Math 360Abstract Algebra I Solutions to Assignment 4

Text problems: Problem 5.2 Q+ is not a subgroup of (C, +), since it is not closed under inversion: 1 Q+ has no additive inverse in Q+ . Problem 5.4 iR is closed under addition: if x, y iR, then we can write x = ia and y = ib for a, b R; then x + y = ia + ib = i(a + b) iR. Its identity element is 0i, and the inverse of ia is i(a) iR. Consequently iR is a subgroup of (C, +). The set S of nn matrices of determinant 2 is not a subgroup 1 0 of GL(n, R), since it is not closed under matrix multiplication: S but 0 2 1 0 0 2
2

Problem 5.8

1 0

0 S. 4 (a) The group table for Z6 is + 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 1 1 2 3 4 5 0 2 2 3 4 5 0 1 3 3 4 5 0 1 2 4 4 5 0 1 2 3 5 5 0 1 . 2 3 4

Problem 5.36

(b) We have 0 1 2 3 4 5 = {0} = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} = {0, 2, 4} = {0, 3} = {0, 4, 2} = {0, 2, 4} = {0, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1} = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}. 1

(c) The elements 1 and 5 are both generators for Z6 . (d) The subgroup diagram is } }} }} } }} 2 AA AA AA AA 0 Problem 5.41 We need to show that [H] contains the identity, that [H] is closed under , and that [H] is closed under inversion. For the rst, let e be the identity element of G. Then e H since H is a subgroup of G, whence (e) [H]. But we proved in class that (e) is the identity element of G . For the second, suppose that x, y [H]. We can nd a, b H with x = (a) and y = (b). Certainly a b H since H is a subgroup of G. But then (a b) = (a) (b) = x y belongs to [H]. For the third, suppose that x [H] and write x = (a) for some a H. Certainly a1 H since H is a subgroup; if we can show that (a1 ) is the inverse of (a) then we will have proved that x1 belongs to [H]. To see this, we compute: (a1 ) (a) = (a1 a) = (e) which is the identity element of G . Multiplying on the right by ((a))1 gives (a1 ) = ((a))1 . Problem 5.52 (a) We need to show that (1) the identity element e HS , (2) HS is closed under multiplication, and (3) HS is closed under inversion. For (1), observe that for any s S, se = es = s. For (2), choose x, y HS and s S. Then xys = xsy = sxy, so that xy HS . For (3), choose x HS and s S; then x1 s = x1 se = x1 sxx1 = x1 xsx1 = esx1 = sx1 . 2 1 AA AA AA AA } }} }} } }} 3 .

so that x1 HS . (The subgroup HS is usually called the centralizer of S.) (b) We already know that the center of G is a subgroup of G; to see that it is abelian, choose x, y HG ; then xy = yx since x HG must commute with every element of G. (Warning: although the center HG is abelian, an arbitrary centralizer HS need not be abelian. For example, let G be any nonabelian group, and put S = {e}. Then HS = G is nonabelian.) Problem 6.2 remainder is 3. We have 42 = 9(5) + 3, so the quotient is 5 and the

Problem 6.4 We have 50 = 8(6)+2, so the quotient is 6 and the remainder is 2. Problem 6.8 Any cyclic group of order 5 is isomorphic to Z5 . The cyclic subgroups of this group are 0 = {0} 1 = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4} = 2 = 3 = 4

so the generators of Z5 are 1, 2, 3, and 4. Consequently any cyclic group of order 5 has exactly four generators. Problem 6.14 If G is a cyclic group with generator a, and is an automorphism of G, then (a) is also a generator of G. (Proof: we have G = a = {an |n Z}. Then (a) = {(a)n |n Z} = {(an )|n Z} = [{an |n Z}] = [G] =G so that (a) is a generator.) By a calculation similar to that of the previous exercise, the generators of Z8 are 1, 3, 5, and 7, so these are the only possible values for (1). As suggested by Exercise 44, the automorphism is determined everywhere once we know its value at a generator (since, for example, (2) = (1 + 1) = (1) + (1)). So we obtain exactly four automorphisms of Z8 , with

tables of values as follows: x 1 (x) 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 x 3 (x) 0 0 3 1 2 6 1 3 4 4 7 5 6 2 7 5 x 5 (x) 0 0 5 1 2 2 7 3 4 4 1 5 6 6 7 3 x 7 (x) 0 0 7 1 2 6 5 . 3 4 4 3 5 6 2 7 1

(Technically it remains to check that all four of these functions are really automorphisms of Z8 , which involves some tedious table-checking that we omit here. We will learn an ecient way to check that these maps are automorphisms when we study group presentations (Section 40).) We conclude that there are exactly four automorphisms of Z8 . Problem 6.22 The subgroups of Z12 are all cyclic by Theorem 6.6. They are 0 1 2 3 4 6 = {0} = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11} = 5 = 7 = 11 = {0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10} = 10 = {0, 3, 6, 9} = 9 = {0, 4, 8} = 8 = {0, 6}.

The subgroup diagram is }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} 4 AA AA AA AA 0 Problem 6.24 The subgroups of Z8 are in one-to-one correspondence with the divisors of 8, namely 1, 2, 4, and 8. The corresponding subgroups are 1 = 2 AA AA AA AA }} }} }} }} 6 1 AA AA AA AA }} }} }} }} 3 .

{0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}, 2 = {0, 2, 4, 6}, 4 = {0, 4}, and 0 = {0}. The subgroup diagram is 1 .

0 Problem 6.32 (a) True. (Theorem 6.1.) (b) False. (The Klein four-group is abelian, but not cyclic since it has four elements but none of them has order greater than 2.) (c) False. (Certainly Q is innite, so if it were cyclic it would be isomorphic to Z. But Q has structural properties that Z does not have; for instance, the equation x + x = a has solutions in Q for all a, whereas the equation x + x = 1 has no solution in Z.) (d) False. (The previous two exercises provide counterexamplesfor instance, 2 does not generate Z8 .) (e) True. (Zn is abelian and has order n.) (f) False. (The Klein four-group has order 4 and is not cyclic.) (g) False. (1 is not prime. Less trivially, 9 is not prime, but it is prime to 20.) (h) False. (Consider G = {e, a, b} with operation given by e a b e e a b a a b e b b a e and G = {e, a, c} with operation given by e a c e e a c . a a c e c c a e Then G G = {e, a} is not a group.) (i) True. (Both H and K must contain e, so e H K. If x, y H K, then xy H (since both x and y lie in H) and xy K (since both x and y lie in K), so xy H K. If x H K, then x1 H (since x H) and x1 K (since x K), so x1 H K. Consequently H K is a subgroup of G; in particular, it is a group.) 5

(j) True. (Every such group is isomorphic to Z or to Zn for some n > 2. Then 1 and 1 are distinct generators for Z, while 1 and n 1 are distinct generators for Zn .) Problem 6.48 Any group G is the union of its cyclic subgroups, for if a G then certainly a a . Suppose that G has only nitely many such subgroups. There are two cases to consider: (1) Each of these cyclic subgroups is itself nite. Then G is a nite union of nite sets, so it is nite. (2) G has some innite cyclic subgroup H. Then H is isomorphic to Z, which has innitely many distinct subgroups {nZ|n Z+ }. Each of the corresponding subgroups of H is then a subgroup of G, contradicting the fact that G has only nitely many subgroupsso this case cannot actually occur. Euclidean symmetry groups: Problem 1 To see that ES(A) contains the identity map , we note that is an isometry and that (A) = A (see the solutions to Assignment 3). To see that ES(A) is closed under composition, suppose that , ES(A). Then is an isometry, and () (A) = ( )(A) = ( (A)) = (A) = A so that ES(A). To see that ES(A) is closed under inversion, suppose that ES(A). Then 1 is an isometry. Applying 1 to both sides of (A) = A gives A = 1 (A), whence 1 ES(A). Problem 2 We saw in class that the symmetry group of an n-armed pinwheel is cyclic of order n. For another example, let A be the gure obtained by writing the letter F at equally spaced intervals along the horizontal axis; it is not hard to believe that ES(A) is innite cyclic, generated by translation one interval to the right. (Section 12 of the text calculates the symmetry groups of many plane gures; our example is taken from Exercise 12.24.) Problem 3 We saw in class that the symmetry group of an equilateral triangle is not cyclic. For another example, let A be the gure obtained by writing the letter T at equally spaced intervals along the horizontal axis. To see that ES(A) is not cyclic, let be translation one interval to the right, and let be reection in a vertical line bisecting one of the Ts. By tracking some points one sees that = ; thus ES(A) is not abelian and hence it is not cyclic. (This example comes from Exercise 12.25. In the language of Section 12, ES(A) is isomorphic to D .)