Here pd stands for the projective dimension of a module, and depth for the depth of a module.
Applications
The Auslander–Buchsbaum theorem implies that a Noetherian local ring is regular if, and only if, it has finite global dimension. In turn this implies that the localization of a regular local ring is regular.
If A is a local finitely generated R-algebra (over a regular local ring R), then the Auslander–Buchsbaum formula implies that A is Cohen–Macaulay if, and only if, pdRA = codimRA.