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Herstein: Topics in Algebra - Homomorphisms: by Bret Sherfinski June 18, 2015

The document discusses a proof about a dihedral group G and a normal subgroup N of G. It proves that (a) the subgroup N is normal in G, and (b) the quotient group G/N is isomorphic to the group W of real numbers under multiplication, where W = {1, -1}. It defines a homomorphism φ from G to W and shows that its kernel is N, implying the isomorphism G/N ≈ W by the first isomorphism theorem.

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25 views

Herstein: Topics in Algebra - Homomorphisms: by Bret Sherfinski June 18, 2015

The document discusses a proof about a dihedral group G and a normal subgroup N of G. It proves that (a) the subgroup N is normal in G, and (b) the quotient group G/N is isomorphic to the group W of real numbers under multiplication, where W = {1, -1}. It defines a homomorphism φ from G to W and shows that its kernel is N, implying the isomorphism G/N ≈ W by the first isomorphism theorem.

Uploaded by

Yuki
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Herstein: Topics in Algebra - Homomorphisms

by Bret Sherfinski

June 18, 2015

8. Let G be the dihedral group defined as the set of all formal symbols xi y j , i = 0, 1, j =
0, 1, 2, . . . , n − 1 where x2 = e, y n = e, xy = y −1 x. Prove

(a) The subgroup N = {e, y, y 2 , . . . , y n−1 } is normal in G.


(b) G/N ≈ W , where W = {1, −1} is the group under multiplication of the real
numbers.

Proof:

(a) N is normal in G because [G : N ] = 2.

(b) Since |G/N | = 2 then G/N ≈ C2 (cyclic group of order 2) as all groups of order 2 are
cyclic. Clearly, W ≈ C2 , so G/N ≈ W .

One can also define φ : G → W by:


(
1 if i = 0
φ(xi y j ) =
−1 if i = 1

Clearly, φ is onto and using the results of Herstein 2.6.17(a) it follows immediately
that φ is a homomorphism of groups and Kerφ = N . Therefore, from the first
isomorphism theorem we have G/N ≈ W .

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