Exchange rings with Artinian primitive factors (Q1303799)

A ring \(R\) is called an exchange ring if for every right \(R\)-module \(A\) and any two decompositions \(A=M\oplus N=\bigoplus_{i\in I}A_i\), where \(M_R\simeq R_R\) and \(I\) is a finite index set, there exist submodules \(A_i'\subseteq A_i\) such that \(A=M\oplus(\bigoplus_{i\in I}A_i')\). The author studies exchange rings with Artinian primitive factors. It is shown that such a ring is a clean ring (a ring is called `clean' if each one of its elements can be written as the sum of an idempotent and a unit). Let \(R\) be an exchange ring with Artinian primitive factors then the following are equivalent: (1) Every element in \(R\) is a sum of two units. (2) There exist units \(\alpha,\beta\) in \(R\) such that \(1=\alpha+\beta\). (3) \(R\) does not have \(\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}\) as a homomorphic image. It is shown that every \(n\times n\) matrix (\(n>2\)) over a ring of the title is the sum of two invertible matrices. Recall, a ring \(R\) is strongly \(\pi\)-regular if for any \(a\in R\), there exists a positive integer \(n\) such that \(a^nR=a^{n+1}R\). The author generalizes a result of \textit{H. Yu} [Commun. Algebra 25, No. 2, 661-670 (1997; Zbl 0873.16007)] and shows that an exchange ring \(R\) with Artinian primitive factor is strongly \(\pi\)-regular if the Jacobson radical of every homomorphic image of \(R\) is \(T\)-nilpotent or is locally nilpotent.