14.

01 Find the order of the given factor group: Z

6
/3)
Solution: 3) = 0, 3. So the order of Z
6
/3) is 3.
14.06 Find the order of the given factor group: (Z
12
Z
18
)/(4, 3))
Solution: As a subgroup of Z
12
Z
18
,
(4, 3)) = (0, 0), (4, 3), (8, 6), (0, 9), (4, 12), (8, 15).
So the order of (Z
12
Z
18
)/(4, 3)) is (12 18)/6 = 36.
14.08 Find the order of the given factor group: (Z
11
Z
15
)/(1, 1))
Solution: It is easy to see that (1, 1)) = Z
11
Z
15
. So the order of
(Z
11
Z
15
)/(1, 1)) is 1.
14.10 Give the order of the element in the factor group: 26+12) in Z
60
/12).
Solution: 26 +12) = 2 +12). The cyclic subgroup of 2 +12) is
12), 2 +12), 4 +12), 6 +12), 8 +12), 10 +12)
So the order of 26 +12) in Z
60
/12) is 6.
14.12 Give the order of the element in the factor group: (3, 1) + (1, 1)) in
(Z
4
Z
4
)/(1, 1)).
Solution: The cyclic subgroup of (Z
4
Z
4
)/(1, 1)) generated by
(3, 1) +(1, 1)) consists of the following 2 elements:
(0, 0) +(1, 1)),
(3, 1) +(1, 1)) = (2, 0) +(1, 1))
So the order of (3, 1) +(1, 1)) in (Z
4
Z
4
)/(1, 1)) is 2.
14.21
a. The elements in G/H are the cosets of H in the abelian group
G, +), which are of the form a + H for a G. Let a and b be
two elements of G/H is a wrong expression.
b. We must show that G/H is abelian. Let a + H and b + H be
two elements of G/H.
27
c. We must show that G/H is abelian. Let a +H and b +H be two
elements of G/H. Then
(a +H) + (b +H) = a + (H +b) +H
= a + (b +H) +H
= (a +b) +H
= (b +a) +H +H
= b + (a +H) +H
= b + (H +a) +H
= (b +H) + (a +H).
So G/H is abelian.
14.24 Show that A
n
is a normal subgroup of S
n
and compute S
n
/A
n
; that
is, nd a known subgroup to which S
n
/A
n
is isomorphic.
Solution: Suppose n 2. The group A
n
consists of all even per-
mutations in S
n
. If g S
n
, then g can be expressed as a product
of transpositions in S
n
, say g =
1

2

k
. Then g
1
=
k

k1

1
.
Then
gA
n
g
1
=
1

2

k
A
n

k1

1
consists of all even permutations in S
n
. This shows that gA
n
g
1
= A
n
.
Hence A
n
is a normal subgroup of S
n
. Dene : S
n
Z
2
by
() =
_
0, if is an even permutation;
1, if is an odd permtuation.
Then is an homorphism and ker = A
n
. So
S
n
/A
n
= S
n
/ ker (S
n
) = Z
2
.
14.26 Prove that the torsion subgroup T of an abelian group G is a normal
subgroup of G, and that G/T is torsion free.
Solution: Every subgroup of an abelian group is a normal subgroup.
So T is a normal subgroup of G.
Suppose on the contrary that G/T is not torsion free. Then there
exists a non-identity element a +T G/T, such that a +T has nite
order in G/T. So n(a + T) = na + T = T for some positive integer
28
n. So na T. However, all elements in the torsion subgroup T are of
nite orders. So there exists a positive integer m such that m(na) = 0.
So (mn)a = 0. This shows that a T and hence a + T = T is the
identity in G/T, a contradiction to our assumption.
14.27 A subgroup H is conjugate to a subgroup K of a group G if there
exists an inner automorphism i
g
of G such that i
g
[H] = K. Show that
the conjugacy is an equivalence relation on the collection of subgroups
of G.
Solution: We use to dene this relationship.
1. (Reexive) For a subgroup H of G we have i
1
[H] = 1 H 1 = H.
So H H.
2. (Symmetric) If H
1
and H
2
are subgroups of G such that H
1
H
2
,
then there exists g G such that i
g
[H
1
] = H
2
; that is, gH
1
g
1
=
H
2
. So (g
1
)H
2
(g
1
)
1
= g
1
H
2
g = H
1
, that is i
g
1[H
2
] = H
1
.
This shows that H
2
H
1
.
3. (Transitive) If H
1
, H
2
, H
3
are subgroups of G such that H
1
H
2
and H
2
H
3
, then there exists g, k G such that i
g
[H
1
] = H
2
and i
k
[H
2
] = H
3
. So
H
3
= kH
2
k
1
= k(gH
1
g
1
)k
1
= (kg)H
1
(kg)
1
.
This shows that H
1
H
3
.
Therefore, the conjugacy is an equivalence relation on the collection
of subgroups of G.
14.29 Referring to Exercises 27, nd all subgroups of S
3
that are conjugate
to
0
,
2
.
Solution:
0
,
2
=
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
. To nd all subgroups con-
jugate to
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
, it suces to choose one candidate g from
each left coset of
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
and do the conjugation by g (exer-
cise). Let us choose the conjugations by g
1
=
_
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
, g
2
=
_
1 2 3
2 3 1
_
, and
29
g
3
=
_
1 2 3
3 1 2
_
. Then
g
1
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
g
1
1
=
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
,
g
2
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
g
1
2
=
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
2 1 3
__
,
g
3
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 2 1
__
g
1
3
=
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
1 3 2
__
.
These are all subgroups of S
3
that are conjugate to
0
,
2
.
14.31 Show that an intersection of normal subgroups of a group G is again
a normal subgroup of G.
Solution: Let H
i
be normal subgroups of G (for i I where I is
an index set). Let H :=

iI
H
i
. Then for g G by left and right
cancelation laws and the normality of H
i
we have
gH =

iI
(gH
i
) =

iI
(H
i
g) =
_

iI
H
i
_
g = Hg.
This shows that H is a normal subgroup of G.
14.32 Given any subset S of a group G. Show that it makes sense to speak
of the smallest normal subgroup that contains S. [Hint: Use Exercise
31]
Solution: Let H
i
[ i I be the collection of all normal subgroups
of G that contain S. Then by Exercise 31, the subset
H :=

iI
H
i
is a normal subgroup of G. Obviously H contains S. So H is the
smallest normal subgroup that contains S.
14.35 Show that if H and N are subgroups of a group G, and N is normal
in G, then H N is normal in H. Show by an example that H N
need not be normal in G.
Solution: Suppose H is a subgroup, and N is a normal subgroup, of
G respectively. Given h H, we have h(H N)h
1
H. On the
other hand, h(HN)h
1
hNh
1
= N since N is normal. Therefore,
h(H N)h
1
H N. (1)
30
Since h H is arbitrary, replacing h by h
1
in (1) we have
h
1
(H N)(h
1
)
1
H N.
Multiplying h on the left and h
1
on the right in the previous equation,
we have
H N h(H N)h
1
. (2)
By (1) and (2) we see that h(H N)h
1
= H N. So H N is a
normal subgroup of H.
To show that HN needs not be a normal subgroup of G, we consider
G = N := S
3
and H :=
__
1 2 3
1 2 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
1 3 2
__
. Then N is the normal
subgroup of G. But H is not a normal subgroup of G, since for :=
_
1 2 3
2 1 3
_
we have
H =
__
1 2 3
2 1 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
2 3 1
__
,= H =
__
1 2 3
2 1 3
_
,
_
1 2 3
3 1 2
__
.
Now H N = H is not a normal subgroup of G.
14.40 Use the properties det(AB) = det(A) det(B) and det(I
n
) = 1 for
n n matrices to show the following:
a. The nn matrices with determinant 1 form a subgroup of GL(n, R).
b. The n n matrices with determinant 1 form a subgroup of
GL(n, R).
Solution:
a. Let H
1
denote the collection of the n n matrices with determi-
nant 1.
For two matrix A, B H
1
, we have det(AB) = det(A) det(B) =
1 1 = 1. So AB H
1
and thus H
1
is closed under multiplication.
The identity I
n
of GL(n, R) is in H
1
since det(I
n
) = 1.
For A H
1
, we have det(A) det(A
1
) = det(AA
1
) = det(I
n
) =
1. So det(A
1
) = 1/ det(A) = 1 and thus A
1
H
1
. So H
1
is
closed under the inverse.
Therefore, H
1
is a subgroup of GL(n, R).
b. Let H
2
denote the collection of the n n matrices with determi-
nant 1. (Similar to the argument in a., we can show that H
2
is
a subgroup of GL(n, R). Please complete the details by yourself.)
31