On a generalization of the exchange property to modules with semilocal endomorphism rings. (Q2370290)

All rings considered are associative with non-zero identity and all modules are unital. The following definition is given: for a ring \(R\), a right \(R\)-module \(M\) and a positive integer \(m\), \(M\) is said to have the semi-exchange property with respect to \(m\) if for any right \(R\)-module \(G\) and any two direct sum decompositions \(G=M'\oplus N=\bigoplus_{i\in I}A_i\) with \(M'\cong M\), there are a partition \(I=\bigcup_{j\in J}I_j\) with \(|I_j|\leq m\) for any \(j\in J\) and submodules \(B_j\) of \(\bigoplus_{i\in I_j}A_i\), \(j\in J\), such that \(G=M'\oplus(\bigoplus_{j\in J}B_j)\). Also, he gives the definition and proves basic properties of the semi-exchange property for elements of a cancellative monoid. The author shows that the dual Goldie dimension of a right \(R\)-module \(M\) is the smallest integer \(n\) (if any) such that \(M\) has the semi-exchange property with respect to \(n\). Thus an indecomposable right \(R\)-module \(M\) whose endomorphism ring is not semilocal does not have the semi-exchange property with respect to \(n\) for any integer \(n\). As an application of the semi-exchange property, a stronger version of the Weak Krull-Schmidt Theorem for biuniform modules is proved.