3 Binary operations. Semigroups.

Monoids
Problem 1. Let (M, ·) be a groupoid in which the following relations hold:
i) x · x = x, (∀)x ∈ M .
ii) (x · y) · z = (y · z) · x, (∀)x, y, z ∈ M .
Show that the operation · is commutative.

Problem 2. Let (M, ·) be a groupoid in which the following relations hold:

i) (x · y) · y = x, (∀)x, y ∈ M .
ii) x · (x · y) = y, (∀)x, y ∈ M .
Show that the operation · is commutative.

Problem 3. Let (M, ·) be a groupoid in which the following relations hold:

i) (x · y) · x = y · x, (∀)x, y ∈ M .
ii) (∃)u ∈ M : x · u = x, (∀)x ∈ M .
iii) x · x = u, (∀)x ∈ M .
Show that |M | = 1.

Problem 4. Let (M, ·) be a groupoid in which the following relations hold:

i) (a · b) · (c · d) = (a · c) · (b · d), (∀)a, b, c, d ∈ M .
ii) a · a = a, (∀)a ∈ M .
Show that
a) a · (b · c) = (a · b) · (a · c), (∀)a, b, c ∈ M .
b) (a · b) · c = (a · c) · (b · c), (∀)a, b, c ∈ M .
c) If the the operation admits also a unit element, show that it is associative and com-
mutative.

Problem 5. Let (M, ·) be a groupoid in which the following relations hold:

i) a · (a · b) = b, (∀)a, b ∈ M .
ii) a · b = b · a, (∀)a, b ∈ M .
iii) (a · b) · (c · d) = (a · c) · (b · d), (∀)a, b, c, d ∈ M .
Show that
a) ((a · b) · c) · d = ((a · d) · c) · b, (∀)a, b, c, d ∈ M .
If also the following relation holds
iv) (a · b) · c = a · (b · c) =⇒ a = c
show that
b) a · a = b · b =⇒ a = b.
c) (a · a) · (b · b) = c · c =⇒ a · b = c.
If the set M is finite, show that
d) |M | is an odd number.

Problem 6. Let (M, ·) be a semigroup such that there is an element a ∈ M such that

(∀)x ∈ M (∃)y ∈ M : x = a · y · a .

Show that (M, ·) is a monoid.

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Problem 7. Let (M, ·, u) be a monoid.
a) Show that a, b ∈ U (M ) =⇒ a · b ∈ U (M ).
b) If there is an element z ∈ M \ {u} which is right absorbant(i.e., x · z = z, (∀)x ∈ M ),
and u, z are the only idempotent elements in M , show that

a · b ∈ U (M ) =⇒ a, b ∈ U (M ) .

Problem 8. On the set N∗ of nonzero natural numbers, we consider the binary operation
∗ defined by
m ∗ n = mn , (∀)m, n ∈ N∗ .
Determine all triplets (m, n, p) ∈ N∗ × N∗ × N∗ such that (m ∗ n) ∗ p = m ∗ (n ∗ p).

Problem 9. Let a, b, c ∈ Z, b 6= 0. Define on Z a binary operation ∗ by

x ∗ y = axy + b(x + y) + c , (∀)x, y ∈ Z .

Show that
a) (Z, ∗) is a semigroup if and only if ac + b − b2 = 0.
b) (Z, ∗) is a monoid if and only if ac + b − b2 = 0 and b|c.

Problem 10. Let n ∈ N∗ be a nonzero natural number and a, b ∈ Z∗ two fixed integers.
Define on Zn a binary operation ∗ by

b ∗ yb = ax
x \ + by , (∀)x, y ∈ Z .

Show that
a) the operation ∗ is commutative if and only if n|a − b.
b) the operation ∗ is associative if and only if n|a(a − 1) and n|b(b − 1).
c) the operation ∗ admits a unit element if and only if ∗ coincides with the operation of
addition on Zn .

Problem 11. Let (M, ·) be a finite semigroup such that

x, y ∈ M ∧ (∃)a, b ∈ M : x = a · y ∧ y = b · x =⇒ x = y .

Show that M containes al least one right absorbant element.