A setwise commutativity property for rings (Q4361102)

An associative ring \(R\) is called a \(P_n\)-ring if \(X\cdot Y=Y\cdot X\) for each pair \(X\), \(Y\) of \(n\)-sets in \(R\). It is clear that every ring with \(n\) elements is a \(P_n\)-ring. The author proves the following main results: (i) every \(P_3\)-ring is commutative; (ii) \(M_2(\text{GF}(2))\) is a \(P_{14}\)-ring; (iii) the commutator ideal of a \(P_n\)-ring is nil if either \(n\leq 13\) or the set of all periodic elements is commutative; (iv) any \(P_n\)-ring satisfies the identity \([x^m,y^m]=0\) if the set of all zero divisors is commutative; (v) a \(P_n\)-ring \(R\) is commutative if either \(R\) is torsionfree or \(R\) is a ring without nonzero nilpotent elements.