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COURSE SYLLABUS

INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT ALGEBRA, SPRING 2014


Preliminaries
0.1: Examples of sets. Functions between sets. Images and bers of functions.
Injective, surjective, and bijective maps. Permutations.
Binary relations. Equivalence relations. Equivalence classes and partitions.
0.2: Greatest common divisor. Least common multiple. a b = gcd(a, b)lcm(a, b).
The division algorithm. The Euclidean algorithm.
The Euclidean algorithm and the greatest common divisor. gcd(a, b) is a Z-linear combi-
nation of a and b.
Fundamental theorem of arithmetic. Prime factorization and the gcd and lcm.
The Euler totient function .
0.3: Congruence classes and Z/nZ.
Number of units in Z/nZ is (n).
Part I - GROUP THEORY
Chapter 1: Introduction to groups
1.1: Axioms of a group. Abelian groups.
Examples of groups: Z/nZ under addition, (Z/nZ)

under multiplication.
Uniqueness of the identity. Uniqueness of inverses. Inverses of inverse elements. Inverses
of products. Generalized associative law. Right and left cancellation laws.
The order of an element. The multiplication table of a group.
1.2: Dihedral groups D
2n
. Generators and relations for dihedral groups. Group presenta-
tions.
1
2 INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT ALGEBRA, SPRING 2014
1.3: Symmetric groups S
n
. Row notation of a permutation. Cycle notation of a permuta-
tion.
Cycle decomposition: any permutation can be written as a product of disjoint cycles
that is unique up to rearrangement and cyclic rotation of cycles. Algorithm for nding the
cycle decomposition of a permutation. Disjoint cycles commute and therefore the order of a
permutation is the least common multiple of the lengths of its cycles.
Additional topic (not in textbook): Presentation of symmetric group using braid relations.
1.4: Denition of a eld F. The general linear group GL
n
(F).
1.5: The quaternion group Q
8
.
1.6: Denition of a homomorphism. Denition of an isomorphism. Properties shared by
isomorphic groups.
Example 1: log : (R
+
, ) (R, +) satises log(xy) = log(x)+log(y) and log(1) = 0.
Example 2: the map f f
1
denes an isomorphism S
A
S
B
when f : A B
is a bijection.
1.7: Group actions. The permutation representation G S
A
associated to a group action.
Examples: S
n
acts on {1, 2, , n}. D
2n
acts on {1, 2, , n}.
For n = 3, the permutation representation of the action of D
6
on {1, 2, 3} denes a iso-
morphism D
6
S
3
.
Chapter 2: Subgroups
2.1: Denition of a subgroup. Subgroup criterion.
2.2: The center Z(G) of a group G. The centralizer C
G
(A) of a subset of a group. The
normalizer N
G
(A) of a subset of a group.
Kernels and stabilizers of group actions.
Actions of G on its underlying set: left multiplication, right multiplication, conjugation.
Centers, centralizers, and normalizers as kernels and stabilizers of the conjugation action.
2.3: Denition of cyclic groups. Any two cyclic groups of the same order are isomorphic.
Number of generators in a cyclic group Z
n
.
COURSE SYLLABUS 3
Additional topic (not in the textbook): Connection between the number of generators in
Z
n
and the number of units in (Z/nZ, ).
2.4: The subgroup generated by a subset of a group. Denition as intersection of all
groups containing subset. Denition as group formed by noncommutative words in elements
of subset. Proof of the equivalence of the two denitions.
The order of the subgroup generated by a subset is independent of the order of its gener-
ators. Examples:
- The subgroup of GL
2
(R) generated by a =

0 1
1 0

and b =

0 2
1/2 0

has innite
order, even though |a| = |b| = 2.
- The symmetric group S
n
has order n! but is generated by the n-cycle (1 2 n) and the
transposition (1 2).
2.5: The lattice of subgroups of a group. Examples: Z
12
and D
8
.
Chapter 3: Quotient groups and homomorphisms
3.1: The kernel of a homomorphism. The kernel is a subgroup. The kernel of a group
action is the kernel of the associated permutation representation.
The set of bers of a group homomorphism forms a group. The bers of a group homo-
morphism are the cosets of the kernel.
The set of cosets G/K of a subgroup K of G forms a group if and only if K is normal.
The kernel of a homomorphism is always a normal subgroup.
Every normal subgroup K G is the kernel of a homomorphism G G/K.
Examples of quotient groups: Z/nZ, D
8
/Z(D
8
)

= V
4
.
3.2: Lagranges theorem: the order of a subgroup of G divides the order of G.
Corollary 1: the order of an element of a group divides the order of the group.
Corollary 2: Any group of prime order is cyclic.
Partial converses to Lagranges theorem: Cauchys theorem, Sylows theorem.
For subgroups A G and B G, the set AB is a subgroup if and only if AB = BA. This
is true if A normalizes B or if B normalizes A. The order of AB.
3.3: First isomorphism theorem. Lifting homomorphisms to quotient groups.
4 INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT ALGEBRA, SPRING 2014
Second (diamond) isomorphism theorem. Third isomorphism theorem. Fourth (lattice)
isomorphism theorem.
Example: lattice isomorphism theorem and D
8
/Z(D
8
).
3.4: Cauchys theorem for abelian groups.
Denition of a simple group. Denition of composition series. Jordan-Holder theorem.
Proof of Jordan-H older theorem: existence statement uses existence of a maximal normal
subgroup as induction step, uniqueness statement uses the diamond isomorphism theorem as
induction step.
Chapter 4: Group actions
4.1: Orbits of group actions. Orbits and partitions. Bijection between the orbit of an
element and the quotient of G by stabilizer subgroup.
Transitive group actions. S
n
acts transitively on {1, 2, , n}. Orbits of cyclic subgroups
of S
n
and the cycle decomposition of a permutation.
4.2: Cayleys theorem.
Chapter 5: Direct and semidirect products
5.1: Direct products of groups. Subgroups and quotient groups of direct products.
5.4: Internal direct products.
5.5: Generalization of internal direct products to the case when one subgroup is not
normal. Semidirect products.
Part II - RING THEORY
Chapter 7: Introduction to rings
7.1: Denition of a ring. Commutative rings. Division rings and elds.
Zero divisors. Units. Integral domains. Cancellation property for integral domains. A
nite integral domain is a eld.
Subrings.
7.2: Polynomial rings. Matrix rings. Group rings.
COURSE SYLLABUS 5
7.3: Denition of a ring homomorphism. Denition of a ring isomorphism. The image
and kernel of a ring homomorphism form subrings.
The set of cosets of a subring (considered as an additive subgroup) forms a ring if and only
if the subring is an ideal. Quotient rings and the rst isomorphism theorem for rings.
Second isomorphism theorem for rings. Third isomorphism theorem for rings. Fourth
isomorphism theorem for rings.
Sums and products of ideals.
7.4: The ideal generated by a subset. Principal ideals. Finitely generated ideals.
A commutative ring is a eld if and only if it has no non-trivial ideals. Maximal ideals
and elds. Prime ideals and integral domains.
Chapter 8: Euclidean domains, principal ideal domains, and unique factoriza-
tion domains
8.1: Norms and Euclidean domains. The Euclidean algorithm and greatest common divi-
sors.
Every ideal in a Euclidean domain is principal (it is generated by any element of minimal
norm). Associates and greatest common divisors.
8.2: Denition of a principal ideal domain. Generators of principal ideals and greatest
common divisors. Associates and principal ideals.
Every prime ideal in a principal ideal domain is maximal.
Dedekind-Hasse norms and principal ideal domains.
8.3: Irreducible and prime elements. Any prime element in an integral domain is irre-
ducible. Partial converse: any irreducible element in a principal ideal domain is prime.
Example where the full converse fails: 2 3 = (1 +

5)(1

5), which implies that 2


and 3 are not prime in Z[

5]. The existence of irreducible elements which are not prime


can be explained by the non-uniqueness of factorizations.
Denition of a unique factorization domain. Any irreducible element in a unique factor-
ization domain is prime (proof uses analogue of Euclids lemma). Greatest common divisors
in a unique factorization domain.
Theorem: Every principal ideal domain is a unique factorization domain.
Proof of theorem: Existence of factorization can be interpreted as existence of chain of
principal ideals. Any ascending chain of ideals in a principal ideal domain (or more generally,
6 INTRODUCTION TO ABSTRACT ALGEBRA, SPRING 2014
a Noetherian ring) must terminate. Uniqueness of factorization follows from analogue of
Euclids lemma.
Corollary 1: The fundamental theorem of arithmetic (Z is a unique factorization domain).
Corollary 2: Every principal ideal domain has a Dedekind-Hasse norm.
A prime p Z is reducible in the ring of Gaussian integers Z[i] if and only if it can be
represented as a sum of squares. Fermats theorem of sums of squares.
Z[

5] and Dedekind domains.


Part III - MODULES AND VECTOR SPACES
Chapter 10: Introduction to module theory
10.1: Denition of a module. Left and right modules, unital modules.
Examples: A module over a eld is a vector space. Any abelian group has a unique
Z-module structure, so abelian groups and Z-modules are equivalent. A module over the
polynomial ring k[x] is equivalent to a k-vector space V together with a choice of linear
transformation T : V V .
An ideal I R is an R-module. The direct product R
n
is an R-module.
Denition of a submodule. Submodule criterion.
Interpretation: a module is equivalent to a ring action on an abelian group. Just as a
group action
GA A
determines a group homomorphism
G S
A
,
an R-module structure on an abelian group M
R M M
determines a ring homomorphism
R End(M)
where End(M) is the endomorphism ring of M considered as a Z-module (cf section 10.2).
10.2: Module homomorphisms. Module isomorphisms. The kernel and image of a module
homomorphism are submodules.
Examples: R-module homomorphisms for R a eld are linear transformations. Any group
homomorphism between abelian groups is a Z-module homomorphism. For R = k[x], an R-
module homomorphism f : M N is a linear transformation which intertwines the action
of x on M and N. A module isomorphism f : M N exists if and only if M and N have the
COURSE SYLLABUS 7
same dimensions as vector spaces and the actions of x on M and N dene similar matrices
(this provides the basis for the applications of module theory to linear algebra covered in
Chapter 12).
The set of module endomorphisms of an R-module M forms a ring End
R
(M).
Quotient modules: any submodule denes a quotient module (unlike the case of subgroups
or subrings). The quotient map and the rst isomorphism theorem for modules.
The sum of two submodules.
Second isomorphism theorem for modules. Third isomorphism theorem for modules.
Fourth isomorphism theorem for modules.
10.3: The submodule generated by a subset. Cyclic and nitely generated submodules.
The direct product of modules. Internal direct sums.
Free modules and their universal property. Additional topic: nitely presented modules.
10.4:
Chapter 11: Vector spaces
11.1:
11.2:
11.3:
11.4:
11.5:
Chapter 12: Modules over principal ideal domains
12.1:
12.2:
12.3:

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