Math 311

Final Problem Set Solution

December 2002

Instructions: You may refer to your class notes and to Joseph Gallians Contemporary Abstract Algebra in completing this problem set. You may not refer to any other books or notes, and you may not get help from other people. Part I: True or false (5 points each; no justication required) 1. Every subgroup of an Abelian group is Abelian True. 2. If G is a group and d divides the order of G, then G contains an element of order d. False. The group S3 has order 6, but contains no element of order 6. 3. For each n 3, the center of Sn is trivial. True. An element of Sn is conjugate to every other element with the same cycle structure. If Z(Sn ), then can be conjugate only to itself. The only element in Sn (n 3) whose cycle structure is not shared with any other element is the identity. 4. Let G be a group and H be a subgroup of G. Let a and b be elements of G. If aH = bH, then Ha = Hb. False. Take, for example H = {e, (1 2)} in S3 . Then (1 3)H = (1 2 3)H = {(1 3), (1 2 3)} while H(1 3) = {(1 3), (1 3 2)} and H(1 2 3) = {(2 3), (1 2 3)} so that H(1 2 3) = H(1 3). 5. The groups U (20) and U (24) are isomorphic. False. In U (24), every non-identity element has order 2, while in U (20), the element 3 has order 4.

Part II: Computation (10 points each) 1. The quaternion group Q consists of these eight elements: 1, 1, i, i, j, j, k, and k. The operation is multiplication, and products among i, j, and k are computed using the rules i2 = j 2 = k 2 = 1 ij = k, jk = i, ki = j ji = k, kj = i, ik = j. (Multiplication by 1 and 1 is just ordinary multiplication.) Draw a Cayley digraph for Q on the generating set {i, k}. Solution: Here is the Cayley graph. The red edges represent i and the green edges represent k.

-j

-1

-i

-k

2. List all the elements of order 20 in Z6200 . Solution: The elements of order 20 in Z6200 are the generators of the subgroup 310 , which is the unique subgroup of order 20 in Z6200 . One generator of this subgroup is 6200/20 = 310. The other generators are of the form 310n, where n is an integer in {0, 1, 2, 3, . . . , 19} that is relatively prime to 20. The complete list of elements of order 20 in Z6200 is 310 1 310 3 310 7 310 9 310 11 310 13 310 17 310 19 3. Find |cl((1 2 3)(4 5 6 7))| in S10 . Solution: We recall that in Sn , any two elements with the same cycle structure are conjugate. Thus the conjugacy class of (1 2 3)(4 5 6 7) comprises all elements of S10 of the whose cycle structure is ( )( ). The number of such elements is 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 = 50, 400. 3 4 = = = = = = = = 310 930 2170 2790 3410 4030 5270 5890

Part III: Proofs (10 points each; presentation counts. You may cite theorems proved in the textbook to support your proofs.) 1. Let G be a group with identity element e. Let a, b and c be elements of G such that abc = e. Prove that bca = e. Proof: We have a(bc) = e, which implies that bc = a1 . Since a left inverse is also a right inverse, this implies that (bc)a = e, which is what we were asked to prove. 2. Let G1 and G2 be groups and let be a map from G1 to G2 . Suppose is operationpreserving and onto. Let Z(G1 ) denote the center of G1 and Z(G2 ) denote the center of G2 . Let H = {(a) : a Z(G1 )}. Prove that H Z(G2 ). Proof: Let h H. Then h = (x) for some x Z(G1 ). We need to show that h Z(G2 ). That is, we need to show that h commutes with every element of G2 . Let g G2 . Since is onto, we know that g = (y) for some y G1 . Since x Z(G1 ) and y G1 , we know that xy = yx. Now we use the fact that is operation-preserving to get gh = = = = = (y)(x) (yx) (xy) (x)(y) hg.

Since h commutes with an arbitrary element of G2 , we conclude that h Z(G2 ), and therefore that H Z(G2 ). 3. Let G be a group of permutations of the set {1, 2, 3, . . . , 20}. Let g be some element of G such that g(1) = 3. Let H = stabG (1). Prove that gH = {x G : x(1) = 3}. Proof: Let S = {x G : x(1) = 3}. We show rst that gH S. Let y gH. Then y = gh for some h H. Using the fact that h xes the letter 1, we get y(1) = gh(1)

= g(h(1)) = g(1) = 3. Thus y S, and we have shown that gH S. We now show that S gH. Let y S. Then we know that y(1) = 3. We also know that g 1 (3) = 1, so we can write g 1 y(1) = g 1 (3) = 1. That is, the element g 1 y xes the letter 1, so that g 1 y H. By the denitions of cosets, then, g(g 1 y) gH. But gg 1 y = y. So we have shown that y gH. That is, S gH. Having shown containment in both directions, we conclude that S = gH. 4. A loop in a Schreier diagram is a directed edge that leads from some coset back to the same coset. Suppose G is a group, N is a normal subgroup of G, and S = {s1 , s2 , . . . , sr } is a set of elements of G such that S N is empty. Prove that the Schreier diagram for G modulo N on the set S has no loops. Proof: Suppose there is a loop in the Schreier diagram for G modulo N on the set S. Then there exists some g G and some s S such that N gs = N g. In particular, this implies that gs N g. Now we know that N is normal, so N g = gN , and so we have gs gN . That is, there is some n N such that gs = gn. By left cancellation, then, s = n. This implies that s N , contradicting the hypothesis that S N is empty. Thus no loop can exist in this Schreier diagram. 5. Let G be a group and Z(G) be the center of G. Prove that |G : Z(G)| is not a prime. Proof: Suppose |G : Z(G)| = p, where p is a prime. Then every element of G/Z(G) has order 1 or p, so that G/Z(G) is cyclic. From Theorem 9.3 in Gallian, it follows that G is Abelian, so that Z(G) is actually equal to G. This means that |G : Z(G)| = 1, which contradicts the hypothesis that |G : Z(G)| is prime.