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ABSTRACT
ALGEBRA

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ABSTRACT ALGEBRA
SETS

A set is a well-defined collection of objects. We use the notation to

mean that x is an element of the set A while is used to mean y is not
an element of the set A.

A set B is a subset of a set A if every element of B is an element of A. We

denote this by . is used to mean but . If A is a set,
then A is the improper subset of A. Any other subset of A is called a proper
subset of A.

If A and B are sets, then = {(, )| and } is the Cartesian

product of A and B.

Some common notations of sets of numbers:

is the set of natural numbers/positive integers {1, 2, 3, }
is the set of integers { , 3, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 3, }
is the set of rational numbers
is the set of real numbers
is the set of complex numbers { + |, , 2 = 1}
+ , + , + refer to the positive elements of , , respectively
, , refer to the negative elements of , , respectively
, , , refer to the nonzero elements of , , , respectively
= 2 is the set of points on the Cartesian plane

RELATIONS AND FUNCTIONS

A relation between sets A and B is a subset of . Thus (, ) is read

as a is related to b and can also be written as . If the sets A and B are
the same, we say that is a relation on A.

Examples: <, >, =, |, , , , and so on, are relations.

A function mapping the set X into Y is a relation between X and Y such

that each appears as the first member of exactly one ordered pair
(, ) . The function is also called a map or mapping of X into Y. We
write : and express (, ) as ( ) = . The domain of is the set X
and the set Y is the codomain of . The range of is the set [] =
{()| }.

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A function : is one-to-one if (1 ) = (2 ) implies that 1 = 2 . The

function is onto if the range of is Y. A one-to-one map is also called an
injection, an onto map is a surjection, and a map that is both one-to-one
and onto is a bijection.

The number of elements in a set X is called the cardinality of X, denoted by

|X|. Two sets X and Y are said to have the same cardinality if there is a
bijection between X and Y, that is, there is a one-to-one correspondence
between X and Y.

BINARY OPERATIONS

A binary operation * on a set S is a function mapping into . For each

(, ) , we denote the element ((, )) by . This means that (1)
exactly one element is assigned to each ordered pair in , and (2) for
each ordered pair in , the element assigned to it is also in S. If a
mapping from into violates condition (1), it is either not everywhere
defined or not well-defined. If a mapping violates condition (2), it is said
that S is not closed under the mapping.

Examples:
1. Our usual addition + and usual multiplication are binary operations on
any of the sets , , , + , or + .
2. Let () be the set of all matrices with real number entries. Matrix
addition is not a binary operation on () since it is not everywhere
defined.
3. Let = {2 | + }. Addition is not a binary operation on S since S is not
closed under +.
4. On , define = /. * is not a binary operation on since * is not
well-defined.
5. * is a binary operation on + .
6. * is not a binary operation on + since + is not closed under *.
7. Binary operations on a set can be defined by means of a table.

A binary operation * on a set S is commutative if = for all , in S.

A binary operation * on a set S is associative if ( ) = ( ) for all
, , in S.

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GROUPS

A group , is a set G closed under a binary operation * satisfying the

following conditions:
1. ( ) = ( ) for all , , in G (associativity of *)
2. There is an element e in G such that = = for all x in G.
(existence of the identity element for *)
3. Corresponding to each , there is an element such that
= = (existence of the inverse of
a, for each )
Note that e is unique, and for each element a in G, its inverse is also unique,
and is denoted by 1 .

A group is abelian if its binary operation is commutative.

If G is a group, the order of G is the number of elements in G, denoted by

|G|. If the order of G is finite, we say that G is a finite group. Otherwise, G
is said to be infinite.

Examples:
1. , , , are all abelian groups under addition.
2. = {| } = {0, , 2, 3, } is an abelian group under
addition.
3. + under addition is not a group.
4. + under multiplication is not a group.
5. + , + , , , are abelian groups under multiplication.
6. The set () of all matrices is an abelian group under matrix
addition.
7. The set () of all matrices under matrix multiplication is not a
group.
8. The subset of () consisting of all invertible matrices is a nonabelian
group under matrix multiplication, called the general linear group of
degree n, denoted by (, ).
9. The subset of () consisting of all invertible matrices with
determinant 1 is a group under matrix multiplication, called the special
linear group of degree n, denoted by (, ).
10. The set = {, , , } under the binary operation * defined in the
table is a group, called the Klein-4 group.
* e a b c
e e a b c
a a e c b
b b c e a
c c b a e

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11. Suppose n is a positive integer. Let = {0, 1, 2, 3, , 1} and

define the binary operation addition modulo n, denoted by + , by the
rule
+ if + <
+ = {
+ if +

Then is a group under addition modulo n, for all + .

12. Suppose c is a real number. Let = { |0 < } and define

addition modulo c by the rule
+ if + <
+ = {
+ if +

Then is a group under addition modulo c, for all + .

13. Let n be a positive integer, and let () be the set of all positive
integers less than n and relatively prime to n. Define multiplication
modulo n by the rule: is the remainder when is divided by n,
for all , (). Then () is a group under .

Other binary structures with weaker axioms than those of the group are:
The semigroup which is a set together with an associative binary
operation;
The monoid which is a semigroup with an identity element for the
binary operation.
Thus a group is a monoid whose elements have an inverse under the binary
operation.

SUBGROUPS and CYCLIC GROUPS

If a subset H of a group G is closed under the binary operation of G and if H

with the induced operation from G is itself a group, then H is a subgroup of
G, denoted by . We use < to mean that H is a subgroup of G but
they are not equal.

If G is a group, then the subgroup consisting of G itself is called the

improper subgroup of G. All other subgroups are proper subgroups. The
subgroup {} is the trivial subgroup of G. All other subgroups are nontrivial.

Examples:
1. , + < , + < , + < , +.
2. is a subgroup of under addition.
3. + , < + ,
4. , < , < ,

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5. The special linear group of degree n is a subgroup of the general linear

group of degree n under matrix multiplication.

Let G be a group and . Then the subgroup { | } of G is called the

cyclic subgroup of G generated by a, and is denoted by . [Note that
the binary operation here is written in multiplicative notation only, but does
not necessarily mean that the operation itself is multiplication.]

An element a of a group G generates G and is a generator for G if = .

In this case, we say that the group G is cyclic.

PROPERTIES OF CYCLIC GROUPS

1. Every cyclic group is abelian.
2. A subgroup of a cyclic group is cyclic.
3. Let G be a cyclic group of order n generated by a. Let such that
= . Then b generates a cyclic subgroup of G containing /
elements, where = gcd(, ). In addition, = if and only if
gcd(, ) = gcd(, ).
* For each divisor k of n, the set / is the unique subgroup of of
order k; moreover, these are the only subgroups of .
4. If a is a generator of a finite cyclic group of order n, then the other
generators of G are the elements of the form , where r is relatively
prime to n.
* If r is relatively prime to n, then r is a generator of .

Examples:
1. The group under addition is cyclic, with generators 1 and 1.
2. is also a cyclic group, whose generators are 1 and n 1 (there may
be more).
3. The Klein-4 group is not cyclic.
4. = is a cyclic subgroup of .
5. Enumerate the cyclic subgroups of (8) and (10).
6. Enumerate the generators and subgroups of 30 .

GROUPS OF PERMUTATIONS

A permutation of a set A is a function : that is both one-to-one and

onto.

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
Examples: = ( ) and = ( ) are
4 5 2 6 3 1 3 1 2 6 4 5
permutations of the set {1,2, 3, 4, 5, 6}.

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The binary operation on a group of permutations is permutation

multiplication, which is essentially a composition of functions. Thus, the
operation must be performed from right to left.

Examples: Compute the following: (a) ; (b) ; (c) given that

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
,
,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

9 2 4 7 5 3 6 8 1 6 5 9 4 1 8 7 2 3 2 7 4 8 1 6 5 9 3

Let = {1, 2, 3, , }. The group of all permutations of A under permutation

multiplication is called the symmetric group on n letters, denoted by .
Note that the order of is !.

Examples: Enumerate the elements of 3 .

The nth dihedral group , or the group of symmetries of the regular n-gon,
is also a permutation group, and contains 2n elements: n rotations and n
reflections.

Examples: Enumerate the elements of 4 .

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