Kings College London

University Of London
This paper is part of an examination of the College counting towards the award of a degree. Examinations are governed by the College Regulations under the authority of the Academic Board.
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BSc Examination CM232a Groups and Symmetries Summer 2007 Time Allowed: Two Hours
This paper consists of two sections, Section A and Section B, and all questions carry equal weight. Full marks will be awarded for complete answers to four questions. If more than two questions are attempted in section A, then only the best two will count towards grades A and B. Credit will be given for all work done for lower grades. Answer all questions in section B.

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2007 c Kings College London

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CM232a

SECTION A

1.

Give the denition of a group G. Show that the set K= a b 0 a 1 , a R {0} , b R

is a group with composition law the matrix multiplication.

2.

Dene the right cosets of a subgroup H of a group G. Show that two dierent right cosets have the same number of elements. State without proof the Lagrange theorem. Find the right cosets of the subgroup H = {e, b} of the dihedral group D4 = {e, a, a2 , e3 , b, ab, a2 b, e3 b}, where a4 = b2 = e, and ab = ba3 .

3.

Give the denition of the centre, C (G), of a group G. Show that C (G) is a normal subgroup of G. Show that C (G1 G2 ) = C (G1 ) C (G2 ), where G1 , G2 are groups. Using this, or otherwise, nd the centre of the group S3 Z2 , where S3 = {e, a, a2 , b, ab, a2 b}, a3 = b2 = e and ab = ba2 .

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CM232a

SECTION B

4.

Let G be a group and H be a normal subgroup of G. Show that G/H is a group. (Put particular emphasis on properly dening the composition law in G/H .) Using without proof the homomorphism theorem, or otherwise, show that U (N )/SU (N ) = U (1).

5.

Show that if : G1 G2 is a group homomorphism, then the image, (G1 ) = {g G2 , s.t. h G1 , (h) = g }, is a subgroup of G2 . (Derive all the properties of a group homomorphism that you need for this.) Let G be a group, and Perm(G) be the permutation group of G. Show that the map : G Perm(G) g g

such that g (h) = gh is well-dened, 1-1 and a group homomorphism, where g, h G. Suppose that G = Z3 = {e, a, a2 }, a3 = e. Labelling the points of Z3 as {1, 2, 3}, with e = 1, a = 2 and a2 = 3, give the permutations a and a2 , explicitly.

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