Group Theory

Problem Set 1
due Wed 26th of Mehr, 23:59

1. Specify which of the following sets are groups under the specified operation, Yes or No:

(a) Rational numbers; addition.

(b) Rational numbers; multiplication.
(c) Nonzero rational numbers; multiplication.
(d) Irrational numbers together with zero; addition.
(e) Integers; addition.
(f) Positive integers; multiplication.
(g) The set of all Real n by n matrices, Mn×n (R); matrix multiplication.

2. (a) Construct the Cayley table (multiplication table) of a finite group with 3 elements.
(b) The ”Klein four-group”, K4 , is the group of symmetries of a rectangle. Write down its elements
(define what each element does) and construct its Cayley table.
(c) There are only two groups with 4 elements (up to isomorphism), one of them is K4 . Find the
other one by finding a different Cayley table.

3. (a) The ”Dihedral group”, Dn , is the group of symmetries (consisting of rotations and reflections)
of a regular polygon with n sides. What is the order of Dn ? explain.
(b) The following are elements of the permutation group S4 :
     
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
a= , b= , c= (1)
1 3 2 4 4 3 1 2 3 2 4 1

Write down b−1 , ab, bc, and cba.

4. Let (G, ∗) be a group and S ⊆ G, not necessarily a subgroup. We define:

• the center of the group G, denoted Z(G), is the set of all elements of G that commute with
all other elements ,i.e.
Z(G) := {z ∈ G | ∀g ∈ G : z ∗ g = g ∗ z}

• the centralizer of a subset S of G, CG (S) or simply C(S), is the set of all those elements of
G that commute with the elements of S, i.e 1

C(S) := {g ∈ G | ∀s ∈ S : g ∗ s = s ∗ g} ≡ g ∈ G | ∀s ∈ S : g ∗ s ∗ g −1 = s


1
g ∗ a ∗ g −1 is called ”conjugation” of the element a

1
 • weakening the above condition to just leaving the whole set S invariant under conjugation (and
not every element of it), we get to the notion of the normalizer of S, i.e 2

. 
N (S) := g ∈ G | ∀s ∈ S : g ∗ s ∗ g −1 ∈ S = g ∈ G | gSg −1 = S


(a) In a few sentences justify Z(G) ⊆ C(S) ⊆ N (S).

(b) Prove that they are all subgroups of G.
(c) Show that a group G is abelian iff Z(G) = G. A good explanation also suffices !

5. A set F = {µ, λ, ν, ...} with the binary operation on it denoted by + & · is said to be a field if:

− (F, +) is an abelian group

− (F \ {0+ } , ·) is an abelian group. ( 0+ is the identity element of the group (F, +) )
− ∀µ, λ, ν ∈ F : µ · (λ + ν) = µ · λ + µ · ν

(a) Show that Zn := {0, 1, 2, ..., n − 1} with addition modulo n is a group, for all n ∈ N.
(b) Show that Zn \ {0} = {1, 2, ..., n − 1} with multiplication modulo n is a group only if n is a
prime number.
(c) If instead of Zn we take Z∗n := {x ∈ N | x < n and gcd (x, n) = 1}, then this will be a group
with multiplication modulo n for all n ∈ N. Show this.
(d) Show that {−1, 1}, with ordinary multiplication, is isomorphic to (Z2 , +), defined above, and
2πi 4πi
that {1, e 3 , e 3 }, with ordinary multiplication, is Iso to (Z3 , +).
2πi
(e) Now let ω = e n be the nth root of 1. Show that {1, ω, ω 2 , ..., ω n−1 } is Iso to (Zn , +).
hint : look at the powers of ω and define the Iso function properly.

6. A set V = {~v , ~u, w,

~ ...} is said to be a vector space over the field (F, +, ·), if:

• (V,+
+ ) is an abelian group. (where the + is the ”vector addition” defined on V )
• The ”scalar multiplication” on V , : F × V → V , is defined such that 3



 λ (~u + ~v ) = λ~u + λ~v
(λ + µ) ~u = λ~u + µ~u

∀~u, ~v , w
~ ∈ V & ∀µ, λ ∈ F :
 µ(λ~u) = (µ · λ)~u

1F ~u = ~u


(a) Let V be the set of all m by n matrices with Complex entries and let the ”vector addition” be
the ordinary matrix addition and similarly for the ”scalar multiplication”. Show that [verify
the axioms] it’ll be a vector space. (The resulting vector space is denoted Mm×n (C))
(b) Will it still be a vector space if you take your vector addition operation to be matrix multipli-
cation?

If you have any doubts, send a message to my Telegram ID @amirshirekhoda

2
You’ll see the reason behind the definition and the name when ”normal subgroup” is defined in the course
3
+)
1F is the identitiy element of (V,+

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