# Showing $R$ is a local ring if and only if all elements of $R$ that are not units form an ideal

My question is how would I go about proving this?

Prove that $R$ is a local ring if and only if all elements of R that are not units form an ideal.

I understand that I need to prove both directions so:

$(\Rightarrow)$ Local ring means has a unique maximal ideal, so I want to show that this implies the elements are not units.

$(\Leftarrow)$ non unit elements of $R$ form an ideal, so if I show this is unique maximal ideal I can then conclude local ring?

Any hints would be appreciated.

#### Solutions Collecting From Web of "Showing $R$ is a local ring if and only if all elements of $R$ that are not units form an ideal"

The book “Introduction to Commutative Algebra” by Atiyah-Macdonald has in Corollary 1.5:

Every non-unit of $R$ is contained in a maximal ideal.

So
Let $R$ be local. If $m$ is the only maximal of $R$, then $m$ will be the set of non-units.
Conversely:
Let $n$ be the set of non-units of $R$. Let $m$ be a proper ideal s.t. $n\subseteq m$. Since $m$ is proper, no element of $m$ would be unit and so $m\subseteq n$. So $n$ is maximal.

Update:
This is also lemma 3.13 of the book “Steps in Commutative Algebra” by “Sharp” (in that terminology quasi-local means your “local”.