ALGEBRA II Problems: Week 15 (Identifying, distinguishing groups)

Epiphany Term 2021

1. Which of the following groups are isomorphic to one another? Justify your
answers.
(1) Z/4 × Z/3, Z/6 × Z/2, V4 × Z/3, S3 × Z/2.
(2) Z/6×Z/4, D4 ×Z/3, D12 , A4 ×Z/2, Z/2×D6 , S4 , Z/12×Z/2.
(Here V4 , as usual, denotes the Klein 4-group.)
Solution: (a) S3 × Z/2 is the only group here which is not abelian, so it cannot
be isomorphic to any of the others.
Z/4 × Z/3 ∼= Z/12 because gcd(4, 3) = 1.
Z/6 × Z/2 ∼6 Z/12 because gcd(6, 2) 6= 1.
=
V4 × Z/3 ∼
= (Z/2 × Z/2) × Z/3 ∼= Z/2 × (Z/2 × Z/3) ∼
= Z/2 × Z/6 ∼ = Z/6 × Z/2
because gcd(2, 3) = 1 (and because G × H ∼ = H × G by simply swapping the
two factors).
Hence Z/6×Z/2 and V4 ×Z/3 are the only two groups here which are isomorphic
to one another.

(b) Z/12 × Z/2 = ∼ Z/4 × Z/3 × Z/2 ∼ = Z/4 × Z/6 ∼ = Z/6 × Z/4 because
gcd(4, 3) = 1. These are the only abelian groups present so they cannot be
isomorphic to any of the others.
The number of elements of order 2 in each of the remaining groups is: 5 in
D4 × Z/3; 13 in D12 ; 7 in A4 × Z/2; 15 in Z/2 × D6 ; 9 in S4 . Therefore no
two of these groups are isomorphic.

2. Show that, for a prime p, the direct product of Z/p with itself is not iso-
morphic to Z/p2 .
Solution: Each element in Z/p × Z/p has order dividing p (check that p(x, y) =
(e, e) for any x, y ∈ Z/p), but the cyclic group Z/p2 has an element of order
p2 .
3. Show that Z × Z is not isomorphic to Z.
Solution: Suppose φ : Z → Z × Z is a homomorphism and let φ(1) = (a, b) ∈
Z × Z. Then for any n ∈ Z we have φ(n) = (na, nb).
If b = 0 then the image of φ lies in {(a, 0) | a ∈ Z} and cannot be surjective.
If b 6= 0 then (a, 2b) cannot lie in the image of φ, and φ cannot be an isomor-
phism either.
4. Let G and H be groups. Show that G × H is abelian if and only if both G
and H are abelian. If G × H is cyclic, prove that G and H are both cyclic.
Solution: Suppose G and H are both abelian. Given (a, b), (c, d) ∈ G × H we
have
(a, b)(c, d) = (ac, bd) = (ca, db) = (c, d)(a, b).
Therefore G × H is abelian.
G is isomorphic to the subgroup G × {e} of G × H, and H is isomorphic to the
subgroup {e} × H.
A subgroup of an abelian group is abelian. So G and H are abelian when G×H
is abelian.
A subgroup of a cyclic group is cyclic. Hence G and H are both cyclic when
G × H is cyclic.
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5. If A is a subgroup of G, and if B is a subgroup of H, check that A × B is

a subgroup of G × H. Find a subgroup of Z × Z which does not occur in
this way.
Solution: A × B is non-empty because each of A and B is non-empty. Given
(a, b), (c, d) ∈ A × B we have (a, b)(c, d) = (ac, bd) and (a, b)−1 = (a−1 , b−1 ).
Now ac, a−1 ∈ A since A is a subgroup of G, and bd, b−1 ∈ B because B is
a subgroup of H. Therefore A × B is a subgroup of G × H.
Note that (A × B) ∩ (G × {e}) = A × {e} and (A × B) ∩ ({e} × H) = {e} × B.
The subgroup of Z×Z generated by (1, 1) intersects each of Z×{0} and {0}×Z
only in (0, 0). Hence h(1, 1)i cannot be written as (A × B) for subgroups A, B
of Z.

6. Let A be an abelian group and let D = {(a, a) | a ∈ A}.

Show that
(A × A)/D ∼ =A (∗).
[Hint: find a suitable group homomorphism and invoke the First Isomor-
phism Theorem for groups.]
Show also that statement (∗) is not true in general for non-abelian A.
Solution: Define φ : A × A → A by φ((x, y)) = xy −1 . Then φ((x, y)φ((u, v)) =
xy −1 uv −1 = xu(yv)−1 because A is abelian. Therefore φ is a homomorphism.
The kernel of φ is D since φ((x, y)) = xy −1 = e precisely when x = y. If x ∈ A
then φ(x, e) = x so φ is surjective. The First Isomorphism Theorem now tells
us that (A × A)/D ∼ = A.

7. Let G and H be groups. Show that the set K = { (g, e) | g ∈ G } is a

normal subgroup of G×H, that K is isomorphic to G, and that (G×H)/K
is isomorphic to H.
Solution: Define φ : G × H → H by φ(g, h) = h. Then φ is clearly a surjective
homomorphism with kernel K. By the First Isomorphism Theorem K is a
normal subgroup of G × H and (G × H)/K ∼= H. This subgroup K of G × H
is isomorphic to G via (g, e) ↔ g.

8. Carry out the procedure of Cayley’s Theorem to obtain a subgroup of S8

which is isomorphic to D4 .
Solution: The group D4 has elements e, r, r2 , r3 , s, rs, r2 s, r3 s with multipli-
cation defined by r4 = s2 = e, sr = r−1 s. Label these elements 1 to 8 in the
given order. Multiplying each element of D4 on the left by r produces the per-
mutation (e r r2 r3 )(s rs r2 s r3 s) which in turn corresponds to (1234)(5678)
in S8 . This procedure leads to the following table.

e 7→ identity s 7→ (15)(28)(37)(46)
r 7→ (1234)(5678) rs 7→ (16)(25)(38)(47)
r2 7→ (13)(24)(57)(68) r2 s 7→ (17)(26)(35)(48)
r3 7→ (1432)(5876) r3 s 7→ (18)(27)(36)(45)
You may of course obtain a different subgroup of S8 if you label the elements
of D4 in another order.

9. Show that Cayley’s Theorem, when applied to R, produces the subgroup

of SR which consists of all translations of the real line.
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Solution: A translation ϕ : R → R is determined by the image of 0, say ϕ(0) = t

for some t ∈ R, as then
ϕ(x) = ϕ(0 + x) = t + x for any x ∈ R .
Now from Cayley’s Theorem we deduce in our special case that R (note that
we assume this to be (R, +), i.e. the real numbers with the usual addition
unless stated otherwise) is isomorphic to a subgroup of SR ; in fact, as the proof
of that theorem shows we can map each r ∈ R to the left translation (here
w.r.t. addition) given by Lr : R → R which sends x ∈ R to Lr (x) = r + x ∈ R.
(Clearly these are indeed bijections of R—verify directly or see e.g. the proof of
Cayley’s Theorem.)
Moreover, these translations form a group (again, we can resort to the proof of
Cayley’s Theorem).
Conversely, any translation ϕ : R → R, as stated above, satisfies ϕ(x) = t + x
for some t ∈ R and hence is of the form Lt for this t.