Orderpotent \(f\)-rings (Q1905998)

The authors introduce in the class of \(f\)-rings a concept that generalizes the two notions of total orderedness and nilpotency: an \(f\)-ring is termed \(n\)-orderpotent whenever the product of any \(n\) elements in it is comparable to zero. Several properties and characterizations of \(n\)-orderpotent \(f\)-rings are presented. It is shown, moreover, that \(n\)-orderpotency is closely related to the ring having sufficiently many annihilating elements. In addition to orderpotency a stronger property (strong orderpotency) is considered (every element that is not comparable to zero annihilates the whole ring from both sides). These notions are illustrated in many examples, especially in the class of generalized semigroup rings.