On the homogeneity of additive mappings

LetK be a ring with an identity 1 0 andM, L two unitaryK-modules. Then, for any additive mappingf:M L, the setH _f :={ K f(x)=f(x) for allx M} forms a subring ofK, the homogeneity ring off. It is shown that, forM {0},L {0} and any subringS ofK for whichM is a freeS-module, there exists an additive mappingf:ML such thatH _f =S. This result is applied to the four Cauchy functional equations, and it leads also to an answer to the question as to whether it is possible to introduce onM a multiplication ·:M × M M makingM into a ring but not into aK-algebra.