510A HW1

1. Show that if G is a group such that (ab)i = ai bi for three consecutive integers i, then G is
abelian.

2. Show that a group object in the category of groups is an abelian group.

i) Suppose first that A is a set equipped with two unital binary operations, ◦ and ⊗ such
that for any 4 elements a, b, c, d ∈ A the following identity holds: (a⊗b)◦(c⊗d) = (a◦
c) ⊗ (b ◦ d). Show that the units of the two operations coincide. Using this observation,
conclude that the two operations coincide. Finally, show that ◦ (and ⊗) is commutative
and associative.
ii) Deduce the statement above.

3. Suppose G is a group and S ⊂ G is a subset. Define the normalizer of S in G by

NG (S) := {g ∈ G|gSg −1 = S}.

i) Show that, for any subset S ⊂ G, the normalizer NG (S) is a subgroup of G.

ii) Give an example of a group G and a subgroup H where i) NG (H) is not a normal
subgroup of G, and ii) CG (H) does not coincide with NG (H) (hint: think about the
subgroup of diagonal matrices in the group of invertible 2 × 2-matrices, say over the
complex numbers).
iii) If H is a subgroup of G, show that assignment g 7→ cg (−) (i.e., the function “con-
jugation by g”), yields a function NG (H) → Aut(H). Show that this function is a
homomorphism.
iv) Show that CG (H) E NG (H), and that the induced map NG (H)/CG (H) → Aut(H)
is a monomorphism.
v) If Inn(G) denotes the group of inner automorphisms of G (i.e., those automorphisms
induced by conjugation by an element of g), then Inn(G) ∼
= G/Z(G) and Inn(G) E
Aut(G).

4. Miscellaneous examples: automorphism groups, centers

i) If G = Z/2 × Z/2, and G0 = Aut(S3 ), show that Aut(G) ∼ = Aut(G0 ) and conclude
that non-isomorphic groups can have isomorphic automorphism groups.
ii) Show that Aut(Z) ∼= Z/2.

1
2

iii) Give an example to show that if ϕ : H → G is a group homomorphism, then the

composite Z(H) → H → G need not have image in the center of G.

5. Suppose G is a group. If a, b ∈ G, we set [a, b] := aba−1 b−1 ; the element [a, b] is called the
commutator of a and b. The commutator subgroup of G, denoted [G, G] is the subgroup of G
generated by all commutators (examples show that a product of commutators is, in general,
not itself a commutator).

i) Show that [G, G] is a normal subgroup of G; the quotient group G/[G, G] will be called
the abelianization of G and we write Gab for this group.
ii) Show that if H is a normal subgroup of G, then the quotient G/H is abelian if and only
if [G, G] ⊂ H. Conclude that if G is any A is an abelian group and ϕ : G → A is any
group homomorphism, then ϕ factors uniquely through Gab , i.e., ϕ is the composite of
the map G → Gab followed by a unique homomorphism Gab → A.
iii) Conclude that the assignment G → Gab defines a functor Grp → Ab; in particular,
if f : G → G0 is a group homomorphism, then there is an associated homomorphism
f ab : Gab → (G0 )ab .

6. Suppose F is a field. Write GLn (F ) for the group of invertible n × n-matrices with coeffi-
cients in F , and SLn (F ) for the subgroup of invertible n × n-matrices having determinant
equal to 1. If M is a matrix, we write (M )kl for the (k, l)-entry of M . Let eij be the n × n-
matrix defined by (
1 if k = i, l = j
(eij )kl =
0 otherwise.
A matrix will be called elementary if it is of one of the following types: (i) Eij (α) := Idn +
αeij with i 6= j (a shearing matrix), (ii) Eii (α) := Idn + (α − 1)eii (a scaling matrix), or
(iii) Pij := Idn − eii − ejj + eij + eji (a swapping matrix).

i) Show that any X ∈ GLn (F ) can be written as a product of elementary matrices (hint:
Gaussian elimination).
ii) Show that Z(GLn (F )) consists of the subgroup of (non-zero) scalar multiples of the
identity.
iii) Assume n = 2, show that P12 = E12 (1)E21 (−1)E12 (1)E11 (−1). Show that for any
integer n and any integers (i, j) with 1 ≤ i < j ≤ n, the matrix Pij ∈ GLn (F ) can be
written as a product of shearing and scaling matrices.
iv) Show that the following commutator identities hold:
– if k 6= i and k 6= j, then [Eij (α), Ekk (β)] = Idn ,
– Eij (α)Eii (β) = Eii (β)Eij (α/β), and
– Eij (α)Ejj (β) = Ejj (β)Eij (αβ).
v) Combining the steps above, show that every element of SLn (F ) can be written as a
product of shearing matrices. In particular, SLn (F ) is generated by elementary matri-
ces.
3

vi) Show that if i, j, l are integers lying in [1, n] and if i 6= l and j 6= l, then

Eij (α) = [Eil (α)Elj (1)].

Conclude that, if n ≥ 3, then SLn (F ) = [SLn (F ), SLn (F )].

vii) If n = 2, and α ∈ F is non-zero and satisfies α2 6= 1, show that

[(E11 (α)E22 (α−1 )), E12 (β)] = E12 ((α2 − 1)β).

Conclude that if F \ 0 has at least 3 elements, then every element of SL2 (F ) can be
written as a product of commutators, i.e., SL2 (F ) = [SL2 (F ), SL2 (F )] in this situa-
tion.

7. If G and G0 are groups, a coproduct is a group G t G0 equipped with two homomorphisms

iG : G → G t G0 and iG0 : G0 → G t G0 such that, given any group H, and a pair of
homomorphisms ϕ : G → H and ϕ0 : G → H, there is a unique homomorphism f :
G t G0 → H making the following diagram commute

iG iG0
G / G t G0 o G0
ϕ ϕ0
f
#  {
H.

Show that the amalgamated sum G ∗ G0 is a coproduct of G and G0 .