Permutations and Symmetric Groups

Solutions to the Exercises

Exercise 2.4. Find the symmetric group on the set X = {1, 2, 3}.

Solution: S (X) = {e, f, g, h, j, k}, where

e is the identity permutation;
f (1) = 1, f (2) = 3, f (3) = 2;
g (1) = 2, g (2) = 1, g (3) = 3;
h (1) = 2, h (2) = 3, h (3) = 1;
j (1) = 3, j (2) = 1, j (3) = 2; and
k (1) = 3, k (2) = 2, k (3) = 1.

Exercise 2.10. List all the elements of S3 .

Solution:
          
1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3
S3 = e, , , , ,
1 3 2 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 1

 S4 . 
Exercise 2.11. Consider   
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Let 1 = , 2 = and 3 = .
1 2 4 3 4 3 2 1 1 2 4 1
(1) Is 3 an element of S4 ? Explain.
(2) Determine the following: 21 , 1 2 , 2 1 , and 21 2 21 .

Solution:
(1) No; 3 is not a bijection (It is not injective, since both 1 and 4 are mapped to 1. It
is also not surjective, since no element is mapped to 3).
    
2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
(2) 1 = = =e
1 2 4 3 1 2 4 3 1 2 3 4
You can get this by finding what 21 maps each number to.
For example, 21 (4)
 = 1 1 (4) =1 (3) = 4.  
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Similarly, 1 2 = and 2 1 = .
3 4 2 1 4 3 1 2
2
 1 = e, so that
For the last one, note that 
2 2 1 2 3 4
1 2 1 = e2 e = 2 = .
4 3 2 1
1
Exercise 2.14. For the permutations used in Exercise 2.11, find 1
1
, 1
2
, 1
2
1
1
,
1
(1 2 ) .
 
1 2 3 4
Solution: 1 =
1 1 2 4 3
You can get this by reading 1 in reverse order. (Note that this is equal to 1 .)

The others
 are 
1 1 2 3 4
2 = ;
4 3 2 1
 
1 1 1 2 3 4
2 1 = ; and
4 3 1 2
 
1 2 3 4
(1 2 )1 = .
4 3 1 2

Note that (1 2 )1 = 1
2
1
1
. This is true in general for all permutations.

 
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Exercise 2.24. Give the cycle decomposition of = in
1 4 8 5 2 3 9 6 7
S9 .

Solution: Since (1) = 1 (i.e. 1 is mapped to itself), we can ignore it in the cycle decom-
position.
We start by writing (2 .
Since (2) = 4, we write (24.
Since (4) = 5, we write (245.
Since (5) = 2, this cycle is complete. Therefore, one cycle of is (245).

Now, we move on to the smallest positive integer not already encountered. In this case,
the number we are looking for is 3.
Since (3) = 8, we write (38.
Since (8) = 6, we write (386.
Since (6) = 3, this cycle is complete. Therefore another cycle of is (386).

Now, we move on to the next smallest integer, which is 7.

Since (7) = 9, we write (79.
Since (9) = 7, this cycle is complete. Therefore another cycle of is (79).

Therefore, the cycle decomposition is = (245) (386) (79) .

2
Exercise 2.25. Write = (124) (425) (64) as a product of disjoint cycles.

Solution: We can get this by determining what maps each number to. Remember that
we perform the operations from right to left, so start with the rightmost cycle and work
your way to the leftmost cycle.
First, lets find (1). The cycle (64) leaves 1 fixed; the cycle (425) also leaves 1 fixed; and
the cycle (124) maps 1 to 2. Therefore, (1) = 2.
Next, since (1) = 2, we need to find (2) . Now, the cycle (64) leaves 2 fixed; the cycle
(425) maps 2 to 5; and the cycle (124) leaves 5 fixed. Therefore, (2) = 5.
Next, we find (5). The cycle (64) leaves 5 fixed, the cycle (425) maps 5 to 4, and the
cycle (124) maps 4 to 1. Therefore, (5) = 1.
Since we have arrived at the number we started with (the number 1), we can close this
cycle: (125).

Next, we look at (3). Since the number 3 does not appear anywhere in , we can conclude
that fixes 3 (maps it to itself), so we can ignore the number 3 in the cycle decompostion.

Next, we look at (4). Following the same procedure as above, we get (4) = 6.
Since we also get that (6) = 4, this completes another cycle of : (46).

Note that the question does not specify which symmetric group we are dealing with, but
regardless, we stop here since there are no numbers appearing in that we have not already
dealt with.
Therefore, = (125) (46) (or equivalently, = (46) (125) since disjoint cycles are commu-
tative).

Exercise 2.26. Write = (124) (425)1 (64) as a product of disjoint cycles in S8 .

Solution: Note that since the inverse of the cycle (425)1 is (452), which is the same as
(245). Therefore, = (124) (245) (64) .
Following the same procedure as in the previous exercise, we get = (12) (465).

Exercise 2.27. Write = (1236)1 (435) (14) as a product of disjoint cycles.

Solution: Again, we can replace (1236)1 with the cycle (1632).

Therefore, = (1632) (435) (14).
Following the same procedure as before, we get = (12) (3546).
3
Exercise 2.29. Find the order of each of the permutations given in Example 2.21 and
Exercises 2.24-2.27.

Solution: Recall that the order of a permutation is the LCM of the lengths of its disjoint
cycles.
In Example 2.21, we had = (1627) (38). The order of is 4, since lcm (4, 2) = 4.
In Exercise 2.24, we had = (245) (386) (79) . The order of is 6, since lcm (3, 3, 2) = 6.
In Exercise 2.25, we had = (125) (46) . The order of is 6, since lcm (3, 2) = 6.
In Exercise 2.26, we had = (12) (465) . The order of is 6, since lcm (2, 3) = 6.
In Exercise 2.27, we had = (12) (3546) . The order of is 4, since lcm (2, 4) = 4.

Exercise 2.32. Express the permutations given in Example 2.21 and Exercises 2.24-2.27
as products of transpositions.

Solution: In Example 2.21, we had = (1627) (38). The cycle (38) is already a trans-
position, so we just need to write (1627) as a product of transpositions, which we get by
pairing the first number with the other numbers in reverse order: (1627) = (17) (12) (16).
Therefore, = (17) (12) (16) (38).
(The order of the first three transpositions is important since they are not disjoint - the
number 1 appears in several of the transpositions - so do not mix them up!)

In Exercise 2.24, we had = (245) (386) (79) , which is the same as =

(25) (24) (36) (38) (79).
In Exercise 2.25, we had = (125) (46), which is the same as = (15) (12) (46).
In Exercise 2.26, we had = (12) (465), which is the same as = (12) (45) (46).
In Exercise 2.27, we had = (12) (3546), which is the same as = (12) (36) (34) (35).

Exercise 2.37. Determine the parity of each of the permutations given in Example 2.21
and Exercises 2.24-2.27.

Solution: In Example 2.21, we had = (1627) (38), which we wrote as a product of 4

transpositions above, so the parity of is even.
In Exercise 2.24, we had = (245) (386) (79), which we wrote as a product of 5 transposi-
tions above, so the parity of is odd.
In Exercise 2.25, we had = (125) (46), which we wrote as a product of 3 transpositions
above, so the parity of is odd.
In Exercise 2.26, we had = (12) (465), which we wrote as a product of 3 transpositions
above, so the parity of is odd.
In Exercise 2.27, we had = (12) (3546), which we wrote as a product of 4 transpositions
above, so the parity of is even.
4
Exercise 2.39. Find the elements of S4 which leave invariant the expression x1 x2 + x3 x4 ,
where x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 R.

Solution: Here, we are looking for permutations of the elements x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 such that
the expression x1 x2 + x3 x4 is unchanged. Let us denote the required set of permutations
by T S4 .
First, consider the permutations of T that fix x1 . These permutations must also fix x2
(to maintain the product x1 x2 in the expression
 x1 x2 + x3 x4 ). Thus, we are looking for
1 2 3 4
permutations of the form . There are two permutations of this form: e
1 2
 
1 2 3 4
and 1 = = (34). Both of these work (after performing 1 the expression
1 2 4 3
becomes x1 x2 + x4 x3 , which is the same as the original expression).
Next, consider permutations of T that map x1 to x2 . These permutations must map x2 to x1
(to maintain
 the product
 x1 x2 in the expression). Thus, we are looking permutations
 ofthe
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
form . There are two permutations of this form: 2 = =
2 1 2 1 3 4
 
1 2 3 4
(12) and 3 = = (12) (34). Both of these work.
2 1 4 3
Next, consider permutations of T that map x1 to x3 . These permutations must map x2 to x4
(to maintain
 the product
 x3 x4 in the expression). Thus, we are looking permutations
 ofthe
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
form . There are two permutations of this form: 4 = =
3 4 3 4 1 2
 
1 2 3 4
(13) (24) and 5 = = (1324). Both of these work.
3 4 2 1
Finally, consider permutations of T that map x1 to x4 . These permutations must
map x2 to x3 (to maintainthe product  x3 x4 in the expression). Thus, we are looking
1 2 3 4
permutations of the form . There are two permutations of this form:
4 3
   
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
6 = = (1423) and 7 = = (14) (23). Both of these
4 3 1 2 4 3 2 1
work.
Since we have considered all possible elements of {x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 } that x1 can be mapped
to, there can be no other permutations in T .

Exercise 2.40. Find their orders and parities.

Solution: The order of e (the identity permutation) is 1. The permutations 1 , 2 , 3 , 4

and 7 each have order 2, while the permutations 5 and 6 have order 4.
The permutations e, 3 , 4 and 7 all have even parity (the identity permutation by defi-
nition has even parity, and the others are already written as products of 2 transpositions).
The permutations 1 , 2 , 5 and 6 all have odd parity (1 , 2 are single transpositions,
and 5 and 6 can be written as products of 3 transpositions).
5
Exercise 2.41. Do they form a subgroup of S4 ?

Solution: Yes.
Associativity in this subset follows from the fact that there is associativity in the larger
group, S4 .
The identity e is in the subset.
The multiplication (composition) table below shows closure, and also indicates the inverses
of each element (permutations e to 4 and 7 are their own self-inverses, while 5 and 6
are inverses of each other). You should verify these yourself for practice.

e 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
e e 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 1 e 3 2 6 7 4 5
2 2 3 e 1 5 4 7 6
3 3 2 1 e 7 6 5 4
4 4 5 6 7 e 1 2 3
5 5 4 7 6 2 3 e 1
6 6 7 4 5 1 e 3 2
7 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 e

Therefore, these elements form a group, and thus they form a subgroup of S4 .