Rik Ghosh

MATHEMATICS 331
ASSIGNMENT 5
01 I understand this, though I did have to reread a few times.

02 Let N be the set consisting of the first n positive integers, where n is some
positive integer. Let Sn be the set of all bijections carrying N to itself. Then,
let A be the set of all functions A of the form:
A(X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 X5 , X6 )
where each of the variables Xi are members of some set V. Now let Sn be a
group acting on the set A as follows:
( A)(X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 X5 , X6 ) = A(X(1) , X(2) , X(3) , X(4) X(5) , X(6) )
where is any member of Sn and where A is any member of A. Finally, let
be another arbitrary member of Sn . Then, letting X represent (X1 , X2 , ..., X6 ):
(( ) A)(X)

A(X( )(1) , X( )(2) , X( )(3) , X( )(4) X( )(5) , X( )(6) )

A(X ((1)) , X ((2)) , X ((3)) , X ((4)) X ((5)) , X ((6)) )

( A)(X(1) , X(2) , X(3) , X(4) X(5) , X(6) )

( ( A))(X)

To go from the left half of the first line to the right half, we first note that
since Sn is a group and that both and are members of Sn , that ( ) is
also a member of Sn . Thus, we apply our definition of how members of Sn
act on functions in A and are left with the right side of the first line. Then,
to go on to the second line we use the definition of composition, rewriting the
composition ( )(i) in standard function notation as ((i)). Then, to move
on to the third line we again use our definition of Sn , though this time in
reverse, which we can do since we know that is a member of Sn . Finally,
to get to the last line we use our definition of Sn again since we know that
A(X(1) , X(2) , X(3) , X(4) X(5) , X(6) ) = ( A)(X1 , X2 , X3 , X4 X5 , X6 ).

03 Again letting variables Xi be members of some set V, let the mapping

be defined as follows:
Y
(X1 , X2 , ..., Xn ) =
(Xk Xj )
1j<kn

where j, k, n are integers. This mapping yields a product of differences (Xk Xj ),

and this product can be grouped by the first term of each difference into (n 1)
rows. For example, the nth row would be
Y
(Xn Xh )
1h(n1)

the (n 1)th row, should it exist, would be

Y
(X(n1) Xh )
1h(n2)

and generally, the i

th

row would be
Y

(Xi Xh )

1h(i1)

For the final product, we would multiply all the ith rows for i = 2, ..., n. As
a side-note, each row i has (i 1) differences being multiplied together. Now,
let be any transposition. By definition, we know that will exchange two
elements let these elements be called Xp and Xq where p, q are integers such
that 1 p < q n. The initial product , by definition, is a product of
differences (Xk Xj ) such that j < k. Applying to will cause at least
one of these differences to become of the form (Xj Xk ), which will cause
to change sign we must keep in mind that though the positions of j and k
have switched, it is still the case that j < k. In fact, each time a difference
(Xk Xj ) becomes of the form (Xj Xk ), will change sign, since a single
new difference with opposite sign is introduced into the product. While there
will also be some differences (Xk Xj ) that are affected by the transposition
yet remain of the form (Xk Xj ), which is to say that the first subscript will
remain greater than the second subscript, such differences will not change the
sign of since they are always accompanied by some second, analogous affect
to some other difference elsewhere in that will offset any sign change of the
first; such differences as a result of the transposition will not introduce a single
new difference with opposite sign. By change sign, we essentially mean that
we multiply the product of by (1). Since (1)n = (1) if and only if n
is odd, the following equation holds only if changes sign an odd number of
times:
=
This is the same as saying that some difference (Xk Xj ) becomes of the form
(Xj Xk ) an odd number of times as a result of some , and we will now show
that this is always the case for any used. First, we keep in mind that our
transposition will exchange Xp and Xq . We know that the q th row of our
product has (q 1) elements, and we know that p < q, so we can say that the
following product is part of the q th row:
Y
(Xq Xh )
ph(q1)

We can see that the total number of differences in the above product is exactly
(qp), and all these differences are those that change the sign of after applying
, since they will become of the form (Xj Xk ) where j < k upon replacement
of Xq with Xp since p < q. Thus, we now have that the sign of will change
(q p) times. The remaining differences that will change sign are contained in
rows i = 2, ..., (q 1). Specifically, they will be of the form
(Xi Xp )
which makes sense since exchanges Xp with Xq and we are only considering
i = 2, ..., (q 1). It is inevitable that the above differences will become of the
form (Xj Xk ) where j < k. Furthermore, there will be precisely one difference
of the form (Xi Xp ) in each row i > p as this is how weve defined our rows.
Thus, to find the total number of such differences we must count the total
number of rows i such that p < i (q 1). Because we want to include the
(q1)th row and exclude the pth row, this is easily done as q(p+1) = (qp1).
Thus we now know that the sign of will change (q p 1) more times as a
result of our arbitrary . In fact, these are all the relevant differences that will
change the sign of . So, in total we have that will change sign
(q p) + (q p 1) = 2q 2p 1 = 2(q p) 1
times. Now, if we let b be the number of integers between q and p, b = (qp)1.
Thus, we can say that changes sign precisely
2(b + 1) 1 = 2b + 2 1 = 2b + 1
times. Since b is a difference of integers, it is an integer itself. Furthermore, an
even integer is defined to be one that is divisible by two, so 2b must be an even
integer. Finally, if 2b is an even integer, 2b + 1 must be an odd integer since
any given odd integer is defined to be one more than some corresponding even
integer. Thus we have shown that changes sign an odd number of times when
any transposition is composed with it, proving that for any
=
Next define as some member of Sn where Sn is defined as in problem 02.
We can write the same permutation as at least two different compositions of
transpositions:
= 10 20 ... p0
= 100 200 ... q00
where p and q are some integers. Now take our function . We have shown that
any transposition composed with will yield = (1). To generalize this,
we can say that if we compose some transposition n times with , we will get
(1)n . Thus we see that if we compose an even number of transpositions with
, we will get , while if we compose an odd number of transpositions with ,

we will get . Returning to our permutations above, since we know = , we

can conclude that must have the same effect on , regardless of how we have
composed transpositions to arrive at it. Thus it must be the case that p and
q have the same parity, since either = , in which case both p and q are
necessarily even or = , in which case both p and q are necessarily odd.