What does this Ring-Homomorphism do to constants: $\mathbb{Z}[X]\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}[i], X\mapsto i$

abstract-algebrapolynomialsring-theory

I have been given this definition for a Ring homomorphism:
$$\varphi:\mathbb{Z}[X]\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}[i], X\mapsto i$$
Where $\mathbb{Z}[i]$ is the ring of the Gaussian numbers (complex numbers with integer components).

With the properties of ring homomorphisms, I've found
$$\varphi(X)=i, \varphi(X^2)=-1, \varphi(X+X^2)=i-1$$
and so on. But what does this homomorphism map
$$\varphi(X^2+2), \varphi(X+5)$$
to? These are just examples, I don't need to calculate those specifically.

Ultimately I need to show that this homomorphism induces an isomorphism $\mathbb{Z}[X]/(X^2+1)\cong\mathbb{Z}[i]$, and I don't see how I can do that without the definition of $\varphi$ for constants.

Best Answer

Any positive integer can be written as a sum of 1s: $$ n = \underbrace{1 + \cdots + 1}_{n\text{ times}}. $$ For example, $5 = 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1$. Since $\phi$ is a homomorphism, you know that $$ \phi(n) = \phi(1 + \cdots + 1) = \phi(1) + \cdots + \phi(1) = 1 + \cdots + 1 = 5. $$ We also know that $\phi(0) = 0$, and that $\phi(-x) = -\phi(x)$ for any $x$, and combining these facts we get that for any integer $n$ we have $\phi(n) = n$. Thus in this case, a constant is just taken to itself (or, the version of itself as an element of $\mathbb Z[i]$). So now you can see what happens with an arbitrary polynomial: for instance, $$ \phi(X^2 + 5) = \phi(X^2) + \phi(5) = \phi(X)^2 + 5 = i^2 + 5 = 4. $$ Note that this doesn't work for general rings $R[X]$ if only $\phi(X)$ is specified, but it works for $\mathbb Z$ because any element of $Z$ can be written in terms of 1 and the ring operations.