ABSTRACT
We shall begin by reviewing rapidly the definition and elementary properties of rings. This will indicate how much we are going to assume of the reader and it will also serve to fix notation and conventions. After this review we pass on to a discussion of prime and maximal ideals. The remainder of the chapter is devoted to explaining the various elementary operations which can be performed on ideals. The Grothendieck language of schemes is dealt with in the exercises at the end.
