GROUP THEORY

INTRODUCTION
BINARY OPERATION
 DEFINITION
• A set (G,*) is said to be a group if it satisfies
the following properties:
• (a)Closure: a, b  G  a * b  G
• (b) Associative: a, b, c  G  a *(b * c)  (a * b)* c
• (c)Existence of Identity: a, a * e  e * a  a
• (d)Existence of Inverse: a  G, a '  G
Note: a, b  G, a * b  b * a  G is abelian
Note: If (a) &(b) satisfied G is a semi-group
If (a),(b) & (c) satisfied G is a Monoid
 Examples
1. (N,+) is a Semi-group as it satisfies closure and associative
property(N- Natural numbers)
2. (W,+) is a Monoid as it satisfies closure,associative with the
additive identity ‘0’. (Whole Numbers)
3. (Z,+) is a Group (Z- Integers)
0 is the additive Identity
Inverse of a is –a for all a in Z
Note: (Z,+) is abelian
4. Set of all 2 x 2 matrices over integers under matrix addition
is an example of an abelian group
 Examples continued
• 1. Z5 = {0,1,2,3,4}. (Z5 ,+5 ) is a group where +5 denotes
addition modulo 5.
+5 0 1 2 3 4

0 0 1 2 3 4

1 1 2 3 4 5

2 2 3 4 0 1

3 3 4 0 1 2

4 4 0 1 2 3
MORE EXAMPLES
TRY
 TRY

• 1. Show that G={1,-1,i,-i} is a group under usual

multiplication.
• 2. If * is defined on R such that a*b=a+b-ab, for

a,b R, show that (R,*) is an abelian group.
• 3. If * is defined on Q+ such that a*b=ab/3, for
a,b  Q+, show that {Q+,*} is an abelian group.
• 4. Show that the following sets of 2X2 matrices
form a group under matrix multiplication
  1 0   1 0   1 0   1 0  
i )G   ,  ,  ,  
 0 1   0 1   0 1   0 1 
PROBLEM
• Theorem 1: A subset H of a group G is a subgroup if and
only if
•
(i) (a∈H,b∈H)⇒a*b∈H and
(ii) a∈H⇒a’∈H
• Proof:
• Suppose H is a subgroup of G then H must be closed with
respect to composition * in G, i.e. a∈H,b∈H⇒a*b∈H.
Let a∈H and a’ be the inverse of a in G. Then the inverse
of a in H is also a’. As H itself is a group, each element of
H will possess inverse in it, i.e. a∈H⇒a’∈H.
Thus the condition is necessary. Now let us examine the
sufficiency of the condition.
• (i) Closure Axiom. a∈H,b∈H⇒a*b∈H. Hence closure
axiom is satisfied with respect to the operation *.
(ii) Associative Axiom. Since the elements of H are also
the elements of G, the composition is associative in H
also.
(iii) Existence of Identity. The identity of the subgroup is
the same as the identity of the group because,
a∈H,a’∈H⇒a*a’∈H⇒e∈H. The identity e is an element
of H.
(iv) Existence of Inverse. Since a∈H⇒a’∈H, ∀a∈H.
Therefore each element of H possesses inverse.
The H itself is a group for the composition * in G. Hence
H is a subgroup.
Theorem 2: A necessary and sufficient condition
for a non-empty subset H of a group G to be a
subgroup is that a∈H,b∈H⇒a*b’∈H where b’ is
the inverse of b in G.
• Proof: Necessary condition
• Suppose H is a subgroup of G and let a∈H,b∈H.
Now each element of H must possess inverse
because H itself is a group.
• b∈H⇒b’∈H
• Also H is closed under the composition * in G.
Therefore
• a∈H,b’∈H⇒a*b’∈H
 Sufficient condition
• It is given that a∈H,b’∈H⇒a*b’∈H then we have to
prove that that H is a subgroup
• (i) Closure Property. Let a,b∈H then b∈H⇒b’∈H (as
shown above).
• Therefore by the given condition
• a∈H,b’∈H⇒a*(b’)’∈H⇒a*b∈H
• Thus H is closed with respect to the composition * in
G.
• (ii) Associative Property. Since the elements of H are
also the elements of G, the composition is associative
in H.
• (iii) Existence of Identity. Since

• a∈H,a’∈H⇒a*a’∈H⇒e∈H
•
(iv) Existence of Inverse. Let a∈H then

• e∈H,a∈H⇒e*a’∈H⇒a’∈H

Then each element of H possesses inverse.

Hence H itself is a group for the composition ∘ in
group G.
• Defn: The order of an element a in G is the
least positive integer m such that am=e, e is
the identity of G.
COSETS
 Properties of Cosets:
• Let H be a subgroup of G, and a,b in G.
• 1. a belongs to aH
• 2. aH = H iff a belongs to H
• 3. aH = bH iff a belongs to bH
• 4. aH and bH are either equal or disjoint
• 5. aH = bH iff a-1b belongs to H
• 6. |aH| = |bH|
• 7. aH = Ha iff H = aHa-1
• 8. aH ≤ G iff a belongs to H
 1. a belongs to aH
• Proof: a = ae belongs to aH.
 2. aH=H iff a in H
• Proof: (=>) Given aH = H.
By (1), a is in aH = H.
(<=) Given a belongs to H. Then
(i) aH is contained in H by closure.
(ii) Choose any h in H.
Note that a-1 is in H since a is.
Let b = a-1h. Note that b is in H. So
h = (aa-1)h = a(a-1h) = ab is in aH
It follows that H is contained in aH
By (i) and (ii), aH = H
 3. aH = bH iff a in bH
• Proof: (=>) Suppose aH = bH. Then
a = ae in aH = bH.
(<=) Suppose a is in bH. Then
a = bh for some h in H.
so aH = (bh)H = b(hH) = bH by (2).
 4. aH and bH are either
disjoint or equal.
• Proof: Suppose aH and bH are not disjoint.
Say x is in the intersection of aH and bH.
Then aH = xH = bH by (3).
Consequently, aH and bH are either disjoint or
equal, as required.
 5. aH = bH iff a b in H
-1

• Proof: aH = bH
<=> b in aH by (3)
<=> b = ah for some h in H
<=> a-1b = h for some h in H
<=> a-1b in H
 6. |aH| = |bH|
• Proof: Let ø: aH –>bH be given by
ø(ah) = bh for all h in H.
We claim ø is one to one and onto.
If ø(ah1) = ø(ah2), then bh1 = bh2
so h1 = h2. Therefore ah1 = ah2.
Hence ø is one-to-one.
ø is clearly onto.
It follows that |aH| = |bH| as required.
 aH = Ha iff H = aHa -1

• Proof: aH = Ha
<=> each ah = h'a for some h' in H
<=> aha-1 = h' for some h' in H
<=> H = aHa-1.
 EXAMPLES
• 1. If G is the additive group of integers and H is the subgroup of G
obtained by multiplying each element of G by 3, find the distinct right
cosets of H in G.

• Soln:

• G={…..,-3,-2,-1,0,1,2,3,….}
• H={…..,-9,-6,-3,0,3,6,9,….}
• H+0={….,-9,-6,-3,0,3,6,9,…}
• H+1={…,-8,-5,-2,1,4,7,10,…}
• H+2={….,-7,-4,-1,2,5,8,11,….}
• H+3=H
• H+4=H+1, H+5=H+2, H+6=H, H+(-1)=H+2,
• H+(-2)=H+1, H+(-3)=H so on.
 LAGRANGE’S THEOREM
• Statement: The order of a subgroup of a finite
group is a divisor of the order of the group.
 GROUP HOMOMORPHISM
• Defn : If (G,*) and (G’,#) are two groups, then a
mapping f : G  Gis called a group
homomorphism, if for any a,b in G
• f(a*b)=f(a)#f(b)
• Theorem:
• If f : G  G is a group homomorphism from
(G,*) to (G’,#), then
• (i)f(e)=e’ (ii)f(a-1)=[f(a)] -1
 EXAMPLE
• If G is a group of real numbers under addition
and G’ is the group of positive real numbers
under multiplication, show that the mapping
defined by f(x)=2x is a homomorphism.
• If G is a group with identity e, show that the
mapping f:G→G defined by f(a)=a, for every a
in G is a homomorphism.
EXAMPLE