Range-Inclusive Maps in Rings with Idempotents

Let 𝒜 be a ring, let ? be an 𝒜-bimodule, and let 𝒞 be the center of ?. A map F:𝒜 → ? is said to be range-inclusive if F(x), 𝒜] ? x, ?] for every x ∈ 𝒜. We show that if 𝒜 contains idempotents satisfying certain technical conditions (which we call wide idempotents), then every range-inclusive additive map F:𝒜 → ? is of the form F(x) = λx + μ(x) for some λ ∈ 𝒞 and μ:𝒜 → 𝒞. As a corollary we show that if 𝒜 is a prime ring containing an idempotent different from 0 and 1, then every range-inclusive additive map from 𝒜 into itself is commuting (i.e., F(x), x] = 0 for every x ∈ 𝒜).