Decompositions of matrices by using commutators

Abstract: We will use commutators to provide decompositions of $3\times 3$ matrices as sums whose terms satisfy some polynomial identities, and we apply them to bounded linear operators and endomorphisms of free modules of infinite rank. In particular it is proved that every bounded operator of an infinite dimensional complex Hilbert space is a sum of four automorphisms of order $3$ and that every simple ring that is obtained as a quotient of the endomorphism ring of an infinitely dimensional vector space modulo its maximal ideal is a sum of three nilpotent subrings.