MAA 201 2022-2023

Reduction of endomorphisms

Exercises - Week I - Groups

Exercise 1. 1. Show that (GLn (R), ∗) is a group.

2. Let U = {z ∈ C, |z| = 1}. Show that (U, ×) is a group.
3. Let E be a set. Show that the set of permutations of E endowed with
the composition law is a group, i.e. show that Bij(E) = ({f : E → E |
f is a bijection }, ◦) is a group.
 √
4. Show that G = x + y 3 | x ∈ N, y ∈ Z, x2 − 3y 2 = 1 is a subgroup of
(R∗+ , ×).

Exercise 2.
Let G be a group. Is the intersection of two subgroups a group ? How about the
union ?

Exercise 3.
Describe all possible group laws on a set G consisting of three elements.

Exercise 4.
Let (E, ∗) be a set with a composition law ∗ which is associative, has a neutral
element, and such that every element has a left inverse. Show that every element
has a right inverse and that it coincides with its left inverse. Deduce from this that
E is a group.

Exercise 5.
Let (G, ∗) be a group.
1. Show that for any g ∈ G the map ϕg : G → G given by ϕg (x) = g ∗ x is a
bijection,
2. Show Φ : g 7→ ϕg is a homomorphism of groups from (G, ∗) to (Bij(G), ◦).
3. Check that Φ is injective.

Exercise 6.
Let G be a group. An element g ∈ G is said to have (finite) order n > 1 if g n = e
but g m 6= e for all integers 1 6 m < n. If there is no such integer, we say that g
has infinite order. We assume here that G is finite.
 1. Show that every element of G has finite order.
2. Assume the cardinality |G| of G (also called the order of G) is even. Show
that G has an element of order two.

Exercise 7.
Let U be the subset of GL2 (R) defined by
  
1 a
U= , a∈R
0 1

1. Show U is an abelian subgroup of (GL2 (R), ∗).

2. Show U is isomorphic to (R, +).
Exercise 8.
Let G be a group and H be a subgroup of G. For g ∈ G we let gH := {gh, h ∈ H}.
1. Show that gH = H for g ∈ H.
2. Let g, g 0 ∈ G. Show that either gH = g 0 H or gH ∩ g 0 H = ∅.
3. Assume |G| < +∞. Prove that |H| divides |G| (you can firstly check that
|gH| = |H| for all g ∈ G).
Exercise 9.
Translate in terms of group homomorphisms the following classical properties :
1. log(xy) = log(x) + log(y)
2. det(M N ) = det(M ) det(N )
3. |zz 0 | = |z||z 0 |
0 0
4. ez+z = ez ez
5. z + z 0 = z + z 0

Exercise 10.
Describe all group homomorphisms from Z to Z. Which of them are injective and
which are surjective ?

Exercise 11.
Show that the groups
1. (R, +) and (R>0 , ×) are isomorphic
2. (R∗ , ×) and (C∗ , ×) are not isomorphic
3. (Q, +) and (Q>0 , ×) are not isomorphic

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