On the Theory of Finite Abelian Groups

Dan Cavallaro
March 18, 2009

1 Introduction
When studying groups of which we know very little, we often try to relate them
to groups with more well-defined properties in order to gain insight into their
structure. This paper discusses a method of relating the finite abelian groups
to direct products of cyclic groups of prime-power order.

2 Fundamental Theorem
Theorem 2.1. The Fundamental Theorem of Finite Abelian Groups states that
every finite group is a direct product of cyclic groups of prime-power order.
Moreover, the number of terms in the product and the powers of the cyclic
groups are uniquely determined by the group.
For clarity and ease of understanding, our proof of the Fundamental Theorem
of Finite Abelian Groups will be separated into four major lemmas. We begin
our proof of the Fundamental Theorem by showing a few minor results that will
be required in later steps of the proof.
Proposition 2.2. Let G be an abelian group with identity e and let n be some
fixed integer. Then the set of all elements that satisfy the equation xn = e is a
normal subgroup of G.
Proof. Let H be the subset of G consisting of all elements of G that satisfy the
equation xn = e, and let a and b be any two elements of H. Then an = e and
bn = e, by definition of H. So then an = bn , and an b−n = e. But since G is
abelian, an b−n = (ab−1 )n = e, so ab−1 ∈ H. So by the one-step subgroup test,
H is a subgroup of G. And since G is abelian, H must be normal in G.
Proposition 2.3. Let H and K be subgroups of a finite group G. Then |HK| =
|H||K|/|H ∩ K|.
Proof. The set HK clearly has |H||K| entries, but not all entries necessarily
represent distinct group elements. In other words, it might be possible that
hk = h0 k 0 even though h 6= h0 and k 6= k 0 . For every t in H ∩K, hk = (ht)(t−1 k),
so each group element in HK is represented by at least |H ∩ K| products in

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HK. But hk = h0 k 0 implies t = h−1 h0 = k(k 0 )−1 ∈ H ∩ K, so that h0 = ht

and k 0 = t−1 k. Thus each element in HK is represented by exactly |H ∩ K|
products. So, |HK| = |H||K|/|H ∩ K|.
Now that we have shown these results, we continue on to prove the first of
four lemmas in our proof of the Fundamental Theorem.
Lemma 2.4. Let G be a finite abelian group of order pn m, where p is a prime
n
that does not divide m. Then G = H × K, where H = {x ∈ G | xp = e} and
K = {x ∈ G | xm = e}. Moreover, |H| = pn .
Proof. By Proposition 2.2, H and K are both normal subgroups of G. To prove
that G = H × K we need only prove that G = HK and H ∩ K = {e}. Since p is
a prime not dividing m, we have gcd(m, pn ) = 1, and there are integers s and t
n n
such that sm + tpn = 1. For any x ∈ G, we have x = x1 = xsm+tp = xsm xtp .
n n
Note that (xsm )p = (xp m )s = es = e, by a corollary of Lagrange’s Theorem,
n n
because |G| = pn m, and so xsm ∈ H. Likewise we see that (xtp )m = (xp m )t =
n
et = e, so xtp ∈ K. So we see that for all x ∈ G, x = hk for some h ∈ H
and k ∈ K, so G = HK. Now suppose that some x ∈ H ∩ K. Then x ∈ H
n
and x ∈ K, so xp = e = xm , and it must be true that |x| divides both pn
and m. But since gcd(pn , m) = 1, we must have |x| = 1, and so x = e. Now
H ∩ K = {e}, and we have shown that G = H × K.
For the second assertion of the lemma, note that pn m = |G| = |HK| =
|H||K|/|H ∩ K| = |H||K|, by Proposition 2.3. Now assume p divides |K|. Then
since K is a finite abelian group, K must have an element of order p. But since
all elements x of K satisfy xm = e, it must be true that m divides p. But p is
prime, so our assumption must be false, and p does not divide |K|. And since
p does not divide |K|, so |H| = pn .
Given an abelian group G with |G| = pn1 1 pn2 2 · · · pnk k , where the p’s are dis-
ni
tinct primes, we let G(pi ) denote the set {x ∈ G | xpi = e}. It then follows
immediately from Lemma 2.4 and induction that G = G(p1 )×G(p2 )×· · ·×G(pk )
and |G(pi )| = pni i . Noting that any subgroup of an abelian group is abelian, we
now see that any abelian group can be written as the direct product of abelian
groups of prime-power order. Continuing the proof, we now turn our attention
to these groups of prime-power order.
Lemma 2.5. Let G be an abelian group of prime-power order and let a be an
element of maximal order in G. Then G can be written in the form hai × K.
Proof. We denote |G| by pn and induct on n. If n = 1, then G = hai × hei,
so the statement is true in the base case. Now assume that the statement is
true for all abelian groups of order pk , for k < n. Among all the elements of G,
m
choose a of maximal order pm . Then xp = e for all x ∈ G. We may assume
that G 6= hai, because otherwise we are done. Now, among all the elements of
G, choose b of smallest order such that b 6∈ hai. We claim that hai ∩ hbi = {e}.
We may establish this by showing that |b| = p, because then any element of
hbi is a generator of hbi, so if any element of hbi is contained in hai, then all of
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hbi be will be contained in hai. But then b ∈ hai, which contradicts the way
b was chosen. So we now show that |b| = p. Since |bp | = |b|/p, we know that
|bp | < |b|, so we must have bp ∈ hai because b was chosen to be of smallest order
m m−1 m−1
such that b 6∈ hai. So let bp = ai . Note that e = bp = (bp )p = (ai )p , so
|ai | ≤ pm−1 . So ai must not be a generator of hai, and so gcd(pm , i) 6= 1. This
shows that p | i, so we can write i = pj for some integer j. Then bp = ai = apj .
Now consider the element c = a−j b. Clearly c is not in hai, because if it were,
then b would be, too. Also, cp = a−jp bp = a−i bp = b−p bp = e. Thus, we have
found an element c of order p such that c 6∈ hai. But since b was chosen to have
smallest order such that b 6∈ hai, we conclude that b must also have order p, and
our claim is verified.
Now consider the quotient group G = G/hbi. For the sake of simplifying
m−1
notation, we let x denote the coset hbix in G. If |a| < |a| = pm , then ap = e.
m−1 m−1 m−1
This means that (hbia)p = hbiap = hbi, so that ap ∈ hai ∩ hbi = {e},
contradicting the fact that |a| = pm . Thus, |a| = |a| = pm , and we therefore a is
an element of maximal order in G. By induction, we know that G can be written
in the form hai × K for some subgroup K of G. Let K be the pre-image of K
under the canonical homomorphism from G to G, i.e. K = {x ∈ G | x ∈ K}.
We now claim that hai ∩ K = {e}. If x ∈ hai ∩ K, then we know x ∈ hai, and
also x ∈ hai ∩ K = {e} = hbi, so x ∈ hbi as well. Then x ∈ hai and x ∈ hbi, so
x ∈ hai ∩ hbi = {e}, so x = e, and hai ∩ K = {e}. It simply remains to be shown
that G = haiK, which we can show by an order argument. By Proposition 2.3,
we know |haiK| = |a||K|/|hai ∩ K| = |a||K| = |a||K|p = |G|p = |G|, and
therefore G = hai × K. Now by the principle of mathematical induction, any
abelian group G of prime-power order can be written in the form hai × K, for
a of maximal order.
Now by Lemma 2.5 and induction on the order of the group, we can prove
the following.
Lemma 2.6. A finite abelian group of prime-power order is an internal direct
product of cyclic groups of prime-power order.
Proof. Let G be a finite abelian group of prime-power order, say pn . We use
Lemma 2.5 and induct on n. If n = 1, then G = hai × hei. Now assume
that the statement is true for all abelian groups of order pk , with k < n. By
Lemma 2.5, we can write G as hai × K, where K is some subgroup of G and
a is an element of maximal order in G, say with order pm . Then K must have
order pn /pm = pn−m , and n − m < n, so by our inductive hypothesis we know
that K can be written as an internal direct product of cyclic groups. So now
we know that G can be written as an internal direct product of cyclic groups,
and by the principle of mathematical induction, the statement must be true for
all n. Furthermore, because G has prime-power order, these cyclic groups must
also be of prime-power order.
We now pause and remark on our progress in proving the Fundamental
Theorem. Lemma 2.4 and the comment following it show that G = G(p1 ) ×
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G(p2 ) × · · · × G(pn ), where each G(pi ) is a group of prime-power order, and

Lemma 2.6 in turn shows that each of these factors is the internal direct product
of cyclic groups of prime-power order. Therefore, we have shown that G, an
arbitrary finite abelian group, is an internal direct product of prime-power order.
All that remains to be done is to prove the uniqueness of the factors. Clearly
the groups G(pi ) are uniquely determined by G, for they simply contain the
elements of G whose orders are powers of pi , for each prime divisor of G. So
all we have left to prove is that each G(pi ) may be written only one way, up to
isomorphism and reordering of factors, as an internal direct product of cyclic
groups of prime-power order. We begin by showing a helpful result.

Proposition 2.7. Let G be an abelian group and let n be a fixed positive integer.
Let Gn = {g n | g ∈ G}. Then Gn is a subgroup of G. Furthermore, if n is a
prime and n divides |G|, then Gn is a proper subgroup of G.
Proof. Consider x, y ∈ Gn . Then we know that x = g1n and y = g2n for some
g1 , g2 ∈ G. Then xy −1 = g1n (g2n )−1 = g1n g2−n = (g1 g2−1 )n . But since G is a
group, g1 g2−1 ∈ G, so (g1 g2−1 )n ∈ Gn , and xy −1 ∈ Gn . And by the two-step
subgroup test, Gn is a subgroup of G.
For the second assertion of the proposition, let p be a prime that divides |G|.
Since G is a finite abelian group, Cauchy’s Theorem for Abelian Groups tells us
that G must have an element of order p; call this element k. But then k p = e,
and so we now know that |Gp | < |G|, so Gp is a proper subgroup of G.

With that, we now begin our proof of the fourth and final lemma, concerning
the uniqueness of the orders of the cyclic groups comprising G.
Lemma 2.8. Suppose that G is a finite abelian group of prime-power order.
If G = H1 × H2 × · · · × Hm and G = K1 × K2 × · · · × Kn , where the H’s
and K’s are nontrivial cyclic subgroups with |H1 | ≥ |H2 | ≥ · · · ≥ |Hm | and
|K1 | ≥ |K2 | ≥ · · · ≥ |Kn |, then m = n and |Hi | = |Ki | for all i.

Proof. We proceed by induction on |G|. In the case where |G| = p, G is itself

a cyclic group of prime power order, so clearly the statement is true. Now
suppose that the statement is true for all abelian groups of order less than
|G|. Then Gp = H1p × H2p × · · · × Hm p
0 , and G
p
= K1p × K2p × · · · × Knp0 ,
where m is the largest integer i such that |Hi | > p, and n0 is the largest
0

integer j such that |Kj | > p. Furthermore, Gp is a proper subgroup of G,

by Proposition 2.7. Since |Gp | < |G|, we have by induction that m0 = n0
and |Hi | = |Ki | for all i = 1, . . . , m0 . Since |Hi | = p|Hip |, this proves that
|Hi | = |Ki | for all i = 1, . . . , m0 . All that remains to be shown is that the
number of Hi of order p equals the number of Ki of order p; that is, we must
prove that m − m0 = n − n0 , since n0 = m0 . This follows directly from the facts
0 0
that |H1 ||H2 | · · · |Hm0 |pm−m = |G| = |K1 ||K2 | · · · |Kn0 |pn−n , |Hi | = |Ki |, and
m0 = n0 .
We now wrap up our proof with a brief overview: with Lemma 2.4, we
showed that any finite abelian group can be written as an internal direct product
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of groups of prime-power order. Then with Lemma 2.5 and Lemma 2.6, we
showed that each of these prime-power groups can be written as an internal
direct product of cyclic groups of prime-power order. With that, we have shown
the first part of the fundamental theorem. Then finally, with Lemma 2.8, we
showed the uniqueness of these cyclic group factors, completing our proof of the
fundamental theorem of finite abelian groups.
REFERENCES 6

References
[1] J. A. Gallian, Contemporary Abstract Algebra, Houghton Mifflin Company,
2006.
[2] G. Navarro, On the Fundamental Theorem of Finite Abelian Groups, The
American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 110, No. 2. (2003) 153-154.