Elementary Properties of Group

◦ The simplest principles that a group have.

◦ It is only applicable to Non-Abelian Group
◦ Three axioms for groups to consider.
◦ Associativity of Operation
◦ Existence of Identity in the group
◦ Existence of Inverse in the group

Elementary Properties of Group

◦ Uniqueness of identity - identity element of a group is unique. We can say that there is only one
identity element.
Proof:
Suppose e and e’ are identity elements of G.
Prove e = e’

e∗e' =e' because e is the identity

e∗e' =e because e’ is the identity
e=e '

◦ Uniqueness of inverse identity - The element of a group has exactly one and only one inverse.
For each element of a in a group G, there is a unique inverse of a in G
Proof:
Suppose a’ and a’’ are inverse of a in G. Prove a’ = a’’

a ' =a'∗e
a’¿ a' ∗( a∗a' ' )
a ' =( a'∗a )∗a' '
a ' =e∗a' '
a ' =a' '

◦ Cancellation law – There are only two possible ways to cancel a given a element. The left and right
cancellation law.
◦ If G is a group and a, b, c are elements of G, then
(i) a*b = a*c implies b = c
a−1∗( a∗b )=a−1∗( a∗c )
( a−1∗a )∗b=( a−1∗a )∗c
e∗b=e∗c
b=c

(ii) b*a = c*a implies b = c

( b∗a )∗a−1=( c∗a )∗a−1
b∗( a∗a−1 )=c∗(a∗a−1)
b∗e=c∗e
 b=c

◦ Socks-Shoes property.
◦ It has two formulas
◦ The first formula tells us that the inverse of a product is the product of the inverses in
reverse order.
◦ The second one was the inverse of the inverse of an element is equal to the element itself
◦ Proof:
(i) ( a∗b )=b−1∗a−1
¿ ( a∗b ) b−1∗a−1
¿ a∗( b∗b−1 )∗a−1
¿ a∗e∗a−1
¿ a∗a−1
=e
(ii) (a¿ ¿−1)−1=a ¿