Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Gunnar Calvert
July 31, 2019
Contents
1 Group Theory 1
1.1 Week 1: Introduction to Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Week 2: More Groups, and Group Homomorphisms . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Week 3 and 4: Subgroups and Cyclic Groups . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Week 5: Introduction to Quotient Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Week 6: Isomorphism Theorems and the Alternating Group . . . 5
2 Ring Theory 5
2.1 Week 7: Introduction to Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Week 8: Ideals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 Week 9: Some Special Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Week 10: More Special Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 Week 11: Polynomial Rings and Rings of Fractions . . . . . . . . 9
3 Field Theory 10
3.1 Week 12: Introduction to Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 Week 13: Algebraic Extensions and Some Linear Algebra . . . . 12
3.3 Week 14: Classical Constructions and Splitting Fields . . . . . . 12
3.4 Week 15: Some Special Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 Group Theory
1.1 Week 1: Introduction to Groups
Definition 1.1. An n-ary operation on a set X is a function
X n → X.
Closure: ∀a, b ∈ G : a × b ∈ G
Associativty: ∀a, b, c ∈ G : (a × b) × c = a × (b × c)
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Identity: ∃ 1 ∈ G : 1 × g = g × 1 = g ∀g ∈ G
Inverses: ∀g ∈ G ∃ g −1 ∈ G : g × g −1 = g −1 × g = 1
Commutativity: (if G is abelian) ∀a, b ∈ G : a × b = b × a
Definition 1.5 (Dihedral Group). The dihedral group D2n of order 2n is the
group of symmetries of the regular n-gon in R2 .
Remark 2. The group presentation for D2n is D2n = hr, s : rn = s2 = 1, rn s =
sr−n i with generators r, s in D2n .
Definition 1.6 (Symmetric Group). Let Ω be any set. The set of all bijections
Ω → Ω is the symmetric group SΩ . When Ω = {1, 2, ..., n}, we write Sn .
Remark 3. The elements of Sn are bijections (functions) and the binary opera-
tion on Sn is function transposition, and is therefore associative.
Cycle notation allows for representation of elements, including the identity func-
tion {id} and inverses of elements.
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Lemma 1.2. If φ : G → H is an isomorphism, then φ−1 : H → G is also an
isomorphism.
Definition 1.9. An isomorphism φ : G ∼ = G is an automorphism of G. An
automorphism need not be the identity isomorphism.
Definition 1.10 (Cyclic Groups). A group is cyclic if it is generated by a single
element, written as G = (g).
Theorem 1.3. Any two cyclic groups of the same order are isomorphic. The
general cyclic group of order n is written as Cn or Zn .
Definition 1.11 (Group Actions). A group action of G on a set A is a function
G × A → A written as g · a such that 1 · a = a ∀a ∈ A and g · (h · a) =
(gh) · a ∀a ∈ A and g, h ∈ G.
A good example of a group action is that of GLn , the group of invertible
n × n matrices over a field, acting on the set of n-dimensional vectors over that
field. Conjugation is also a group action, such that g · a = gag −1 . The trivial
action is the function g · a = a ∀a ∈ A.
There is further theory on group actions and the symmetric group which is not
entirely crucial.
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1.4 Week 5: Introduction to Quotient Groups
Definition 1.13. For a subset S ⊆ G and an element g ∈ G, we define gS =
{gs | s ∈ S} and Sg = {sg | s ∈ S}.
This definition is interesting when S ≤ G.
Lemma 1.8. If H ≤ G, then gH is a subgroup of G if and only if g ∈ H, such
that gH = H. The same goes for Hg. We call gH a left coset of H and Hg a
right coset of H.
Lemma 1.9. g1 H g2 H 6= ∅ ⇔ g1 H = g2 H ⇔ g1−1 g2 ∈ H.
T
|H| · |K|
|HK| =T
|H K|
Remark 7. HK is a subgroup ⇔ HK = KH.
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1.5 Week 6: Isomorphism Theorems and the Alternating
Group
Theorem 1.15 (First Isomorphism Theorem). Let f : G → H be a homomor-
phism. Then
G/Ker(f ) ∼
= Im(f ).
Corollary 1.15.1. If f is injective, then G ∼
= Im(f ). If f is surjective, then
H∼= G/Ker(f ).
Theorem 1.16 (Second Isomorphism Theorem). Let G be a group with A ≤
G, N E G. Then AN ≤ G, N E AN , and
AN/N ∼
= A/(A ∩ N ).
G/B ∼
= (G/A)/(B/A).
2 Ring Theory
2.1 Week 7: Introduction to Rings
Definition 2.1 (Rings). A ring is a set R with operations of × and + and is
defined as:
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1. An abelian group under +.
2. A monoid under ×.
3. × distributing over +.
3. φ(xy) = φ(x)φ(y).
Theorem 2.1. Let φ : R → S be a ring homomorphism. Then the image of φ,
Imφ, is a subring of S. Also the kernel of φ, Kerφ, is closed under addition,
contains 0, and is closed under multiplication by arbitrary elements of R.
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Definition 2.8. Let A be any subset of R. We define RA to consist of all finite
sums of the form
r1 a1 + r2 a2 + · · · + rn an
where ri ∈ R, ai ∈ A.
Theorem 2.2. Let A be any subset of R. Then (A) = RA.
Definition 2.9. If A has a single element a, we write (a) instead of (A) and
call it the principal ideal generated by a. If an ideal I is equal to (A) for some
finite A, we call I finitely generated.
Theorem 2.3. Let I be an ideal of R.
1. I = R ⇔ 1 ∈ I ⇔ u ∈ I, for any unit u.
2. R is a field ⇔ R has only two ideals: (0) and R.
Corollary 2.3.1. If F is a field, then any homomorphism F → R to any ring
R is injective.
Definition 2.10. An ideal I is prime if whenever ab ∈ I, then either a ∈ I or
b ∈ I.
Definition 2.11. A ring R is a domain or integral domain if ∀a, b ∈ R, ab = 0
implies either a = 0 or b = 0. A domain has no zero divisors.
Theorem 2.4. An ideal I ⊆ R is prime if and only if R/I is an integral domain.
Definition 2.12. An ideal I 6= R is maximal if whenever J is another ideal
containing I, either J = I or J = R.
Theorem 2.5. An ideal I ⊆ R is maximal if and only if R/I is a field.
Corollary 2.5.1. Every maximal ideal is prime.
Theorem 2.6 (Consequence of Zorn’s Lemma). Every ideal I 6= R is contained
in a maximal ideal.
There are many equivalent statements of Zorn’s Lemma which are not nec-
essary for 308.
Remark 8. Before discussing the Chinese Remainder Theorem for rings, we
revisit an example for groups.
Let G be a group M, N E G such that G = M N . Then G/(M ∩ N ) ∼
= (G/M ) ×
(G/N ).
Theorem 2.7. Let R be a ring, and I1 , ..., In be ideals.
1. The function ϕ : R → (R/I1 ) × (R/I2 ) × · · · × (R/In ) given by
ϕ(r) = (r + I1 , r + I2 , ..., r + In )
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2. If the Ik ’s are pairwise comaximal (such that Ii + Ij = R and IJ = I ∩ J),
then this map is surjective and I1 I2 · · · In = I1 ∩ I2 ∩ · · · ∩ In .
3. Therefore
R/(I1 I2 · · · In ) ∼
= (R/I1 ) × (R/I2 ) × · · · × (R/In )
a = q0 b + r0
b = q1 b + r1
and so forth. It will terminate sice N (ri+1 ) < N (ri ).
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Figure: The hierarchies of special integral domains.
Theorem 2.12. If R is an integral domain, then the units of R[x] are the same
as the units of R.
Theorem 2.13. If a is a polynomial whose leading coefficient is a unit, and b is
any other polynomial, there exist unique polynomials q, r such that (1) b = aq +r
and (2) deg(r) < deg(a).
This works for any polynomials a, b if R is a field.
Theorem 2.14. The ideal generated by x in R[x] consists precisely of those
polynomials with no constant term. R[x]/(x) ∼
= R.
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Theorem 2.15. Let I be an ideal of R, and I[x] the ideal of R[x] generated by
I. Then I[x] consists of all polynomials whose coefficients all lie in I, and
R[x]/I[x] ∼
= (R/I)[x].
3 Field Theory
3.1 Week 12: Introduction to Fields
Definition 3.1 (Fields). A field F is a commutative ring with unit such that
every nonzero element has a multiplicative inverse.
Note: If F is a field, then F [x] is a Euclidean domain hence a PID and a
UFD.
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Theorem 3.1. Every ring homomorphism K → F between fields is injective.
A consequence of this proposition is that you cannot quotient fields to make
them smaller, but you can add new elements to make them bigger.
Definition 3.2. A field extension is an inclusion of a subfield K ⊆ F .
Theorem 3.4. Every field has a prime subfield. if char(K) = 0, then the prime
subfield of K is isomorphic to Q. If char(K) = p, then the prime subfield of K
is isomorphic to Z/p.
Theorem 3.5. If K1 , K2 have different characteristics, then neither is an ex-
tension of the other.
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3.2 Week 13: Algebraic Extensions and Some Linear Al-
gebra
Definition 3.8. Let K ⊆ F be a field extension. An element α ∈ F is algebraic
over K if there exists a polynomial p ∈ K[x] such that p(α) = 0 in F .
Definition 3.9. Let K ⊆ F be a field extension. An element α ∈ F is tran-
scendental over K if it is not algebraic.
Lemma 3.7. Let K ⊆ F be an extension, and let α ∈ F be algebraic over K.
Then there is an irreducible polynomial pα ∈ K[x] of which α is a root, and
every polynomial which has α as a root is divisible by pα .
Definition 3.10. We call pα the minimal polynomial or irreducible polynomial
for α over K. The degree of α is defined to be the degree of pα , and is also the
degree of K ⊆ K[x]/pα .
Definition 3.11. An extension K ⊆ F is finite if its degree is finite.
Theorem 3.8. Let K ⊆ F be an extension. An element α ∈ F is algebraic
over K if and only if there is some field L containing α with K ⊆ L ⊆ F and
[L : K] finite.
Theorem 3.9. Let K ⊆ L ⊆ F be extensions. Then
[F : K] = [F : L] · [L : K].
Q ⊆ C ⊆ R.
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√
Lemma 3.11. If a > 0 is constructible, then a is constructible.
Lemma 3.12. A point (x, y) is constructible if and only if the numbers x, y are
constructible.
Theorem 3.13. Every constructile number lies in a field extension Q ⊆ F with
[F : Q] = 2n .
Theorem 3.14. It is not possible to double the cube, trisect and angle, or square
the circle.
n
Definition 3.15. A Fermat prime is a prime p = 22 + 1.
Theorem 3.15. A regular polygon with n sides can be constructed if and only
if n is a product of a power of 2 and distinct Fermat primes.
Definition 3.16. Let K ⊆ F and f ∈ K[x]. Then we say that f splits over F
if it factors as a product of (only) linear terms in F [x].
An example of this definition is the fundamental theorem of algebra, which
states that every polynomial with coefficients in C splits.
Definition 3.17. Let K ⊆ F and f ∈ K[x]. F is a splitting field for f if (1) f
splits over F , and (2) f does not split over any proper subfield of F containing
K.
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