Group Theory

Dr V V Acharya
May 25, 2020

1 Revision
In school, we have studied the addition and multiplication of two numbers.
These numbers are natural numbers, integers, rational numbers and real
numbers. Later we also learnt how to add and multiply complex numbers,
polynomials. We also learnt how to subtract two numbers and polynomials.
Division was little more complicated.
Later we learnt that we can add two m × n matrices while if we have
square matrices of order n then we can multiply them. We also discussed
algebra of continuous functions, differentiable functions. Thus, if f and g
are continuous functions then f + g is a continuous function. Similar result
is true for differentiable functions. We denote the set of all continuous real
valued functions defined on [a, b] by C[a, b].
What happens in the case of convergent sequences?
Let us recollect something which we studied in the school.

1.1 Examples
1.1.1 Addition
• Addition of integers
• Addition of rationals
• Addition of real numbers
• Addition of complex numbers
• Addition of polynomials

1
 • Addition of matrices of size m × n

• Addition of convergent sequences

• Addition of continuous functions

• Addition of differentiable functions

• Do you remember an old rule ?

odd + odd = even

odd + even = odd
even + even = even.

1.1.2 Multiplication
• Multiplication of integers

• Multiplication of rationals

• Multiplication of real numbers

• Multiplication of complex numbers

• Multiplication of polynomials

• Multiplication of matrices of size n × n

• Multiplication of convergent sequences

• Multiplication of continuous functions

• Multiplication of differentiable functions

2 Binary Opeartions
The question which one should ask now is ‘what is addition or multiplica-
tion?’ Are there any similarities or Differences between them? Do you know
sets with similar properties? Can you list them?
In this section, we define a binary operation.

2
Definition 1 Let S be a nonempty subset. A binary operation ? is a func-
tion from S × S to S.

Notation: If a, b ∈ S and ? is a binary operation then the image of (a, b)

under ? i.e. ?(a, b) is denoted by a ? b.

Example 1

1. Consider the set of all integers Z. The usual addition of integers is a

binary operation defined on Z. Similarly, the usual multiplication or
subtraction of integers are also binary operations defined on Z.

2. We can define few more binary operations on the set of integers Z. For
example, define a?b by maximum of a and b. This is a binary operation.
Another way of defining a binary operation is a ? b = a + b + 2.

3. If we consider the set of natural numbers N then the usual operations

of addition and multiplication are binary operations but subtraction
is not a binary operation for 2 − 3 = −1 6∈ N. Also, division is not a
binary operation.

4. Let S denote the set of all 2 × 2 matrices. The usual operations of ad-
dition of matrices and multiplication of matrices are binary operations.

5. Let S be a non-empty set. Let ℘(S) denote the set of all subsets of
S. Then, union of two sets is a binary operation defined on ℘(S).
Similarly, intersection of two sets is a binary operation.

3 Exercise
1. Let us consider the set of integers. Let a, b ∈ Z. We say that aRb if and
only if a − b is divisible by 5. Show that this is an equivalence relation.
Find all the equivalence classes.

2. Let us consider the set of integers. Let a, b ∈ Z. We say that aRb if and
only if a − b is divisible by n. Show that this is an equivalence relation.
Find all the equivalence classes.

3. What happens if n = 2?

3
 4. Let f, g be one-one and onto functions defined on a non-empty set S.
Prove that f ◦ g and g ◦ f are one-one and onto functions. If S has
n elements then show that there are n! one-one and onto functions
defined on S.
  
1 a
5. Let G = |a ∈ Z . Note that if A, B ∈ G then AB ∈ G. Is
0 1
matrix multiplication in G commutative?
6. What happens if a ∈ R or a ∈ C?
  
 1 a b 
7. Let G = 0 1 c  |a, b, c ∈ Z . Note that if A, B ∈ G then AB ∈
0 0 1
 
G. Is matrix multiplication in G commutative?
8. Let S = {x1 , x2 , x3 }. Let S3 denote the set of all one-one onto functions
from S to S. Note that x1 has 3 choices, x2 has 2 choices and x3 has
only one choice. Thus, S3 has 3! = 6 elements. We list all the elements
of S3 .
x1 → x1 x1 → x2 x1 → x3
ρ 0 : x2 → x 2 ; ρ 1 : x2 → x3 ; ρ 2 : x2 → x1 ;
x3 → x 3 x3 → x1 x3 → x2
x1 → x1 x1 → x3 x1 → x2
µ 1 : x2 → x3 ; µ 2 : x2 → x2 ; µ 3 : x2 → x1 .
x3 → x2 x3 → x1 x3 → x3

We define the binary operation ? is defined as follows: If f : S → S

and g : S → S, then define

f ? g as f ∗ g(x) = g(f (x)).

4 More Examples
4.1 Roots of unity
We have studied roots of unity.
• 1 is the first root of unity.

4
 • 1, −1 are the square roots of unity.
• 1, ω, ω 2 the cube roots of unity.
• 1, −1, i, −i the fourth roots of unity.
• ±1, ±ω, ±ω 2 the sixth roots of unity.
How about taking the union of the above mentioned sets? For example,
consider {1, −1, i, −i, ω, ω 2 }. Can we define multiplication here? Is it a binary
operation? What will happen if we consider the set of all the roots of
unity? ( Thus, we are considering infinite union.)
Can you see similarity of roots of unity with rotation of regular polygons?

4.2 Even and Odd

• Can you add and/or multiply these?
• How about generalization? Have you done the exercise?
• Do addition and multiplication have ”nice” properties?
• Are there any problems? Can we overcome them?

4.2.1 2 × 2 matrices
• Having integer entries under addition.
• Having rational entries under addition.
• Having real entries under addition.
• Having complex entries under addition.
• Having ‘other’ under addition.
• Can addition be replaced under multiplication.
• Do addition and multiplication have ”nice” properties?
• Are there any problems? Can we overcome them?
• How about replacing 2 × 2 matrices with 3 × 3 or more generally n × n
matrices?

5
4.2.2 An Interesting example
  
1 a
G= |a ∈ Z
0 1

• What happens when we multiply any two elements of G?

• Do you see any similarity between G and Z?

• Can you replace a ∈ Z by a ∈ Q or a ∈ R or a ∈ C?

• Do you see any similarity between G and something?

• How about replacing 2 × 2 matrices with 3 × 3 or more generally n × n

matrices?
  
 1 a b 
G = 0 1 c  |a, b, c ∈ Z
0 0 1
 

5 Exercise
1. Consider the set of all the irrational numbers Qc .

(a) Is sum of two irrational numbers an irrational number?

In other words, is addition a binary operation?
(b) What can you say about multiplication of two irrational numbers?
In other words, is multiplication a binary operation?
(c) Let a, b ∈ Qc . Define a ∗ b = ab . Does ab ∈ Qc .

2. Let D be the set of all discontinuous functions from R to R. Is addition

a binary operation? Is multiplication a binary operation?

3. Consider the set of integers modulo 6. We denote this set by Z/6Z.

Thus, Z/6Z = {0̄, 1̄, 2̄, 3̄, 4̄, 5̄}.

(a) What is 2̄ + 3̄, 2̄ × 3̄, 4̄ × 3̄, 4̄ + 5̄?

(b) Does cancellation law hold under multiplication?

6
6 S3
Let S = {x1 , x2 , x3 }. Let S3 denote the set of all one-one onto functions from
S to S. Note that x1 has 3 choices, x2 has 2 choices and x3 has only one
choice. Thus, S3 has 3! = 6 elements. We list all the elements of S3 .
x1 → x1 x1 → x2 x1 → x3
ρ0 : x2 → x2 ; ρ1 : x2 → x3 ; ρ2 : x2 → x1 ;
x3 → x3 x3 → x1 x3 → x2
x1 → x1 x1 → x3 x1 → x2
µ 1 : x2 → x3 ; µ 2 : x2 → x2 ; µ 3 : x2 → x1 .
x3 → x2 x3 → x1 x3 → x3

We define the binary operation ? is defined as follows: If f : S → S and

g : S → S, then define
f ? g as f ∗ g(x) = g(f (x)).

6.1 Exercise based on the set S3

1. Calculate ρ1 ◦ ρ1 ?
2. Calculate ρ1 ◦ ρ2 ?
3. Calculate µ1 ◦ µ1 ?
4. Calculate ρ1 ◦ µ1 ?
5. Calculate µ1 ◦ ρ1 ?
Do you get the same answer in 4 and 5?
Will the results of the exercise change if we define
f ? g as f ∗ g(x) = f (g(x)).

7 Basic definitions
Definition 2 (Associative operation) Suppose S is a non-empty set to-
gether with a binary operation ?. The binary operation ? is said to be
associative if for all a, b, c ∈ S,
a ? (b ? c) = (a ? b) ? c.

7
Example 2

1. If we consider the set of integers Z, then the usual addition of integers

or multiplication are associative binary operations.
2. Consider the binary operation ? defined on Z by a ? b = a + b + 2. Now,
consider a, b, c ∈ Z. Then,
(a ? b) ? c = (a ? b) + c + 2 = (a + b + 2) + c + 2 = a + b + c + 4.
On the other hand,
a ? (b ? c) = a ? (b + c + 2) = a + b + c + 2 + 2 = a + b + c + 4.
Hence, (a ? b) ? c = a ? (b ? c) for all a, b, c ∈ Z. Thus, this binary
operation is an associative binary operation.
3. If we consider subtraction then it is a binary operation defined on Z
which is not associative, for 5 − (3 − 1) 6= (5 − 3) − 1.
4. Let S denote the set of all 2 × 2 matrices. The usual operation of ad-
dition of matrices and multiplication of matrices are associative binary
operations.
5. Let S be a non-empty set. Let ℘(S) denote the set of all subsets of
S. Then, union of two sets is an associative binary operation defined
on ℘(S). Similarly, the intersection of two sets is an associative binary
operation.
6. Let R? denote the set of all nonzero real numbers. Then, the usual
multiplication is an associative binary operation but the division is not
an associative binary operation.

Definition 3 (Commutative operation) A binary operation ? defined on

a non-empty set S is commutative if a ? b = b ? a for all a, b ∈ S.

Example 3

1. Consider the binary operation ? defined on Z by a ? b = a + b + 2. Note

that b?a = b+a+2 = a?b for all a, b ∈ Z. Hence, this is a commutative
operation on Z.

8
 2. The usual operations of addition and multiplication are commutative
operations defined on R but subtraction is not a commutative binary
operation.
3. Consider the set of all integers Z. Define a binary operation ? by a ? b =
a+b−4 for all a, b ∈ Z. Note that ? is a commutative binary operation.
4. Let S denote the set of all 2 × 2 matrices having integer entries. The
usual operation of addition of matrices is a commutative binary oper-
ation but multiplication of matrices is not commutative.
Definition 4 A non-empty set S together with an associative binary oper-
ation ? is called as a semigroup.
For example, the set of all natural numbers N under usual addition is
a semigroup. The set of all residue classes modulo n, Zn , is a semigroup
under addition as well as under multiplication. Similarly, the set of all 2 × 2
matrices having entries from real numbers is a semigroup under addition. It
is also a semigroup under multiplication. But, R is not a semigroup under
subtraction as subtraction is not an associative operation.
Definition 5 Let S be a non-empty set together with a binary operation ?.
An element e ∈ S is said to be an identity element if a ? e = e ? a = a for all
a ∈ S.
Example 4 Consider the following table.
Set Operation Identity
element
Z addition 0
Z multiplication 1
Z a?b=a+b+2 −2
Zn [a] + [b] = [a + b] [0]
Z a ? b = maximum {a, b} no identity
Z a?b=a−b no identity
℘(S) = union empty set
subsets of S intersection S
Definition 6 A non-empty set M together with an associative binary op-
eration ? is said to be a monoid if it contains an identity element, that is,
there exists an e ∈ M such that a ? e = e ? a = a for all a ∈ M.

9
Example 5 The set of all integers, Z, under usual multiplication is a monoid
but the set of all natural numbers, N, under usual addition is not a monoid.
Zn is a monoid under addition as well as under multiplication. Also, the set
of natural numbers N is a monoid under multiplication.
Thus, a monoid is a semigroup together with an identity element. Hence,
every monoid is a semigroup. But the converse is not true. For example,
(N, +) is a semigroup but it is not a monoid as there is no additive identity
element.

7.1 Multiplication Table

For a finite set, a binary operation on the set can also be defined in a con-
venient way by means of a table. The binary operation ? is defined on a
non-empty set S by the rule

(ith entry on the left) ? (jth entry on the top)

= (entry in the ith row and jth column of the table).

When the multiplication table is written, the elements of the set are listed
across the top of the table as they are listed on the left. Hence, one can
easily see that the binary operation defined by a table is commutative if and
only if the entries in the table are symmetric with respect to the diagonal
that starts at the upper left corner and terminates at the lower right corner.
For example, consider the set S = {a, b, c, d, e} and the binary operation ?
defined by the following table:

? a b c d e
a a b c b a
b b c a e c
c c a b b a
d b e b e d
e d b a d c

Thus, note that b?d = e, c?c = b and [(a?c)?e]?a = [c?e]?a = a?a = a.

Also, (a ? b) ? c = b ? c = a and a ? (b ? c) = a ? a = a. From this calculation
alone, we can not conclude that ? is an associative binary operation. On the
other hand, (b ? d) ? c = e ? c = a and b ? (d ? c) = b ? b = c. This implies
that ? is not an associative binary operation. We observe that b ? e = c and
e ? b = b. Hence, ? is not a commutative binary operation.

10
 We now give one more example. We consider S = {e, a, b, c}. Define a
binary operation ? on S with the help of the following table:

? e a b c
e e a b c
a a e c b
b b c e a
c c b a e

Observe that this operation is a binary operation which is a commutative

operation. e acts as an identity element. Is this an associative operation? In
fact it is an associative operation. Checking associativity is a laborious job.
One has to show that (x ? y) ? z = x ? (y ? z) for all x, y, z ∈ S. There are four
choices for each x, y and z. Thus, in this case one has to do 64 calculations.
We leave it to the reader to show that ? is an associative binary operation.
As one more example, consider the multiplication table defined on set
S = {e, a, b} given by the following multiplication table.

? e a b
e e a b
a a e e
b b a e

We observe that ? is a non-commutative binary operation. Also, a ? (a ?

b) = a ? e = a and (a ? a) ? b = e ? b = b. Hence, a ? (a ? b) 6= (a ? a) ? b.
Hence, ? is a nonassociative binary operation. Also, observe that e acts as
an identity element.

8 2 × 2 matrices under multiplication

In this section, we look at 2 × 2 matrices under multiplication with entries
coming
 from
 Z/2Z having non-zero determinant. Consider the matrix A =
a11 a12  
. For the first row a11 a12 , we note that a11 has 2 choices and a12
a21 a22     
has 2 choices. Thus, there are 4 choices given by 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 .
We want non-zero determinant.
 Hence, for the third row there are 3 choices
i.e. all excluding 0 0 Since we want non-zero determinant, the second row

11
cannot be a multiple of the first row. Hence, there are (4 − 2) choices. Thus,
there are 6 choices.
The matrices can be written explicitly as
           
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1
I= A= B= C= D= E=
0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0

 
20 1 0 1
E =
1 0 1 0
    
1 0 1 1 1 1
AB = = = C.
1 1 0 1 1 0
Can you calculate AE, EA and A2 ?
  
1 0 0 1
AE = =
1 1 1 0
  
0 1 1 0
EA = =
1 0 1 1
How about renaming these matrices and writing the multiplication table?

9 Exercise Set
1. Determine whether each of the definitions of ? given below does give a
binary operation on the given set. Justify!

(a) On N, define ? by a ? b = a − b
(b) On N, define ? by a ? b = a/b
(c) On N, define ? by a ? b = ab
(d) On Q, define ? by a ? b = a − b
(e) On N, define ? by a ? b = c, where c is the greatest integer smaller
than both a and b.
(f) On N, define ? by a ? b = c, where c is the smallest integer greater
than both a and b.
(g) On N, define ? by a ? b = c, where c is an integer larger than both
a and b.

12
 2. For each of the binary operation ? defined below, determine whether ?
is commutative and whether ? is associative. Also, determine whether
the sets given form a semigroup or a monoid under these operations.
Also, find the identity element, if exist.

(a) On Z define ? by a ? b = ba .
(b) On Q define ? by a ? b = ab + 1.
(c) On N define ? by a ? b = 3ab .
(d) On Q define ? by a ? b = ab/3.

3. Let S be a non-empty set. Let ℘(S) denote the set of all subsets of S.
Then, union of two sets is a binary operation defined on ℘(S). Is ℘(S)
a monoid under this operation? Similarly, intersection of two sets is a
binary operation. Is ℘(S) a monoid under this operation?

4. Complete the following table so that a binary operation ? defined on S

is commutative.

? a b c d
a a b c
b b d c
c c a d b
d d a

10 Definition of a group

Definition 7 (Group) A non-empty set G together with a binary operation

? is said to be a group if for all a, b, c in G:

1. a ? b is in G.

2. (a ? b) ? c = a ? (b ? c).

3. There is an element e in G such that a ? e = e ? a = a for every a ∈ G.

4. There exists an element a−1 in G such that a ? (a−1 ) = (a−1 ) ? a = e.

13
 The operation ? is called as multiplication or product. a−1 is called as an
inverse of a (with respect to the binary operation ?).
Thus by definition every group is a monoid and hence a semigroup. But
converse is not true. Observe that, the set of all non-negative integers is a
monoid under the usual addition. Similarly, the set of all natural numbers
is a monoid under multiplication but it is not a group as 2 does not have a
multiplicative inverse.
A group G together with binary operation ? is sometimes denoted by
(G, ?) to avoid confusion. However, when there is no confusion, the binary
operation is not explicitly stated and we denote a ? b by ab. Also, we abbre-
viate
a · · · ? a}
| ? a{z
n times
−1 −1 −1
by an . Also, a−n means a 0
| ? a {z· · · ? a } and a = e.
n times

Definition 8 If a ? b = b ? a for all a, b ∈ G then G is called as abelian (or

commutative) group. A group which is not abelian is called a non-abelian
group.

Definition 9 The number of elements in a group G is called as the order of

a group G and we denote it by o(G). If o(G) is finite then G is called a finite
group. If o(G) is not finite, then G is called an infinite group.

14