# Associated elements in a ring

Please help me to find elements $a,b$ in a ring $R$ such that $a\mid b$ and $b\mid a$, but there does not exist any unit $u$ in $R$ such that $a=ub$.

• A ring without a $1$ should work (for instance, $C_0(\mathbb{R})$), because it has no units :) – Prahlad Vaidyanathan Dec 2 '13 at 9:59
• I tried with $\dfrac{1}{x}$ and $e^{-x}$ but it didn't work. Will you please help? – Anupam Dec 2 '13 at 12:04

Consider $R = \mathbb{Q}[x,y,z]/(x-xyz)$, and denote by $\overline{f}$ the image of $f\in \mathbb{Q}[x,y,z]$ in $R$. Now note that $$\overline{x} = \overline{xy}\overline{z}$$ and hence $$\overline{x} \mid \overline{xy} \text{ and } \overline{xy} \mid \overline{x} \text{ in } R$$ I claim that there does not exist $\overline{f} \in R^{\ast}$ such that $$\overline{f}\overline{x} = \overline{xy}$$ Suppose such an $f \in \mathbb{Q}[x,y,z]$ existed, then $fx - xy \in (x-xyz)$, whence $f-y \in (1-yz)$. So there exists $h \in \mathbb{Q}[x,y,z]$ such that $$f = y + h(1-yz)$$ Now suppose $\overline{f}$ is a unit, then it must follow that $$(y+h(1-yz),x) = \mathbb{Q}[x,y,z]$$ But, by setting $x=0, y=z$, one gets $$(z+h(1-z^2)) = \mathbb{Q}[z]$$ Check that this is not possible.