A note on zero-divisors of commutative rings (Q1925608)

It is known that for a commutative ring \(R\), if every finite set of zero-divisors of \(R\) has a nonzero annihilator, then the set of zero-divisors of \(R\) is an ideal of the ring \(R\). One can ask whether the converse holds, i.e.: If the set of zero-divisors of a commutative ring \(R\) is an ideal of the ring \(R\), then does every finite set of zero-divisors of \(R\) have a nonzero annihilator? The answer to the above question is negative. In the paper under review the authors ask the following question: For which classes of rings the condition ``every finite set of zero-divisors of \(R\) has a nonzero annihilator'' is satisfied? The most natural class of rings satisfying this condition is the class of Noetherian rings. As the main result, the authors generalize this fact to the class of rings with finite Goldie dimension. Precisely, they show that the condition ``every finite set of zero-divisors of \(R\) has a nonzero annihilator'' holds for each proper ring with finite Goldie dimension.