On the group of unit-valued polynomial functions

Let R be a finite commutative ring. The set $${{\mathcal{F}}}(R)$$ F ( R ) of polynomial functions on R is a finite commutative ring with pointwise operations. Its group of units $${{\mathcal{F}}}(R)^\times $$ F ( R ) × is just the set of all unit-valued polynomial functions. We investigate polynomial permutations on $$R[x]/(x^2)=R[\alpha ]$$ R [ x ] / ( x 2 ) = R [ α ] , the ring of dual numbers over R, and show that the group $${\mathcal{P}}_{R}(R[\alpha ])$$ P R ( R [ α ] ) , consisting of those polynomial permutations of $$R[\alpha ]$$ R [ α ] represented by polynomials in R[x], is embedded in a semidirect product of $${{\mathcal{F}}}(R)^\times $$ F ( R ) × by the group $${\mathcal{P}}(R)$$ P ( R ) of polynomial permutations on R. In particular, when $$R={\mathbb{F}}_q$$ R = F q , we prove that $${\mathcal{P}}_{{\mathbb{F}}_q}({\mathbb{F}}_q[\alpha ])\cong {\mathcal{P}}({\mathbb{F}}_q) \ltimes _\theta {{\mathcal{F}}}({\mathbb{F}}_q)^\times $$ P F q ( F q [ α ] ) ≅ P ( F q ) ⋉ θ F ( F q ) × . Furthermore, we count unit-valued polynomial functions on the ring of integers modulo $${p^n}$$ p n and obtain canonical representations for these functions.