IIT-JAM MATHEMATICAL SCIENCE: ONLINE COURSE

SUBJECT: GROUP THEORY - TOPIC: Dn , Q8 and Class equation

Dihedral group,Dn : The set of all symmetries of a regular n-gon form a group under function composition.
This group is denoted by D2n or Dn .
1. Dn is a subgroup of Sn .
2. |Dn | = 2n.
3. Dn has n rotations and n reflections.
4. Each rotation is of angle ( 360n
)◦ .
5. The n rotations in Dn from a cyclic subgroup of Dn which is isomorphic to Zn .
6. Each reflection in Dn is of order 2.
7. If n is odd then there are n elements of order 2 in Dn .
8. If n is even then there are n + 1 elements of order 2.
9. If d is a divisor of n, d 6= 2 then there are φ(d) elements of order d in Dn .
10. 
Number of conjugacy classes of Dn equals
n+3
2
, if n is odd
n+6
2
, if n is even
11. Class equation for Dn is 2n = 1 + n + 2| + 2 +{z· · · + 2} if n is odd.
n−1
2
n n
2n = 1 + 1 + 2
+ 2
+ 2| + 2 +{z· · · + 2}, if n is even.
n
2
−1
Result: D3 = S3 is the only non abelian group of order 6 up to isomorphism.
Group of Quaternions: The group of quaternions is a non abelian group, under multiplication, of order 8,
given by, Q8 = {1, −1, i, −i, j, −j, k, −k} satisfying the properties:
i2 = j 2 = k 2 = −1
ij = k = −ji
jk = i = −kj
ki = j = −ik
i−1 = −i j −1 = −j k −1 = −k
o(1) = 1 o(−1) = 2 o(±i) = o(±j) = o(±k) = 4
Z(Q8 ) = {1, −1}
cl(1) = {1} cl(−1) = {−1} cl(i) = {i, −i} cl(j) = {j, −j} cl(k) = {k, −k}.
Class equation for Q8 is given by 8=1+1+2+2+2.
Conjugacy Classes: Let G be a group and let a, b ∈ G. a and b are said to be conjugates of each other or
a is similar to b if b = x−1 ax, for some x ∈ G.
Conjugacy class of a, cl(a), is the set of all elements in G which are conjugate to a.
i.e., cl(a) = {x−1 ax : ∀ x ∈ G}
1. If a 6= e then e ∈/ cl(a)
2. cl(e) = {e}.
3. cl(a) is not a subgroup of G if a 6= e.
4. If b ∈ cl(a) then cl(a)
T = cl(b)
5. If a 6= b, then cl(a) cl(b) = φ
6. If a ∈ Z(G), then cl(a) = {a}
 7. If G is abelian then cl(a) = {a} ∀ a ∈ G
|G|
8. If G is finite then |cl(a)| = |c(a)| ,
where C(a) is the centralizer of a.
i.e.,|cl(a)|||G|
9. If G is finite and |G| = m then the maximum number of elements in a conjugacy class is b m2 c
Class equation Pof a Finite group: Let G be a finite group, then the class equation of G is the expression
given by |G| = |cl(a)|
a
where the summation is taken over one element from each conjugacy class.
OR
P
|G| = |Z(G)| + |cl(a)| where sum is taken over one element from each conjugacy classes having more
a∈Z(G)
/
than one element.
Finitely generated groups: Let G be a group and let ai ∈ G for i ∈ I. The smallest subgroup of G
containing {ai : i ∈ I} is the subgroup generated by {ai ∈ I}. If this subgroup is G itself, then we say that
G is generated by the set {ai : i ∈ I}. If this set is finite then G is finitely generated and ai ’s are called the
generators of G.
Result:
• Every cyclic group is finitely generated .
• Every finite group is finitely generated.
Example: The dihedral group Dn is generated by 2 elements. Let a be a rotation of Dn with o(a) = n and
let b be a reflection in Dn . Then Dn =< a, b >= {1, a, a2 , · · · , an−1 , b, ba, · · · ban−1 }
Example: S3 is generated by 2-cycles in S3 , S3 = h(1 2), (2 3), (1 3)i. The set of all 3-cycles in Sn generates
An