10 Feb
2014
10 Feb
'14
11:16 a.m.
Wikipedia implies that the characteristic of a ring R (with unity) can be defined as the unique nonnegative integer such that nZ is the kernel of the ring homomorphism h:Z -> R (with h(1) = 1). Any field is also a ring, so this can be applied, making characteristic 0 a non-hack. --Dan On 2014-02-10, at 6:41 AM, Henry Baker wrote:
Yes, 0 is the ultimate composite number. The use of the phrase "characteristic zero" is merely a hack, and nothing should be read into this usage.