The Betti numbers βn(k) of the residue class field k = R/m of a commutative local ring (R, m) have been studied for about 20 years, primarily as the coefficients of the Poincaré series of E . Several authors have obtained results about the growth of the sequence {βn(k)}.For example, Gulliksen [3] showed that when R is non-regular, the sequence is non-decreasing. More recently, Avramov [1] studied asymptotic properties of {βn(k)} and found that under certain conditions the growth is exponential, i.e., there is a natural number p such that for all n, βpn(k) ≧ 2n.
In this paper, we examine the sequence {βn(M)} for arbitrary finitely generated non-free modules M over any commutative local artin ring R. We establish the following bounds:
1![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0008414X00026729/resource/name/S0008414X00026729_eqn1.gif?pub-status=live)
2![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0008414X00026729/resource/name/S0008414X00026729_eqn2.gif?pub-status=live)
3![](//static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn%3Acambridge.org%3Aid%3Aarticle%3AS0008414X00026729/resource/name/S0008414X00026729_eqn3.gif?pub-status=live)
where l(X) is the length of X.