3.1 part 1, due January 19

1. Difficult: I really didn't understand this chapter. Probably because it's all new to me. I'm really confused on what a ring is. I read it a couple times and I just don't get it. The first definition said that a ring is a set equipped with two operations, but then it went on to list 8 axioms. What are the properties? Are they just closure under multiplication and addition? I don't know.
2. Reflective: I'm having vague memories of Linear Algebra. it seems like this was very similar to... what were they called? Linear systems? I'm not sure if this was just because they had some matrices, or if the long list of axioms were familiar. I hope they're similar, 'cause then it'll be easier to understand.