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Homework 5 Sol

1. This document contains solutions to homework problems involving permutation groups. 2. The maximum order of an element in the symmetric group S10 is 30, achieved by the permutation (12345)(678)(9,10). 3. For n ≥ 2, the maximum order of an element in the symmetric group Sn is 420, achieved by the partition 7 + 5 + 4 + 3 of the number 20.

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105 views4 pages

Homework 5 Sol

1. This document contains solutions to homework problems involving permutation groups. 2. The maximum order of an element in the symmetric group S10 is 30, achieved by the permutation (12345)(678)(9,10). 3. For n ≥ 2, the maximum order of an element in the symmetric group Sn is 420, achieved by the partition 7 + 5 + 4 + 3 of the number 20.

Uploaded by

tt_aljobory3911
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MATH 3005 Homework Han-Bom Moon

Homework 5 Solution
Chapter 5 - Permutation groups.
due: Oct. 17.

1. Let
" # " #
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
= , = .
3 4 1 2 6 7 5 8 6 5 4 1 3 2 8 7

(a) Compute , , and 1 .


" # " #
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
= , = ,
7 6 2 3 1 4 8 5 4 1 6 5 2 8 3 7
" #
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 = .
3 4 1 2 7 5 6 8

(b) Write , , as products of disjoint cycles.

= (13)(24)(567), = (162534)(78), = (1785)(2643).

(c) Write , , as products of 2-cycles.

= (13)(24)(57)(56), = (14)(13)(15)(12)(16)(78),

= (15)(18)(17)(23)(24)(26).

(d) Find || and ||.

|| = lcm(2, 2, 3) = 6, || = lcm(6, 2) = 6.

2. Let
= (1357)(462), = (265)(13)(47).

(a) Write , , 1 as products of disjoint cycles.

= (154)(67), = (273)(45), 1 = (1753)(264).

(b) Write , , as products of 2-cycles.

= (17)(15)(13)(42)(46), = (25)(26)(13)(47), = (14)(15)(67).

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MATH 3005 Homework Han-Bom Moon

(c) Write , , as matrix forms.


" # " #
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
= , = ,
3 4 5 6 7 2 1 3 6 1 7 2 5 4
" #
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
= .
5 2 3 1 4 7 6

(d) Find || and ||.

|| = lcm(4, 3) = 12, , || = lcm(3, 2, 2) = 6.

3. (a) Find the maximum of || for S10 . Find an element of S10 with the
maximum order.

If we decompose 10 as a sum of positive integers, then the set of all partitions


is

{10, 9 + 1, 8 + 2, 8 + 1 + 1, 7 + 3, 7 + 2 + 1, 7 + 1 + 1 + 1, 6 + 4, 6 + 3 + 1, 6 + 2 + 2,

6 + 2 + 1 + 1, 6 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, 5 + 5, 5 + 4 + 1, 5 + 3 + 2, 5 + 3 + 1 + 1, 5 + 2 + 2 + 1,
5+2+1+1+1, 5+1+1+1+1+1, 4+4+2, 4+4+1+1, 4+3+3, 4+3+2+1,
4+3+1+1+1, 4+2+2+2, 4+2+2+1+1, 4+2+1+1+1+1, 4+1+1+1+1+1+1,
3 + 3 + 3 + 1, 3 + 3 + 2 + 2, 3 + 3 + 2 + 1 + 1, 3 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, 3 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1,
3+2+2+1+1+1, 3+2+1+1+1+1+1, 3+1+1+1+1+1+1+1, 2+2+2+2+2,
2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1, 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1,
2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1, 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1}.
In each case, if we compute the least common multiple of the integers, then
the maximum occurs when 5 + 3 + 2, and lcm(5, 3, 2) = 30. Therefore the
maximum order is 30 and = (12345)(678)(9, 10) is an element of the order.
20
[
(b) Among elements of Sn , find the maximum order and an element with
n=2
the maximum order. (If you are really interested in, try to make a computer
program calculating m(n) := the maximum order of an element in Sn , for
n 100. Can you find any patterns?)

Many of students successfully made some computer code to find the maxi-
mum order. It seems that this computation is too lengthy and heavy to do
by your hands, but you may realize that actually the most part of the com-
putation above is redundant. Here are several observations to reduce the
computation.
Step 1. It is sufficient to consider partitions with1out repeated integers, be-
cause the repeated integers do not affect on the least common multiple. So
we may assume that a1 > a2 > > ak for a given partition a1 +a2 + +ak .

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MATH 3005 Homework Han-Bom Moon

Step 2. Moreover, it is sufficient to consider partitions consisting of integers


a1 , a2 , , ak such that no ai is a multiple of aj . If there are such ai and aj ,
then after removing aj , the least common multiple is same.
Step 3. If a given partition a1 > a2 > > ak has the sum less than 20 and if
there is a positive integer b 20 (a1 + a2 + + ak ) such that b is relatively
prime to all of ai s, then by adding b to the partition, we can get a partition
with larger least common multiple.
Step 4. Whenever we have a partition which is a sub partition of the partition
on our list, we may omit it.
Now if you find all of such partitions of numbers at most 20, we have a
relatively reasonable size of set of partitions we need to consider:

{20, 19, 18, 17+3, 16+3, 15+4, 14+5, 14+3, 13+7, 13+5+2, 13+4+3, 13+3+2,

12+7, 12+5+3, 11+9, 11+8, 11+7+2, 11+6, 11+5+4, 11+5+3, 11+5+2,


11+4+3, 10+9, 10+7+3, 9+8, 9+7+2, 9+5+4, 8+7+5, 8+7+3, 8+5+3, 7+6+5,
7 + 5 + 4 + 3, 7 + 5 + 3 + 2}
Among those partitions, the maximum of the least common multiple occurs
at lcm(7 + 5 + 4 + 3) = 420. Therefore the maximum order is 420.

4. Let G be a group of permutations on a set X. Let x X and define stab(x) =


{ G | (x) = x}. Show that stab(x) G. This subgroup is called the stabilizer
of x in G.

Note that the constant map Id has the property that Id(x) = x, so Id stab(x)
and stab(x) 6= . If , stab(x), then (x) = ((x)) = (x) = x. Therefore
stab(x). Also if stab(x), then 1 (x) = 1 ((x)) = (1 )(x) =
Id(x) = x. So 1 stab(x). Thus stab(x) G.

5. Prove that every element in Sn (n > 1) can be written as a product of 2-cycles of


the form (1k). (This problem says that Sn is generated by n 1 elements. Indeed,
for every n 3, Sn can be generated by only two (!) elements, although the
structure of Sn is extremely complicated. Compare to the case of groups with a
single generator - cyclic groups.)

Every Sn can be written as a product of 2-cycles. So it is sufficient to check


that each two cycle (ab) with a, b > 1 is a product of (1k)s. Now (ab) = (1a)(1b)(1a).

6. By labeling four vertices of a square as 1, 2, 3, and 4 counterclockwise, we may


regard D4 as a permutation group, that is, a subgroup of S4 .

(a) Describe all elements of D4 as a permutation of those four elements.


Let i be the vertex on the i-th quadrant.

R0 = e, R90 = (1234), R180 = (13)(24), R270 = (1432),

H = (14)(23), V = (12)(34), D = (14), D0 = (23).

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MATH 3005 Homework Han-Bom Moon

(b) Among them, find all even permutations.

It is clear that R0 , R180 , H, V are even permutations and D, D0 are odd per-
mutations. Now R90 = (14)(13)(12) and R270 = (12)(13)(14), so they are
odd permutations, too.

7. Let G be a subgroup of Sn .

(a) If there is an odd permutation G, then show that exactly half of the
elements of G are even. (How can we show the fact that the given set has an
even number of elements?)

Let E be the set of even permutations in G, and let O be the set of odd
permutations in G. Define a map f : E O, as f () = . This map is well-
defined, because a product of an odd permutation and an even permutation
is odd. f is one-to-one, because

f (1 ) = f (2 ) 1 = 2 1 = 2

from the cancellation of . The map f is onto because for every odd permu-
tation O, 1 E and f (1 ) = 1 = . So f is a bijection and
|E| = |O|. So we have |G| = |E| + |O| = 2|E| and |G| is even.
(b) Suppose that G has odd number of elements. Show that G An . (Hint: Use
(a).)

If G has an odd permutation, then |G| must be even by (a). So if |G| is odd,
then all elements of G are even permutations. Therefore G An .

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