Field (mathematics)

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Template:StubA field is a commutative ring which contains a non-zero multiplicative identity and all non-zero elements have multiplicative inverses. Everyday examples of fields include the real numbers, complex numbers and the rationals. The characteristic of a field must be either 0 or a prime number p. For each prime number p and positive integer n, there is a unique (up to isomorphism) finite field of characteristic p whose cardinality is pn. A field of characteristic 0 is necessarily infinite.