Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2009
Let R be a directly indecomposable finite ring. Let p be a prime, let m be a positive integer and suppose the radical of R has pm elements. Then we show that . As a consequence, we have that, for a given finite nilpotent ring N, there are up to isomorphism only finitely many finite rings not having simple ring direct summands, with radical isomorphic to N. Let R* denote the group of units of R. Then we prove that (1 − 1/p)m+1 ≤ |R*| / |R| ≤ 1 − 1/pm. As a corollary, we obtain that if R is a directly indecomposable non-simple finite 2′-ring then |R| < |R*| |Rad(R)|.