated modules over R are Noethe-
rian. In particular, this implies K has to be finitely generated. Find a
generating set k1 , . . . , kn for K, which induces a surjective map g : Rn Ñ K
defined by setting
gpxq “ x1 k1 ` ¨ ¨ ¨ ` xn kn .
Setting i “ i 1 ˝ g gives the second map in the finite presentation.

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Not too bad, right? Let’s consider two examples.
Example. Let’s consider the Z module Z {n Z. It is generated by a single element,
1 ` n Z, so we let f : Z Ñ Z {n Z be the map

f pkq “ k ` n Z .

The kernel of this map is precisely K “ pnq. Now as a Z module, K is generated

by a single element, namely n. Thus we let i : Z Ñ Z be the map given by setting
ipkq “ nk. The pair of maps i and f gives a finite presentation of Z {n Z.
Example. Let I “ px, yq be an ideal in R “ Crx, ys. Then I is a finitely generated
module over R, and so we can compute a finite presentation of I. The elements
tx, yu give a generating set for I, so we consider the map f : R2 Ñ I such that for
each a P R2 ,
f paq “ a1 x ` a2 y.
Next, we compute the kernel of f ; this is equal to

K “ ta P R2 : a1 x ` a2 y “ 0u.

Now we have to compute a generating set for K. Note that if a1 x ` a2 y “ 0, then a1

is divisible by y, and a2 is divisible by x. Thus we can write a1 “ yb1 , and a2 “ xb1 ,
and we find
pb1 ` b2 qxy “ 0
which implies b1 ` b2 “ 0. Thus we can write

K “ tpyb, ´xbq : b P Ru “ Rpy, ´xq.

Thus the element py, ´xq generates K. In particular, we can consider the map i :
R Ñ R2 given by ipaq “ apy, ´xq “ pay, ´axq, which completes the construction of
the finite presentation of I.
Now let’s show how we can use finite presentations to make the study of
tensor products easy. There are two principles at work here:
• Tensoring is a right exact operation.
• Tensoring with a free module is a fairly benign operation.
Firstly, tensoring is a right exact operation. That means that if M, N , L, and K
are modules, and
N ÑLÑK Ñ0
is an exact sequence, then

M bN Ñ M bL Ñ M bK Ñ 0

is an exact sequence. In other words, suppose f : N Ñ L and g : L Ñ K are a

pair of R-linear homomorphisms such that g is surjective, and gpxq “ 0 if and

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only if x is in the image of f . Consider the two maps f 1 : M b N Ñ M b L and
g 1 : M b L Ñ M b K given by

f 1 pm b xq “ m b f pxq and g 1 pm b xq “ m b gpxq,

Then g 1 is a surjective map, and for any a P M b L, g 1 paq “ 0 if and only if a is

in the image of the map f 1 .
Why does this relate to finite presentations? Well, if we have an exact se-
quence
Rn Ñ Rm Ñ N Ñ 0
then the above technique gives us an exact sequence

M b Rn Ñ M b Rm Ñ M b N Ñ 0

The modules M b Rn and M b Rm are easily understood. In particular, for any

k, M b Rk is isomorphic to M k under the isomorphism tk : M k Ñ M b Rk given
by

tk pm1 , . . . , mk q “ m1 b p1, 0, . . . , 0q ` m2 b p0, 1, 0, . . . , 0q ` ¨ ¨ ¨ ` mk b p0, . . . , 0, 1q.

with inverse map

tk´1 pm b px1 , . . . , xk qq “ px1 m, . . . , mxk q.

Using these isomorphisms, we can easily compute an exact sequence

Mn Ñ Mm Ñ M b N Ñ 0

That is, we can find two maps i1 : M n Ñ M m and f1 : M m Ñ M b N such that

f1 is surjective, and f1 pxq “ 0 if and only if x is in the image of i1 . These maps
are explicitly computable using the equations
´1
i1 “ tm ˝ i 1 ˝ tn and f1 “ f ˝ tm .

Provided that the modules M n and M m are understood, these structures es-
sentially give a complete description of the algebraic structure of M b N . In
particular, the first isomorphism theorem implies that M b N is isomorphic to
the quotient of M m by i1 pM n q.
Example. Previously, we gave a finite presentation of the module Z {n Z by the
maps i : Z Ñ Z and f : Z Ñ Z {n Z given by setting ipkq “ nk and f pkq “ k ` n Z.
Let us use this presentation to compute the structure of pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq. The
maps i and f induce maps

i 1 : pZ {m Zq b Z Ñ pZ {m Zq b Z and f 1 : pZ {m Zq b Z Ñ pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq,

where
i 1 ppk1 ` m Zq b k2 q “ pk1 ` m Zq b nk2

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and
f 1 ppk1 ` m Zq b k2 q “ pk1 ` m Zq b pk2 ` n Zq.
Using the isomorphism t1 : pZ {m Zq Ñ pZ {m Zq b Z we obtain an exact sequence

Z {m Z Ñ Z {m Z Ñ pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq Ñ 0

Given by maps i0 : Z {m Z Ñ Z {m Z and f0 : Z {m Z Ñ pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq where

i0 pk ` m Zq “ nk ` m Z and f0 pk ` m Zq “ pk ` m Zq b p1 ` n Zq.

Before we compute these maps, let us show how they give the structure of pZ {m Zqb
pZ {n Zq. Firstly, the fact that f0 is surjective implies that any element of pZ {m Zq b
pZ {n Zq can be written as
pk ` m Zq b p1 ` n Zq
for some integer k. Secondly, the exactness implies that

pk ` m Zq b p1 ` n Zq “ 0

if and only if there exists an integer k0 such that k “ nk0 modulo m, which means
that there is an integer k1 such that k “ nk0 ` mk1 . This completely describes the
structure of the tensor product. In particular, it shows that the map k ÞÑ pk `m Zqb
p1 ` n Zq is a surjective homomorphism from Z to pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq with kernel
n Z `m Z “ gcdpn, mq Z, so we conclude

pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq – Z {gcdpn, mq Z .

In particular, if n and m are relatively prime, then

pZ {m Zq b pZ {n Zq “ 0.

To obtain these explicit formulas for i0 and f0 , we just remember that i0 “ t1´1 ˝i 1 ˝t1
and f0 “ f 1 ˝ t1 , and compute that

i0 pk ` m Zq “ pt1´1 ˝ i 1 ˝ t1 qpk ` m Zq
“ pt1´1 ˝ i 1 qppk ` m Zq b 1q
“ t1´1 ppk ` m Zq b nq
“ npk ` m Zq “ nk ` m Z,

and

f0 pk ` m Zq “ pf 1 ˝ t1 qpk ` m Zq
“ f 1 ppk ` m Zq b 1q
“ pk ` m Zq b p1 ` n Zq.

The calculation of pZ {m ZqbpZ {n Zq is quite easy to calculate without using

finite presentations, so let us move on to a more nontrivial tensor product.

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Example. Let us use the finite presentation of the ideal I “ px, yq of R “ Crx, ys to
show that the element
xby ´y bx P I bI
is non-zero. In this situation the finite presentation of I was given by the pair of
maps i : R Ñ R2 and f : R2 Ñ I given by the formulae

ipaq “ pay, ´axq and f pa1 , a2 q “ xa1 ` ya2 .

These maps induce maps i0 : I b R Ñ I b R2 and f0 : I b R2 Ñ I b I given by

i0 pa b bq “ a b pby, ´bxq and f0 pa b pb1 , b2 qq “ a b pxb1 ` yb2 q.

Whatmore, they give an exact sequence

I b R Ñ I b R2 Ñ I b I Ñ 0.

We have isomorphisms t1 : I Ñ I b R and t2 : I 2 Ñ I b R2 given by

t1 paq “ a b 1 and t2 pa1 , a2 q “ a1 b p1, 0q ` a2 b p0, 1q.

and we therefore obtain an exact sequence

I Ñ I2 Ñ I b I Ñ 0

given by maps i1 : I Ñ I 2 and f1 : I 2 Ñ I b I which we will explicitly compute as

i1 paq “ pay, ´axq and f1 pa1 , a2 q “ a1 b x ` a2 b y.

Now we can easily show that x b y ´ y b x is nonzero. Note that

f1 p´y, xq “ ´y b x ` x b y “ x b y ´ y b x.

If x b y ´ y b x “ 0, then f1 p´y, xq “ 0. Exactness implies that there must exist

some a P I such that i1 paq “ p´y, xq. But i1 paq “ pay, ´axq, so we find that there is
a P I such that ay “ ´y, and ´ax “ x. This can only be true if a “ ´1, which is
impossible since ´1 R I. Thus we have shown x b y ´ y b x ‰ 0! The computations
here might not be as simple as using the bilinear map given by partial derivatives
discussed in the class today, but we didn’t really have to think at all during this
process; all the computations were fairly automatic. Moreover, this calculation gives
much greater knowledge of I b I. Namely, the surjectivity of f1 implies that any
element of I b I can be written in the form

a1 b x ` a2 b y

where a1 , a2 P I, and moreover, this element is equal to zero in I bI if and only there
are polynomials t1 , t2 P Crx, ys such that a1 “ t1 xy ` t2 y 2 , and a2 “ t1 y 2 ´ t2 xy.
This might be useful on the qual if we were asked other questions about I b I. To

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finish this calculation, we explicitly calculate f1 and i1 . But we simply calculate
that

i1 paq “ pt2´1 ˝ i 1 ˝ t1 qpaq

“ pt2´1 ˝ i 1 qpa b 1q
“ t2´1 pa b py, ´xqq
“ pay, ´axq

and

f1 pa1 , a2 q “ pf 1 ˝ t2 qpa1 , a2 q
“ f 1 pa1 b p1, 0q ` a2 b p0, 1qq
“ a1 b x ` a2 b y.

As long as you’re careful, these calculations are trivial.

This technique completely fails if both modules in a tensor product are not
finitely generated. However, they still work if one of your modules are finitely
generated. Let us consider an example. Try and use the techniques we have
discussed to compute the tensor product before looking at the solution.
Example. Let us compute the tensor product R bZ pZ2 ˆ Z3 q. We begin by noting
that Z2 ˆ Z3 has a finite presentation

Z Ñ Z3 Ñ Z2 ˆ Z3 Ñ 0

given by maps i : Z Ñ Z3 and f : Z3 Ñ Z2 ˆ Z3 where

f pn1 , n2 , n3 q “ pn1 , n2 , n3 ` 3 Zq and ipnq “ p0, 0, 3nq.

Tensoring gives an exact sequence

R b Z Ñ R b Z3 Ñ R bpZ2 ˆ Z3 q Ñ 0

and thus an exact sequence

R Ñ R3 Ñ R bpZ2 ˆ Z3 q Ñ 0.

I leave it as an exercise to show that the maps

i1 : R Ñ R3 and f1 : R3 Ñ R bpZ2 ˆ Z3 q

are given by
i1 ptq “ p0, 0, 3tq
and

f1 pt1 , t2 , t3 q “ t1 b p1, 0, 0 ` 3 Zq ` t2 b p0, 1, 0 ` 3 Zq ` t3 b p0, 0, 1 ` 3 Zq.

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Thus we conclude from the exactness of the sequence R Ñ R3 Ñ R bpZ2 ˆ Z3 q that
every element of R bpZ2 ˆ Z3 q can be written as

t1 b p1, 0, 0 ` 3 Zq ` t2 b p0, 1, 0 ` 3 Zq ` t3 b p0, 0, 1 ` 3 Zq.

Moreover, this element is equal to zero in the tensor product if and only if t1 “ 0
and t2 “ 0. In particular, it is easy to see from these properties that

R bZ pZ2 ˆ Z3 q – R bZ Z2 – R2 .