Math 345
These problems are provided to help you study. The presence of a problem on this handout does not imply that there will be a similar problem on the test. And the absence of a topic does not imply that it won't appear on the test.
1. (a) List the elements of the subgroup of generated by .
(b) List the cosets of the subgroup of . For each coset, list the elements of the coset.
(c) Construct an addition table for the quotient group . Is the quotient group isomorphic to or to ?
2. (a) List the elements of .
(b) List the elements of in .
(c) List the elements of each left coset of in .
(d) Find the order of each coset in . Use this information to find the primary decomposition of .
3. is a group under addition mod 18.
(a) List the elements of the subgroup .
(b) List the cosets of in G. For each coset, list the elements of the coset.
(c) Construct an addition table for . What familiar group is isomorphic to ?
4. (a) is the group of elements of which are relatively prime to 28, under multiplication mod 28. List the elements of .
(b) List the elements of the subgroup of .
(c) List the cosets of in . For each coset, list the elements of the coset.
(d) Construct a multiplication table for the quotient group . Use this information to find the primary decomposition of .
5. (a) Let be a group map. Show that if has finite order n, then the order of divides n.
(b) Show that if H is a normal subgroup of G, then the order of divides the order of x.
6. (a) List the elements of the cosets of the subgroup of .
(b) Find the primary decomposition of the quotient group .
7. denotes the group of invertible matrices with entries in :
The operation in is matrix multiplication, but all the arithmetic is done in --- so multiples of 2 equal 0.
(a) List the elements of the cyclic subgroup generated by .
(b) Is the cyclic subgroup generated by a normal subgroup? Why or why not?
(c) Is abelian? Why or why not?
8. Here is the multiplication table for , the group of symmetries of a regular pentagon:
(a) Prove by specific example that the subgroup is not normal.
(b) Explain why the subgroup is normal.
9. Consider the group consisting of elements of which are relatively prime to 15, with the operation being multiplication mod 15:
(a) is an abelian group of order 8. Find its primary decomposition.
(b) List the elements of the quotient group .
(c) is an abelian group of order 4. Find its primary decomposition.
10. Let H and K be subgroups of a group G. Suppose that H is normal. Let
Prove that is a subgroup of G.
11. Use the First Isomorphism Theorem to prove that
12. Use the First Isomorphism Theorem to prove that
13. Let
Prove that
14. Consider the quotient group .
(a) Prove that is infinite by showing that the cosets for are distinct.
(b) Define by
Use the Universal Property of the Quotient to show that f induces a function whose image is . Use this to give an alternate proof that is infinite.
15. Use the Universal Property of the Quotient to show that the function defined by induces a group map . What is the definition of ?
16. (a) Give an example of a noncommutative ring. You don't need to verify any of the ring axioms, but you should produce two elements of the ring which do not commute (and you should show that they do not commute).
(b) Is a ring under matrix addition and multiplication? Why or why not?
(c) Find nonzero matrices A and B with real entries such that , but B is not the identity matrix. Why doesn't this contradict the definition of a multiplicative identity?
17. Let R be a ring, . Use the ring axioms to prove that
18. Let R be a ring, and let . If n is a positive integer, prove that
19. Multiply the quaternions:
20. The characteristic of a ring with unity R is the smallest positive integer n such that
If no such n exists, the ring has characteristic 0.
(a) What is the characteristic of ? Of ?
(b) Give an example of an infinite integral domain with characteristic 2.
21. (a) Find the units in the ring .
(b) Find the zero divisors in the ring .
22. Let R be a ring. Let be idempotent; that is, .
(a) Let
Show that is a subring of R.
(b) Show that e is an identity element for .
23. Give an example of a ring R and nonzero elements such that .
24. Let R be a finite commutative ring with no zero divisors. Prove that R has a multiplicative identity.
25. Let
It consists of squares of integers and their negatives, and it is not a subring of . What is the smallest subring of which contains this set?
26. Let x and y be elements in a ring R. Let
Prove that I is a left ideal in R.
27. (a) Prove that the following set is an ideal in :
(b) Find an integer n such that (and prove that your n works).
28. Prove that the following set is a subring in , but not an ideal:
29. is a ring under componentwise addition and multiplication. Consider the following subset of :
Check each axiom for an ideal. If the axiom holds, prove it. If the axiom does not hold, give a specific counterexample.
30. Define by
Check each axiom for a ring map. If the axiom holds, prove it. If the axiom doesn't hold, give a specific counterexample.
31. Define by
Check each axiom for a ring map. If the axiom holds, prove it. If the axiom doesn't hold, give a specific counterexample.
1. (a) List the elements of the subgroup of generated by .
(b) List the cosets of the subgroup of . For each coset, list the elements of the coset.
(c) Construct an addition table for the quotient group . Is the quotient group isomorphic to or to ?
(a)
(b)
(c) I'll use the representatives , , , and to stand for their cosets.
Since every element has order 1 or 2, the quotient group is isomorphic to .
2. (a) List the elements of .
(b) List the elements of in .
(c) List the elements of each left coset of in .
(d) Find the order of each coset in . Use this information to find the primary decomposition of .
(a) This is the group of elements of which are relatively prime to 16. The operation is multiplication mod 16.
(b) Since , I have
(c) I list the elements of the original subgroup. Then I multiply the elements of the subgroup by other elements of the group, "crossing out" elements that have already been listed, until every element of the group has been listed exactly once.
(d) Since has order 4, it's isomorphic to or to .
For example,
Since every element has order 1 or 2, the quotient group is isomorphic to .
3. is a group under addition mod 18.
(a) List the elements of the subgroup .
(b) List the cosets of in G. For each coset, list the elements of the coset.
(c) Construct an addition table for . What familiar group is isomorphic to ?
(a)
(b) Reminder: The operation is addition mod 18, and the group is . So (for instance) elements like 1 or 9 in don't come into this problem.
There are 9 elements in G and 3 elements in the subgroup, so by Lagrange's theorem there are cosets.
I start with the original subgroup. I take an element that isn't in the subgroup and add it to the subgroup (mod 18) to get a coset:
Next, I take an element which isn't in either of the first two cosets and add it to the original subgroup:
I have three distinct cosets, so that must be all of them. They are
(c)
Here's an example which shows how I constructed the table. To find , I take representatives from each coset. It doesn't matter which elements I use; I'll take 2 from and 10 from . Now , and . Therefore,
The rest of the table is constructed in the same way.
is a group of order 3. The only group of order 3 is , so it must be isomorphic to .
4. (a) is the group of elements of which are relatively prime to 28, under multiplication mod 28. List the elements of .
(b) List the elements of the subgroup of .
(c) List the cosets of in . For each coset, list the elements of the coset.
(d) Construct a multiplication table for the quotient group . Use this information to find the primary decomposition of .
(a)
(b)
(c) First, since and , there are cosets by Lagrange's theorem. They are
(d)
Here's an example to show how the table was constructed. To find , I take representatives from each coset. I'll take 5 from and 11 from ; it doesn't matter which elements I choose. Now , and . Therefore,
The rest of the table is constructed in the same way.
The quotient group has order 4, and every element other than the identity has order 2 --- notice the identity in each spot on the main diagonal. Therefore, the quotient group is isomorphic to . It can't be , the other group of order 4, because there is no element of order 4.
5. (a) Let be a group map. Show that if has finite order n, then the order of divides n.
(b) Show that if H is a normal subgroup of G and has finite order, then the order of divides the order of x.
(a) Since x has order n, I have . Then
This implies that the order of divides n.
(b) The quotient map satisfies . Hence, the result follows immediately from (a).
Expressed in words, this says that the order of a coset divides the order of its representative.
6. (a) List the elements of the cosets of the subgroup of .
(b) Find the primary decomposition of the quotient group .
(a)
(b) The possible primary decompositions are
Note that has order 4:
This rules out .
On the other hand, the original group has no elements of order 8. If , then the order of is , where m is the order of a and n is the order of b. But , so , and , so . No combination of these numbers will give .
Moreover, the largest order of an element of is .
If had order 8, then the order of would divide 8. Since no element of has order greater than 12, this means that has order 8, which I ruled out above.
Thus, the quotient group has no elements of order 8, and it can't be .
Therefore, .
7. denotes the group of invertible matrices with entries in :
(a) List the elements of the cyclic subgroup generated by .
(b) Is the cyclic subgroup generated by a normal subgroup? Why or why not?
(c) Is abelian? Why or why not?
(a)
Hence, the cyclic subgroup is
(b) I'll show that the subgroup isn't normal. Let H denote the subgroup.
Use the formula
This gives
(Remember that in .) Then
Hence, the subgroup isn't normal.
(c) If were abelian, then every subgroup would be normal. Since I found a non-normal subgroup in (a) and (b), can't be abelian.
A specific counterexample:
Hence, is not abelian.
8. Here is the multiplication table for , the group of symmetries of a regular pentagon:
(a) Prove by specific example that the subgroup is not normal.
(b) Explain why the subgroup is normal.
(a)
Therefore, is not normal.
(b) The group has 10 elements, and the subgroup has 5 elements. Therefore, the subgroup has index 2, and any subgroup of index 2 is normal.
9. Consider the group consisting of elements of which are relatively prime to 15, with the operation being multiplication mod 15:
(a) is an abelian group of order 8. Find its primary decomposition.
(b) List the elements of the quotient group .
(c) is an abelian group of order 4. Find its primary decomposition.
(a) The three abelian groups of order 8 are , , and .
has no elements of order 8. This is clear from the multiplication table. 1 has order 1, while 4, 11, and 14 square to 1, and hence have order 2. The remaining elements square to 4, which squares to 1, so the remaining elements have order 4.
Since there are no elements of order 8, can't be .
On the other hand, every element of has order 2. whereas I've just shown that has elements of order 4. Therefore, is ruled out, and hence .
(b) , so the quotient group has 4 elements.
They are
(c) There are two groups of order 4: and . Here's the multiplication table for :
The table shows that two elements don't square to the identity ( ) --- that is, two elements do not have order 2. Since every element of has order 2, can't be .
Thus, .
10. Let H and K be subgroups of a group G. Suppose that H is normal. Let
Prove that is a subgroup of G.
Remember that since H is normal,
I'll need to use this twice in the proof.
Since and , . This proves that the identity is in .
Let , . Then , and
Reason: , and H is normal, so . Obviously, . Therefore, is something in H times something in K.
Thus, is closed under taking inverses.
Finally, let , , so . Then
Reason: , so , because H is normal. Therefore, . Obviously, . Therefore, is something in H times something in K.
This shows that is closed under products.
Hence, is a subgroup.
11. Use the First Isomorphism Theorem to prove that
Define by
(Note how this definition relates to the subgroup .)
If , then
Therefore, f is a group map.
An element of has the form . Now
Therefore, .
Conversely, suppose , so or . Now 5 divides , so it divides ; 5 is relatively prime to 4, so it must divide y. Say . Substituting this into , I get , or . Therefore,
Hence, , and so .
Let . Then
Hence, f is surjective, i.e. .
Finally,
The first equality follows from . The isomorphism is given by the First Isomorphism Theorem. And the last equality follows from the fact that f is surjective.
12. Use the First Isomorphism Theorem to prove that
I need a group map ; I want it to be surjective, and I want the kernel to be .
Define . (I chose and so that will give . I also want to make sure that two components are "independent" --- i.e. not multiples of one another.)
First,
Therefore, f is a group map.
Let . Then
Hence, , so .
Suppose . Then
Equating corresponding components, I get and . Therefore, and . Hence,
It follows that , so .
Next, I'll show that f is surjective. Let . I need to find so that , or .
I have three variables and two equations, so I just juggle the numbers till I find a combination that works. And in fact, if , , and , I get
Therefore, f is surjective.
By the First Isomorphism Theorem,
13. Let
Prove that
Define by
f is a group map:
Next, I'll show that .
First, let . Then
Therefore, . Hence, .
Next, let . Then , so
Hence,
Thus, , and so .
Next, I'll show that . Let . I need an input such that , i.e. such that . I can choose x and y as I please, as long as this equation is satisfied. So I'll set ; then , and . Check it:
Therefore, .
Finally, by the First Isomorphism Theorem, I have
14. Consider the quotient group .
(a) Prove that is infinite by showing that the cosets for are distinct.
(b) Define by
Use the Universal Property of the Quotient to show that f induces a function whose image is . Use this to give an alternate proof that is infinite.
(a) Suppose
Then , so
Equating the second components, I get , or . Then equating the first components, I have , so . This shows that that the cosets for are distinct. Since there are an infinite number of these cosets, the quotient group is infinite.
(b) f is a group map, since
Let . Then
Thus, . By the Universal Property of the Quotient, f induces a function given by
Since , it follows that . Conversely, suppose . Then
This shows that . Hence, .
But is infinite. Hence, must be infinite, because a function can't take a finite set onto an infinite set.
15. Use the Universal Property of the Quotient to show that the function defined by induces a group map . What is the definition of ?
First,
Hence, f is a group map.
Next, if , then
This follows from the fact that .
By the Universal Property of the Quotient, f induces induces a group map . is given by
16. (a) Give an example of a noncommutative ring. You don't need to verify any of the ring axioms, but you should produce two elements of the ring which do not commute (and you should show that they do not commute).
(b) Is a ring under matrix addition and multiplication? Why or why not?
(c) Find nonzero matrices A and B with real entries such that , but B is not the identity matrix. Why doesn't this contradict the definition of a multiplicative identity?
(a) The standard examples of noncommutative rings are rings of matrices. For example, take , the ring of matrices with real entries.
(b) is the invertible matrices with real entries. It is not a ring under matrix addition and multiplication.
You could give several reasons; for instance, it is not closed under matrix addition. As a specific example of this,
(c) No. For example,
This does not contradict the definition of a multiplicative identity for two reasons. First, works for the particular matrix A, whereas an identity I must satisfy for all X. Second, multiplication is not necessarily commutative, so there's no reason to suppose that implies . In fact, it doesn't even work for this particular matrix A.
17. Let R be a ring, . Use the ring axioms to prove that
Therefore, is the additive inverse of : .
But
Therefore, is the additive inverse of : .
Hence, .
18. Let R be a ring, and let . If n is a positive integer, prove that
For , --- the result is true.
For , I want to show that . This follows from Problem 2: .
Now take , and assume the result is true for .
If n is even, then is odd. So
If n is odd, then is even. So
Therefore, the result is true for all n by induction.
19. Multiply the quaternions:
20. The characteristic of a ring with unity R is the smallest positive integer n such that
If no such n exists, the ring has characteristic 0.
(a) What is the characteristic of ? Of ?
(b) Give an example of an infinite integral domain with characteristic 2.
(a) has characteristic 0: For no positive integer n is equal to 0.
has characteristic 57, since in .
(b) Polynomial rings over fields are integral domains, is a domain. Moreover, 2 times anything is 0 in , so has characteristic 2.
21. (a) Find the units in the ring .
(b) Find the zero divisors in the ring .
(a) The multiplicative identity is . To show an element is a unit, I must find an element whose product with the first element is .
The units are , , , and .
(b) To show an element is a zero divisor, I must find an element whose product with the first element is .
Before starting, I note that has 18 elements. is neither a unit nor a zero divisor, and no element is both a unit or a zero divisor. Since I found 4 units in part (a), there are at most zero divisors, and I just need to check the nonunits as possibilities.
The 13 elements which are the first elements of each product above are the zero divisors. It turns out that the elements of consist of , the units, and the zero divisors. (This doesn't have to happen in every ring.)
22. Let R be a ring. Let be idempotent; that is, .
(a) Let
Show that is a subring of R.
(b) Show that e is an identity element for .
(a) Let . Then
Therefore, is closed under addition.
contains the additive identity, since .
Let . Then , so is closed under taking additive inverses.
Finally, let . Then
Therefore, is closed under multiplication.
Hence, is a subring.
Note that the proof didn't use the fact that e is idempotent. In general if , then is a subring.
(b) Let . Then
Therefore, e is an identity element for .
23. Give an example of a ring R and nonzero elements such that .
In , .
24. Let R be a finite commutative ring with no zero divisors. Prove that R has a multiplicative identity.
First, if , 0 is a multiplicative identity for the ring.
Assume then that R has elements other than 0: Suppose the elements are
The first thing I'll do is find a "candidate" for the identity.
How can I figure out which of the r's is 1? One way is to multiply everything by an element --- say --- and see which product is . So look at
Notice that if , then cancelling the 's --- as I can, since there are no zero divisors --- I get . This means that all these products are distinct. Since I started with elements and I now have distinct products, these products must be all the elements in the ring.
In particular, one of the products must be . Suppose . This suggests that might be the identity (so I have my candidate). Now I'll try to prove it.
Note first that, by commutativity, as well.
Since , I only have to show that for any i. Referring to the list of products above, I know that for some j. So
This shows that is a multiplicative identity.
Incidentally, R is now known to be a commutative ring with identity having no zero divisors --- that is, R is an integral domain. But every finite integral domain is a field, so I've actually proved: A finite commutative ring with no zero divisors is a field.
25. Let
It consists of squares of integers and their negatives, and it is not a subring of . What is the smallest subring of which contains this set?
Let R be the smallest subring of which contains the set. Since R is closed under addition, and since , every integer is contained in R (since any integer can be represented as a sum of 1's or -1's). Therefore, .
26. Let x and y be elements in a ring R. Let
Prove that I is a left ideal in R.
First, .
If , then .
If , then
Finally, if and , then
Therefore, I is a left ideal in R.
27. (a) Prove that the following set is an ideal in :
(b) Find an integer n such that (and prove that your n works).
(a) First, .
If , then
If , then
Finally, if and , then
Therefore, I is an ideal in .
(b) Since , I claim that .
First, if , then
Therefore, .
Conversely, I note that by inspection I can write 2 as a linear combination of 4, 14, and 16:
Thus, if , then
Therefore, .
Hence, .
28. Prove that the following set is a subring in , but not an ideal:
is , the subgroup generated by . Therefore, it's a subgroup under addition.
Elements of A have the form , where . Now
Hence, A is closed under multiplication, and it's a subring.
It is not an ideal, since , , but
29. is a ring under componentwise addition and multiplication. Consider the following subset of :
Check each axiom for an ideal. If the axiom holds, prove it. If the axiom does not hold, give a specific counterexample.
Since , I have . Thus, S contains the zero element.
Suppose . Then either or .
If , then , so .
If , then , so .
Thus, S is closed under additive inverses.
Since , I have and . But
Hence, S is not closed under sums.
Let and . Then
If , then , so .
If , then , so .
Thus, S is closed under products by ring elements.
30. Define by
Check each axiom for a ring map. If the axiom holds, prove it. If the axiom doesn't hold, give a specific counterexample.
The identity axiom holds:
The addition axiom does not hold:
The multiplication axiom holds:
31. Define by
Check each axiom for a ring map. If the axiom holds, prove it. If the axiom doesn't hold, give a specific counterexample.
The identity axiom holds:
The addition axiom holds:
The multiplication axiom doesn't hold:
To understand a new idea break an old habit. - Jean Toomer
Copyright 2020 by Bruce Ikenaga