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Unit Iv Subgroups The Subgroups

The document defines and provides properties of subgroups. A subgroup H of a group G is a subset of G that forms a group under the operation of G. Properties include: H is closed under the group operation and inverses, the intersection of subgroups is a subgroup, the subgroup generated by a set S is the smallest subgroup containing S, and subgroups form a lattice under inclusion. An example subgroup H of the group Z8 contains the elements {0,4} and has index 4.

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Darren Calabia
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238 views3 pages

Unit Iv Subgroups The Subgroups

The document defines and provides properties of subgroups. A subgroup H of a group G is a subset of G that forms a group under the operation of G. Properties include: H is closed under the group operation and inverses, the intersection of subgroups is a subgroup, the subgroup generated by a set S is the smallest subgroup containing S, and subgroups form a lattice under inclusion. An example subgroup H of the group Z8 contains the elements {0,4} and has index 4.

Uploaded by

Darren Calabia
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 DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT IV

SUBGROUPS

The Subgroups

Given a group G under a binary operation ∗, a subset H of G is called


a subgroup of G if H also forms a group under the operation ∗. More precisely, H is
a subgroup of G if the restriction of ∗ to H × H is a group operation on H. This is
usually represented notationally by H ≤ G, read as "H is a subgroup of G".
A proper subgroup of a group G is a subgroup H which is a proper
subset of G (i.e. H ≠ G). The trivial subgroup of any group is the subgroup {e}
consisting of just the identity element. If H is a subgroup of G, then G is sometimes
called an overgroup of H.
The same definitions apply more generally when G is an arbitrary semigroup, but
this article will only deal with subgroups of groups. The group G is sometimes
denoted by the ordered pair (G, ∗), usually to emphasize the operation ∗
when G carries multiple algebraic or other structures.

Basic Properties of Subgroups

A subset H of the group G is a subgroup of G if and only if it is nonempty and


closed under products and inverses. (The closure conditions mean the following:
whenever a and bare in H, then ab and a−1 are also in H. These two conditions can be
combined into one equivalent condition: whenever a and b are in H, then ab−1 is also
in H.) In the case thatH is finite, then H is a subgroup if and only if H is closed under
products. (In this case, every element a of H generates a finite cyclic subgroup of H,
and the inverse of a is then a−1 = an − 1, where n is the order of a.)

The above condition can be stated in terms of a homomorphism; that is, H is a


subgroup of a group G if and only if H is a subset of G and there is an inclusion
homomorphism (i.e., i(a) = a for every a) from H to G.

The identity of a subgroup is the identity of the group: if G is a group with


identity eG, and H is a subgroup of G with identity eH, then eH = eG.

 The inverse of an element in a subgroup is the inverse of the element in the


group: if H is a subgroup of a group G, and a and b are elements of H such
that ab = ba = eH, then ab = ba = eG.
 The intersection of subgroups A and B is again a subgroup.[1] The union of
subgroups A and B is a subgroup if and only if either A or B contains the other,
since for example 2 and 3 are in the union of 2Z and 3Z but their sum 5 is not.

Another example is the union of the x-axis and the y-axis in the plane (with the
addition operation); each of these objects is a subgroup but their union is not. This
also serves as an example of two subgroups, whose intersection is precisely the
identity.

 If S is a subset of G, then there exists a minimum subgroup containing S,


which can be found by taking the intersection of all of subgroups containing S; it
is denoted by <S> and is said to be the subgroup generated by S. An element
of G is in <S> if and only if it is a finite product of elements of S and their
inverses.

Every element a of a group G generates the cyclic subgroup <a>. If <a>


is isomorphic to Z/nZ for some positive integer n, then n is the smallest positive
integer for which an = e, and n is called the order of a. If <a> is isomorphic to Z,
then a is said to have infinite order.

The subgroups of any given group form a complete lattice under inclusion, called
the lattice of subgroups. (While the infimum here is the usual set-theoretic
intersection, thesupremum of a set of subgroups is the subgroup generated by the
set-theoretic union of the subgroups, not the set-theoretic union itself.) If e is the
identity of G, then the trivial group {e} is the minimum subgroup of G, while
the maximum subgroup is the group G itself.

G is the group  , theintegers mod 8 under addition. The subgroup H


contains only 0 and 4, and is isomorphic to  . There are four left cosets of H: H
itself, 1+H, 2+H, and 3+H (written using additive notation since this is an additive
group). Together they partition the entire group G into equal-size, non-overlapping
sets. The index [G : H] is 4.

Example: Subgroups of Z8
Let G be the group Z8 whose elements are

and whose group operation is addition modulo eight. Its Cayley table is

+ 0 2 4 6 1 3 5 7

0 0 2 4 6 1 3 5 7

2 2 4 6 0 3 5 7 1

4 4 6 0 2 5 7 1 3

6 6 0 2 4 7 1 3 5
1 1 3 5 7 2 4 6 0

3 3 5 7 1 4 6 0 2

5 5 7 1 3 6 0 2 4

7 7 1 3 5 0 2 4 6

This group has two nontrivial subgroups: J={0,4} and H={0,2,4,6},


where J is also a subgroup of H. The Cayley table for H is the top-left
quadrant of the Cayley table for G.
Every group has as many small subgroups as neutral elements on the main
diagonal:

Exercise: Prove that Q* is a subgroup of R*.

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