MA249 - Algebra II

Assignment 1 January 2011

Answer the questions on your own paper. Write your own name in the top left-
hand corner, and your university ID number in the top right-hand corner. Use the
problems at the beginning as well as exercises in the lecture notes for a warm up. So-
lutions to the FOUR TEST problems must be handed in by 15.00 on MONDAY
24 JANUARY (Monday of the third week of term), or they will not be marked.
There will be an award of 5 extra marks for clarity, so do a good job.
These are practice problems for you to sharpen your teeth on.

P1. Let G be a group, x1 , . . . xn ∈ G. Prove that if x1 x2 · · · xn = 1 then x2 x3 · · · xn x1 =

1.
P2. Find all subgroups of the group C12 . Find the orders of all elements in the
group C12 . How do you find the order of an element in Cn for general n?
P3. Prove that a group G is abelian if and only if f : G → G defined by f (x) = x2
is a group homomorphism.
P4. An element p ∈ R such that p2 = p is called an idempotent. Describe all
idempotents in R = R and R = M2 (R).
P5. Let us consider a set X. Let 2X be the set of all subsets of X. We define a
multiplication on 2X as the intersection and an addition as the symmetric difference:

A · B = A ∩ B, A + B = (A ∪ B) \ (A ∩ B).

Prove that 2X is a commutative ring under these operations.

P6. Consider a ring R. Define R b = R × Z with operations given by (r, n) + (s, m) =
(r + s, n + m) and (r, n) · (s, m) = (rs + mr + ns, mn). Prove that Rb is a ring.
The following problems are test problems for you to submit for marking.
Write concise but complete solutions only to the questions asked. My solution to
each problem takes half of A4 page. Your solution should take one A4 page and if
it is taking more than two then you are writing too much.

1. Show that the order of an element g ∈ Sym(X) is the least common multiple of
the lengths of the cycles of g, when g is written in cyclic notation, that is, written
as a product of disjoint cycles.
Elements of largest possible orders in S3 , S4 , S5 are (1, 2, 3) – order 3, (1, 2, 3, 4) –
order 4, and (1, 2, 3)(4, 5) – order 6. Find elements of largest possible orders in Sn
for 6 ≤ n ≤ 12. [5 marks]
2. We consider the groups Q+ and Q× . Prove that neither of these groups is finitely
generated. (Hint: use the fact that there are infinitely many primes.)
Prove that Q+ is not isomorphic to Q× . [5 marks]
3. Let V be a vector space over a field F. Let LF (V ) be the set of all linear maps
V → V . Prove that LF (V ) is a ring under the following operations:

f + g : x 7→ f (x) + g(x), f g : x 7→ f (g(x)).

Furthermore, let V = U ⊕ W be a direct sum of two vector spaces over F such

both U and W are of countable dimension. Then V has a countable dimension too.
Choosing a linear bijection between V and U gives us an element f : V → U ⊆ V
of LF (V ). Prove that there are infinitely many x ∈ R = LF (V ) such that xf = 1R .
Prove that there is no y ∈ R such that f y = 1R . Conclude that f is not a unit. [5
marks]
4. Go to the online Magma calculator http://magma.maths.usyd.edu.au/calc/ and
try the code

G<a,b,c> := Group < a,b,c | aˆk, bˆl, cˆm, a*b*c >; G; Order(G);

for some particular k ≥ l ≥ m ≥ 2. Determine experimentally by running the code

which of these groups Tk,l,m are finite.
Further, using Magma, determine whether two finite groups Tk,l,m and Tk′ ,l′,m′ of the
same order are isomorphic. (Hint: Magma has different variable classes, you need to
move your groups from GrpFP to another class where Magma can actually compare
them).
Include your Magma code and Magma outputs with your answers. [5 marks]