Specifically, is it possible for a non-Noetherian ring $R$ to have $R[x]$ Noetherian? Every reference I've seen for the Hilbert basis theorem only states the direction "$R$ Noetherian $\Rightarrow$ $R[x]$ Noetherian", which would certainly seem to imply that the converse is false. Unfortunately, it's tough to think about non-Noetherian rings, and what I'm sure is most people's favorite example of one, $K[x\_1,x\_2,\ldots]$ for a field $K$, is obviously not going to help us here.



Converse to Hilbert basis theorem?
If $A$ is an ideal of $R$, then $A[X]$ is an ideal of $R[X]$, right? So an ascending chain of ideals in $R$ which does not stabilize gives you an ascending chain of ideals in $R[X]$ which doesn't stabilize either?


