ADVANCED ALGEBRA

UNIT-1: DIRECT PRODUCT OF GROUP

Dr. SHIVANGI UPADHYAY

ACADEMIC CONSULTANT
UTTRAKHAND OPEN UNIVERSITY
HALDWANI(UTTRAKHAND)
supadhyay@uou.ac.in

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 1 / 17

Overview

1 External Direct Product

Definition
Examples
Theorems

2 Internal Direct Product

Definition
Example
Theorems

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 2 / 17

 External Direct Product

External Direct Product

Definition
Given groups G (with operation *) and H (with operation ∆), the direct
product G × H is defined as follows:
The underlying set is the Cartesian product, G × H.i.e., the
ordered pairs (g, h), where g ∈ G and h ∈ H. The binary
operation on G × H is defined component-wise:

(g1 , h1 ) × (g2 , h2 ) = (g1 ∗ g2 , h1 ∆h2 ) (1)

The resulting algebraic object satisfies the axioms for a group.

Specifically:

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 3 / 17

 External Direct Product

Associativity
The binary operation on G × H is indeed associative.
Identity
The direct product has an identity element, namely (e1 , e2 ), where
e1 is the identity element of G and e2 is the identity element of H.
Inverses
The inverse of an element (g, h) of G × H is the pair (g −1 , h−1 ),
where g −1 is the inverse of g ∈ G, and h−1 is the inverse of h ∈ H.

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 4 / 17

 External Direct Product Examples

Example
R2 = R ⊗ R and R3 = R ⊗ R ⊗ R with the operation being
componentwise (vector) addition.
U(5) = {1, 2, 3, 4} and U(12) = {1, 5, 7, 11}.
So U(5) ⊗ U(12) =
{(1, 1), (1, 5), (1, 7), (1, 11), (2, 1), (2, 5), (2, 7), (2, 11),
(3, 1), (3, 5), (3, 7), (3, 11), (4, 1), (4, 5), (4, 7), (4, 11)}.
(2, 7)(3, 11) = (6 mod 5, 77 mod 12) = (1, 5).

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 5 / 17

 External Direct Product Theorems

Theorems

Theorem 1 (Order of an Element in a Direct Product)

The order of an element in a direct product of a finite number of finite
groups is the LCM of the orders of the components of the elements:
|(g1 , g2 , ..., gn | = LCM(|g1 |, |g2 |, ..., |gn |)

Proof
First consider the case where the direct product has 2 factors.
Let (g1 , g2 ) ∈ G1 ⊗ G2 .
Let s = LCM(|g1 |, |g2 |) and let t = |(g1 , g2 )|.
Then (g1 , g2 )s = (g1s , g2s ) = (e, e) =⇒ t/s. Thus t ≤ s.
But (g1t , g2t ) = (g1 , g2 )t = (e, e) =⇒ g1 /t and g2 /t
Thus t is a common multiple of |g1 | and |g2 | =⇒ s ≤ t since
s = LCM(|g1 |, |g2 |).
Thus s = t and |(g1 , g2 )| = LCM(|g1 |, |g2 |).

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 6 / 17

 External Direct Product Theorems

For the general case, suppose the result holds for

G1 ⊗ G2 ⊗ ............. ⊗ Gn−1 .
But G1 ⊗ G2 ⊗ ............. ⊗ Gn = (G1 ⊗ G2 ⊗ ............. ⊗ Gn−1 ) ⊗ Gn
So applying the previous argument, the result holds for
G1 ⊗ G2 ⊗ ............. ⊗ Gn by induction.

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 7 / 17

 External Direct Product Theorems

Theorem 2
Let G1 and G2 be two groups. Let H1 and H2 be normal subgroups of
G1 and G2 respectively then H1 ⊗ H2 E G1 ⊗ G2

Proof
Since H1 is a subgroup of G1 and H2 is a subgroup of G2 , therefore
H1 ⊗ H2 is subgroup of G1 ⊗ G2
Now let (h1 , h2 ) ∈ H1 ⊗ H2 and (g1 , g2 ) ∈ G1 ⊗ G2 , then

(g1 , g2 )(h1 , h2 )(g1 , g2 )−1 = (g1 h1 , g2 h2 )(g1−1 , g2−1 )

= (g1 h1 g1−1 , g2 h2 g2−1 ) ∈ H1 ⊗ H2
(g1 h1 g1−1 ∈ H1 and g2 h2 g2−1 because H1 E G1 and H2 E G2 )
Thus H1 ⊗ H2 E G1 ⊗ G2

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 8 / 17

 Internal Direct Product

Internal Direct Product

Definition
Let (G, ∗) be a group and let (H, ∗) and (K , ∗) be two subgroups of
(G, ∗). Then (G, ∗) is said to be the Internal Direct Product of (H, ∗)
and (K , ∗) if:
1 G = {h ∗ k : h ∈ H, k ∈ K }.
2 H ∩ K = {e} where e is the identity element in G.
3 h ∗ k = k ∗ h for all h ∈ H and for all k ∈ K .

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 9 / 17

 Internal Direct Product Example

Example
For example, consider the group (Z6 , +) and the following subgroups:
H = {0, 2, 4} and K = {0, 3}
We can see {h ∗ k : h ∈ H, k ∈ K } = {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5} = G, so the first
condition is satisfied.
Also the identity for Z6 is e = 0 and H ∩ K = {0} so the second
condition is satisfied.
Lastly Z6 is an abelian group so the third condition is satisfied.

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 10 / 17

 Internal Direct Product Theorems

Theorems

Theorem 1
Let (G, ∗) be a group and let (H, ∗), (K , ∗) be subgroups of (G, ∗). If
(G, ∗) is the internal direct product of (H, ∗) and (G, ∗) then G ∼
=H ⊗K

Proof
Define a function f : H ⊗ K → G for all (h, k) ∈ H ⊗ K by:

f (h, k) = h ∗ k (2)

We need to show that f is bijective.

For injectivity, let (h1 , k1 ), (h2 , k2 ) ∈ H ⊗ K and
suppose that f (h1 , k1 ) = f (h2 , k2 ). Then:

h1 ∗ k1 = h2 ∗ k2 (3)

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 11 / 17

 Internal Direct Product Theorems

Thus:
k2−1 ∗ k1 = h2 ∗ h1−1 (4)
But (H, ∗) and (K , ∗) are groups and are closed under ∗ so
k2−1 ∗ k1 ∈ K and h2 ∗ h1−1 ∈ H.
Since H ∩ K = {e} this must mean that the equality at (∗) implies that
k2−1 ∗ k1 = e and h2 ∗ h1−1 = e.
So h1 = h2 and k1 = k2 .
So (h1 , k1 ) = (h2 , k2 ), i.e., f is injective.
We now show that f is surjective.
Let g ∈ G. Since G is an internal direct product of H and K
we have that G = {h ∗ k : h ∈ H, k ∈ K } so g = h ∗ k for some h ∈ H
and for some k ∈ K .
So (h, k ) ∈ H ⊗ K is such that:

f (h, k) = h ∗ k = g (5)

Hence f is surjective.
Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 12 / 17
 Internal Direct Product Theorems

Lastly, we can see that:

f ((h1 , k1 )(h2 , k2 )) = f (h1 ∗ h2 , k1 ∗ k2 ) = (h1 ∗ h2 ) ∗ (k1 ∗ k2 ) (6)

Since G is an internal direct product of H and K we see that

h2 ∗ k1 = k1 ∗ h2 (7)

therefore, f ((h1 , k1 )(h2 , k2 )) = (h1 ∗ k1 ) ∗ (h2 ∗ k2 ) = f (h1 , k1 ) ∗ f (h2 , k2 )

Therefore f is an isomorphism between (G, ∗) and (H ⊗ K , ∗) so
(G, ∗) ∼
= (H ⊗ K , ∗).

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 13 / 17

 Internal Direct Product Theorems

Theorem 2
Let HK is the internal direct product of H and K , then
HK ∼ HK ∼
K = H and H = K .

Proof
Define a function f : HK → H such that f (hk ) = h, h ∈ H, k ∈ K
Obviously f is well defined.
for h1 k1 , h2 k2 ∈ HK , where h1 , h2 ∈ H and k1 , k2 ∈ K , we have

f ((h1 k1 )(h2 k2 )) = f (h1 (k1 h2 )k2 )

= f (h1 (h2 k1 )k2 )
= f ((h1 h2 )(k1 k2 ))
= h1 h2
= f (h1 k1 )f (h2 k2 )
f is Homomorphism.
Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 14 / 17
 Internal Direct Product Theorems

Now for h ∈ H, hk ∈ HK , where k ∈ K , such that f (hk) = h,

so f is onto.
Thus f is an epimorphism. Now,

ker f = hk ∈ HK |f (hk) = e ∈ H

= h ∈ H, k ∈ K |h = e
=k ∈K
=K

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 15 / 17

 Internal Direct Product Theorems

Thus by the fundamental theorem of Homomorphism, we have

HK ∼
= f (HK )
ker f

i.e. HK ∼
K =H
Similarly we can show that

HK ∼
= K.
H

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 16 / 17

 Internal Direct Product Theorems

THANK YOU

Dr. Shivangi Upadhyay Advanced Algebra 17 / 17