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Matrices Over Z

The document discusses matrices over the field of integers modulo a prime p (Zp). It defines what vectors and matrices over Zp are, and notes that standard linear algebra results like Gaussian elimination still hold. It then calculates the order of the group of invertible n×n matrices over Zp (GLn(Zp)) by considering its action on the vector space Znp. It proves that the order of GLn(Zp) is (pn - 1)(pn - p)...(pn - pn-1). It also gives some examples calculating orders and invertibility for small cases.

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alok pradhan
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71 views3 pages

Matrices Over Z

The document discusses matrices over the field of integers modulo a prime p (Zp). It defines what vectors and matrices over Zp are, and notes that standard linear algebra results like Gaussian elimination still hold. It then calculates the order of the group of invertible n×n matrices over Zp (GLn(Zp)) by considering its action on the vector space Znp. It proves that the order of GLn(Zp) is (pn - 1)(pn - p)...(pn - pn-1). It also gives some examples calculating orders and invertibility for small cases.

Uploaded by

alok pradhan
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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Chapter 10

Matrices over Zp

We can now combine everything we’ve learned to construct a new, and inter-
esting, collection of finite groups. Let p be a prime number. Then Zp is a field,
which means that we can perform all the usual operations in it, including divi-
sion. This allows us to do linear algebra over this field pretty much as usual.
For instance, we can consider vectors of length n with entries in Zp . We denote
this by Znp . This becomes an abelian group under vector addition:
(a1 , . . . , an ) + (b1 , . . . , bn ) = (a1 + b1 , . . . , an + bn )
where, of course, + on the right denotes addition in Zp . One can also consider
matrices with entries in Zp . The standard results from basic linear algebra
generalize to Zp or any field. For example,
Theorem 10.1 (Gaussian elimination). Let A be an n ⇥ n matrix with entries
in a field K. A is invertible if and only if it be can be taken to the identity matrix
by a finite sequence of row operations (interchanges, addition of a multiple of
one row to another, multiplication of a row by an element of K ⇤ ). A is not
invertible if and only if it can be taken to a matrix with a zero row.
Some details will be recalled in the exercises. Let us denote the set of
invertible n ⇥ n matrices with entries in K by GLn (K). This is a group under
matrix multiplication. When K = Zp , this is a finite group. So the first thing
we should do is calculate its order. Let us start with the 2 ⇥ 2 case. Let V = Z2p
as above, but now represented by 2 ⇥ 1 vectors. A 2 GL2 (Zp ) will act on v 2 Z2p
by matrix multiplication Av. Set v = [1, 0]T 2 V
Lemma 10.2. Orb(v) = Z2p {0}.
Proof. Given u 2 Z2p {0}, we can clearly find a matrix A 2 GL2 (Zp ) with u
as its first column. This will satisfy Av = u.
Lemma 10.3. Stab(v) is the set of matrices
⇢
1 x
| y 6= 0
0 y

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Proof. The condition Av = v means that the first column is v.
Theorem 10.4. The order of GL2 (Zp ) is (p2 1)(p2 p)
Proof. From the last two lemmas and the orbit-stabilizer theorem, the order is
(p2 1)(p 1)p

Corollary 10.5. GL2 (Z2 ) is isomorphic to S3 .


Proof. GL(Z2 ) acts on Z22 {0} which has 3 elements. Therefore we have a
homomorphism f : G ! S3 which is one to one because ker f consists matrices
satisfying A[1, 0]T = [1, 0]T and A[0, 1]T = [0, 1]T , and A = I is the only such
matrix. Since the order of GL(Z2 ) is 6, f has to be onto as well.

This isomorphism should be viewed as something of an accident. For p = 3,


the order is 48 which is not the factorial of anything.
Bolstered by this success, let’s try to compute the order of GLn (Zp ) which
is the group of invertible n ⇥ n matrices.
Theorem 10.6. The order of GLn (Zp ) is (pn 1)(pn p) . . . (pn pn 1
)

Proof. We will apply the same strategy as before. This time GLn (Zp ) acts
on Znp {0}, and arguing as before, we can see that this is the orbit of v =
[1, 0, 0, . . .]T . So |GLn (Zp )| = (pn 1)| Stab(v)| by the orbit-stabilizer theorem.
The stabilizer of v is the set of matrices of the form
2 3
1 x2 x3 . . .
60 7
6 7
A = 60 B 7
4 5
..
.

One can see that for A to be invertible, the (n 1) ⇥ (n 1) block labelled B


must be invertible as well, but there are no constraints on the elements labelled
xi . Therefore A 7! (B, x2 , x3 , . . .) gives a one to one correspondence between
Stab(v) and GLn 1 (Zp ) ⇥ Znp 1 . It follows by induction on n that

| Stab(v)| = pn 1
|GLn 1 (Zp )|
n 1 n 1
=p (p 1) . . . (pn 1
pn 2
)
n n n 1
= (p 1) . . . (p p )

10.7 Exercises
1. A matrix over a field is called elementary if it can be obtained from I
by a single row operation. Check that if E is an elementary matrix, it is
invertible, and that EA is the matrix obtained from A by a row operation.

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2. The one fact from linear algebra, we will just accept is the rank-nullity the-
orem, which implies that a square matrix is invertible if its kernel contains
only 0. If E1 , . . . , EN are elementary matrices such that EN . . . E1 A = I,
then prove that A is invertible and that EN . . . E1 = A 1 .
3. If E1 , . . . , EN are elementary matrices such that EN . . . E1 A has a row of
zeros, prove that A is not invertible. (Hint: show that ker A contains a
nonzero vector.)
4. Determine which of the following matrices over Z2 is invertible, and find
the inverse when it exists.
2 3
1 1 1
(a) A = 41 0 15
0 1 0
2 3
1 1 1
(b) B = 41 0 15
1 1 0

5. Cauchy’s theorem would


 imply that GL2 (Zp ) would have an element of
1 1
order p. Show that would work.
0 1

6. The determinant det : GL2 (Zp ) ! Z⇤p gives a homomorphism. Show that
this is onto, and use this to compute the order of the kernel (which is
usually denoted as SL2 (Zp )).
7. The order of SL2 (Z3 ) is 24, which might lead one to suspect it’s isomorphic
to S4 . Prove that it isn’t by comparing centers (see ex 7 of chap 7).

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