The minimal generating sets of the multiplicative monoid of a finite commutative ring. (Q2477881)

Let \(S\) be a finite multiplicative monoid with an element \(0\) such that \(S0=\{0\}\neq S\). In this paper, the authors give an algorithm to construct all minimal generating sets of \(S\) in terms of semigroup-theoretic generating sets of minimal prime ideals of some submonoids of \(S\) and minimal generating sets of the group of invertible elements of \(S\). These ideas are then applied to the multiplicative monoid \(S\) of a nonzero finite commutative ring \(R\) which is not a field. For such a ring \(R\), each application of the algorithm terminates in the same number of steps as the number of prime ideals of \(R\).