On 19 Feb 2010, at 00:55, Daniel Fischer wrote:
I'd always assumed "ring" was generalised from Z[n].
As in "cyclic group", arrange the numbers in a ring like on a
clockface?
Maybe. As far as I know, the term "ring" (in the mathematical sense)
first
appears in chapter 9 - Die Zahlringe des Körpers - of Hilbert's "Die
Theorie der algebraischen Zahlkörper". Unfortunately, Hilbert gives
no hint
why he chose that name (Dedekind, who coined the term "Körper", called
these structures "Ordnung" [order]).
The Wikipedia article "Ring" says he used it for a specific one where
the elements somehow cycled back.
Hans
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