Weak clean index of a ring (Q2334478)

The concept of clean index of rings was introduced in [\textit{T.-K. Lee} and \textit{Y. Zhou}, Commun. Algebra 40, No. 3, 807--822 (2012; Zbl 1245.16031)]. In this paper, the authors introduce a weak clean index of a ring which is a generalization of clean index of a ring. The weak clean index of a ring \(R\) is denoted by Win\((R)\) defined as the \(\sup\{|\chi(a)|:a\in R\}\), where \(\chi(a)\) is the set of all \(e \in R\) such that \(e^2=e\) and \(a-e\) or \(a+e\) is a unit and \(|\chi(a)|\) is the cardinality of \(\chi(a)\). The results of this paper are separated into three parts. In Theorem 3.1, the authors give a necessary and sufficient condition for Win\((R)\) to be equal to 1. In Theorem 3.4, the authors give a necessary and sufficient condition for Win\((R)\) to be equal to 2. Finally, in Theorem 3.5, the authors give a necessary and sufficient condition for Win\((R)\) to be equal to 3.