University of Antique

College of Teacher Education

Bachelor of Secondary Education
Sibalom, Antique

MATH 20 ABSTRACT ALGEBRA

WILMAR A. VILLANOCHE
BSED MATHEMATICS
Assignment 4 - Groups
1. Which of the following binary operations are closed?
a. subtraction of positive integers
b. division of nonzero integers
c. function composition of polynomials with real coefficients
d. multiplication of 2 ×2 matrices with integer entries
ANSWER: C & D

2. Which of the following binary operations are associative?

a. multiplication mod n
b. division of nonzero rationals
c. function composition of polynomials with real coefficients
d. multiplication of 2 ×2 matrices with integer entries
ANSWER: A

3. Which of the following binary operations are commutative?

a. subtraction of integers
b. division of nonzero real numbers
c. function composition of polynomials with real coefficients
d. multiplication of 2 ×2 matrices with real entries
ANSWER: NONE OF THE CHOICES

4. Give two reasons why the set of odd integers under addition is not a group.

 Does not contain identity – identity for addition is 0 (zero) which is an even
number, so not part of set. Thus violates identity existence property.
 Closure fails- addition of two odd numbers gives even numbers which violates
closure property.

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 University of Antique
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Secondary Education
Sibalom, Antique

MATH 20 ABSTRACT ALGEBRA

WILMAR A. VILLANOCHE
BSED MATHEMATICS
5. For any integer n<2, show that there are at least two elements in U ( n) that
satisfy x 2=1.

(1) x =1 because 12=1

(2) x = n-1 because (n−1)2 =n2−2 n+1=1mod (n) and n-1 is relatively prime to n.

6. Prove that a group G is Abelian if and only if (ab)−1 =a−1 b−1 for all a and b in G.

First, let’s compute (ab)−1 without any assumptions, i.e. just using the basic properties of
a group. Basically, we want to find x in G such that
x ( ab )=e so, we need to solve x. To do so, we proceed as follows.
x ( ab )=e

xab •b−1=e •b−1

xa=b−1

xa •a−1=b−1 a−1

x=b−1 a−1 therefore (ab)

−1
¿ b−1 a−1

If G is Abelian then certainly (ab)−1 ¿ b−1 a−1=¿ a−1 b−1

Now, we assume (ab)−1 =a−1 b−1 then we have

b−1 a−1=¿ a−1 b−1∧so we can argue as follows :

b−1 a−1=¿ a−1 b−1

b • b−1 a−1=¿ b • a−1 b−1

a−1=¿ ba−1 b−1

a • a−1=¿ a • ba−1 b−1

e=aba−1 b−1

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 University of Antique
College of Teacher Education
Bachelor of Secondary Education
Sibalom, Antique

MATH 20 ABSTRACT ALGEBRA

WILMAR A. VILLANOCHE
BSED MATHEMATICS
e • b=aba−1 b−1 •b

b=aba−1

b • a=aba−1 • a
ba=ba HenceG is Abelian .

7. Prove that in a group, (a−1)−1 =a for all a.

−1
Proof: Note that by definition ( a−1 ) and a are both inverse element of a−1. Since in a
−1
group each element has a unique inverse, we can conclude that ( a−1 ) =a

 Since a a−1=a−1 a=e then a is an inverse of a−1 . Since inverses are unique
then (a−1)−1 =a

8. Prove that in a group, (ab)2=a2 b2 if and only if ab=ba.

Proof: Assume that

( ab ) (ab)=a 2 b 2

ab ab=a 2 b 2

a−1 • abab=a−1 a2 b2

bab=a b2

b−1 • bab=a b2 • b−1

ba=ab