26

Homomorphic Images
Recalling that homomorphisms can relate two groups that are not nec-
essarily isomorphic, we are interested in information concerning arbitrary
homomorphisms, including what happens to subgroups. First we introduce
an important subgroup of G2 arising from a homomorphism ': G1 ! G2 ,
namely the image '(G1 ), and obtain a key generalization of Example 10.
Proposition 13. If ': G1 ! G2 is a homomorphism of nite groups, then
'(G1 ) is a subgroup of G2 , and j'(G1)j = [G1 : ker '].
Proof. '(g1)'(g2 ) 1 = '(g1g2 1 ) 2 '(G1 ) so '(G1 )  G2 , proving the rst
assertion. Recall that [G1 : ker '] is the number of cosets of ker ', which it
remains to prove equals j'(G1 )j. Letting K = ker ' we claim that' induces
a 1:1 correspondence : fcosets of K g ! '(G1 ), given by Kg 7! '(g):
Indeed  is well-dened and onto, since '(ag) = '(a)'(g) = '(g) for any
a in K ; also,  is 1:1 by Remark 8. 
This result justies our intuition that ker ' is the information \lost"
in applying the homomorphism '. Let us use this approach to determine
the subgroups of (Zm; +). We start with a key observation. If ': G1 ! G2
is a group homomorphism and H  G1 ; then, viewing the action of ' on
H only, we get a homomorphism ': H ! G2 , called the restriction of ' to
H , denoted 'jH .
Proposition 14. Suppose ': G1 ! G2 is a group homomorphism.
(i) If H  G1 ; then '(H )  G2 .
(ii) Conversely if H2  G2 ; then ' 1 (H2) is a subgroup of G1 containing
ker '.
(iii) If ' is onto, then jH2j = [' 1(H2 ) : ker '] for all H2  G2 .
Proof. (i) By Proposition 13 applied to 'jH .
(ii) ker ' = ' 1 feg  ' 1 (H2): To see that ' 1 (H2 )  G1 , take
a; b 2 ' 1 (H2 ); then '(ab 1 ) = '(a)'(b) 1 2 H2 , so ab 1 2 ' 1 (H2 ).
(iii) Apply Proposition 13 to the restriction of ' to ' 1 (H2 ). 
This useful result can be reformulated more concisely.
Proposition 15. Suppose ': G1 ! G2 is a surjection. Then ' induces a
1: 1 correspondence
: fsubgroups of G1 containing ker 'g ! fsubgroups of G2 g;
and  1 is induced by ' 1 .