I'm asked if the ring of formal power series is finitely generated as a $K$-algebra. Intuition says no, but I don't know where to start. Any hint or suggestion?
[Math] Ring of formal power series finitely generated as algebra
commutative-algebrapower series
Best Answer
Let $A$ be a non-trivial commutative ring. Then $A[[x]]$ is not finitely generated as a $A$-algebra.
Indeed, observe that $A$ must have a maximal ideal $\mathfrak{m}$, so we have a field $k = A / \mathfrak{m}$, and if $k[[x]]$ is not finitely-generated as a $k$-algebra, then $A[[x]]$ cannot be finitely-generated as an $A$-algebra. So it suffices to prove that $k[[x]]$ is not finitely generated. Now, it is a straightforward matter to show that the polynomial ring $k[x_1, \ldots, x_n]$ has a countably infinite basis as a $k$-vector space, so any finitely-generated $k$-algebra must have an at most countable basis as a $k$-vector space.
However, $k[[x]]$ has an uncountable basis as a $k$-vector space. Observe that $k[[x]]$ is obviously isomorphic to $k^\mathbb{N}$, the space of all $\mathbb{N}$-indexed sequences of elements of $k$, as $k$-vector spaces. But it is well-known that $k^\mathbb{N}$ is of uncountable dimension: see here, for example.