Suppose that the
(primary)
ideal
( is local and Cohen-Macaulay)
has finite projective dimension. Then we have a finite free resolution
-
and the length of this resolution is due to the Auslander-Buchsbaum formula, since the depth of is . Then the top-dimensional syzygy module is free, just because
-
The cohomology class is then described as
-
and it is if and only if all components are . These components lie in the
(often)
well understood cohomology module
-
If is even regular, then every ideal has a finite free resolution and the ideal containment problem
reduces to the computation of
(the components of)
and deciding whether they are or not.