INTRODU
CTION TO
GROUP
THEORY
[Type the document
subtitle]
Rachel Urmatan
HISTORY OF GROUP THEORY
Group theory must be viewed as the abstraction of ideas that were common to a
number of major areas which were being studied essentially simultaneously. There are
three (3) areas which gave rise to the group theory:
1. geometry at the beginning of the 19thCentury
Monge and his student, Carnot – difference between metric and incidence geometry
2. number theory at the end of the 18thCentury
Euler – (1761) studied modular arithmetic where he examined the remainders of
powers of a number modulo n
provided the example of the decomposition of an alebian group into co-sets of a
subgroup
Gauss – (1801) considerable amount of work on modular arithmetic which amounts to
a fair amount of theory of abelian groups
examines orders of elements and proves (although not in this notation) that
there is a subgroup for every number dividing the order of a cyclic group
looked at binary quadratic forms
ax2 + 2bxy + cy2
where a, b, c are integers
proves that the order of composition of three forms is immaterial so, in modern
language, the associative law holds
Schering – (1869) edited Gauss' work, found a basis for the abelian group
3. the theory of algebraic equations at the end of the 18 th Century leading to the
study of permutations
Lagrange – (1770) first to study permutation in his paper on the theory of algebraic
equations, to find out why cubic and quartic equations could be solved algebraically
assumes the roots of a given cubic equation are x', x'' and x'''. Then, taking
1, w, w2 as the cube roots of unity, he examines the expression
R = x' + wx'' + w2x'''
and notes that it takes just two different values under the six permutations of the
roots x', x'', x'''
never composes his permutations so in some sense never discusses groups at all.
Ruffini - first person to claim that equations of degree 5 could not be solved
algebraically
(1799) published a work to demonstrate the insolubiliyy of the general quintic
equation
based on Lagrange's work, but introduced groups of permutations
coined the term permutazione and explicitly usesthe closure property
divides his permutazione into types, namely permutazione semplice which are
cyclic groups in modern notation, and permutazione composta which are non-
cyclic groups, divided into three types: (in today's notation) intransitive groups,
transitive imprimitive groups, and transitive primitive groups
(1802) published another paper for futher proofs, where he showed that the
group of permutations associated with an irreducible equation is transitive
Cauchy – played a major role in developing the theory of permutations
(1815) published his first paper, motivated by permutations of roots of equations
(1844) published a major work, setting up the theory of permutations as a subject in
its own right
introduces the notation of powers, positive and negative, of permutations (with
the power 0 giving the identity permutation), defines the order of a permutation,
introduces cycle notation and used the term système des substitutions
conjuguées for a group
calls two permutations similar if they have the same cycle structure and proves
that this is the same as the permutations being conjugate
Abel – (1824) the first accepted proof of the insolubility of the quintic
Galois – (1831) the algebraic solution of an equation was related to the structure of a
group le groupe of permutations related to the equation
(1832) discovered that special subgroups (now called normal subgroups) are
fundamental
decomposition of a group into cosets of a subgroup a proper decomposition if
the right and left co-set decompositions coincide
shows that the non-abelian simple group of smallest order has order 60.
Liouvile – (1864) published Galois' work making it known
failed to grasp that the importance of Galois' work lay in the group concept
Betti – (1851) publishing work relating permutation theory and the theory of equations
the first to prove that Galois' group associated with an equation was in fact a
group of permutations in the modern sense.
Jordan – (1865, 1869, 1870) realised the significance of groups of permutation
defines isomorphism of permutation groups and proves the Jordan-
Hölder theorem for permutation groups (Hölder was to prove it in the context of
abstract groups in 1889, investigating the groups of order p3, pq2, pqr and p4)
Klein – (1872) Erlangen Program, which was the group theoretic classification of
geometry
Groups were certainly becoming centre stage in mathematics.
Cayley – (1849) an English mathematician who published a paper linking his ideas on
permutations with Cauchy's
(1854) defines an abstract group and gives a table to display the group
multiplication
(1878) returned with four papers on groups, one of them called The theory of
groups, the time was right for the abstract group concept to move towards the
centre of mathematical investigation
proved, among many other results, that every finite group can be represented as
a group of permutations
Group theory really came of age with the book by Burnside Theory of groups of finite
order published in 1897. The two volume algebra book by Heinrich Weber Lehrbuch der
Algebra published in 1895 and 1896 became a standard text. These books influenced
the next generation of mathematicians to bring group theory into perhaps the most
major theory of 20th Century mathematics.
INTRODUCTION TO GROUPS
Algebraic system
is a set of elements along with one or more operations for combining the
elements.
EXAMPLE
20 + 72 = 92
Group
One type of algebraic system
is an algebraic structure consisting of a set of elements equipped with an
operation that combines any two elements to form a third element and that
satisfies four conditions called the group axioms, namely closure, associativity,
identity and invertibility.
Has one operation; operation has certain characteristics
A Group satisfies the following properties:
a. The set is closed with respect to the operation
b. The operation satisfies the associative property
c. There is an identity element
d. Each element has an inverse.
a. Closure: For any x, y ∈ G , x * y is also in G
b. Associativity: For any x, y, z ∈ G , we have (x * y) * z = x * (y * z)
c. Identity: There exists an e ∈ F such that e * x = x * e = x for any x ∈ G. We say
that e is an identity element of G.
d. Inverse: For any x ∈ G , there exists a y ∈ G such that x * y = e = y * x. We say
that y is an inverse of x.
Example:
, the set of integers, with the group operation of addition.
Closure: The sum of two integers is an integer. (So addition is an operation on
.)
Associativity: It is well known that addition of integer is indeed associative.
Identity: For all integers a, 0 + a = a + 0 = a. So 0 is an identity element for
under addition.
Inverses: For all integers a, a + (-a) = (-a) + = 0. So -a is an additive inverse
for
Abelian Groups
a group in which the law of composition is commutative, i.e. the group law *
satisfies for any g, g, h in the group.
Abelian groups are generally simpler to analyze than nonabelian groups are, as
many objects of interest for a given group simplify to special cases when the
group is abelian. For example, the conjugacy classes of an abelian group consist
of singleton sets (sets containing one element), and every subgroup of an
abelian group is.
Lagrange's theorem
is a statement in group theory which can be viewed as an extension of the
number theoretical result of Euler's theorem.
It is an important lemma for proving more complicated results in group theory.
The Theorem implies:
*If a set of such elements X (and their inverses) can be used with a group
operation * to create a group G, we say that G is generated by X. If the smallest
such X is finite, then we say G is finitely generated. If the smallest such X consists of
only one element, we say that X is cyclic. Some examples are as follows:
Isomorphism
is a mapping between two such objects which preserves the structure of the
objects. Isomorphism therefore naturally appear in group theory.
An isomorphism ø : G H between two groups G and H (with group operations *G
and *H , respectively) is a mapping which satisfies the following conditions:
ø is a bijection.
For every x, y ∈ G , we have ø(x *G y) = ø(x) *H ø(y).
Two groups G and H are isomorphic (G ≅ H ) if and only if there exists an isomorphism
between them.
