Math 4120, Fall 2022

Study guide: Midterm 1.

Note: This is just a guide, not an all-inclusive list.

Definitions to know.
(1) A group G. (The “official” definition.)
(2) The order of an element g ∈ G.
(3) A left coset xH of a subgroup H ≤ G.
(4) A normal subgroup H E G.
(5) The index [G : H] of a subgroup H ≤ G.
(6) The direct product A × B of two groups A and B.
(7) The quotient G/H of a group G by a normal subgroup H E G.
(8) The normalizer NG (H) of a subgroup H ≤ G.
(9) The center Z(G) of a group.
(10) What it means for multiplication aH · bH := abH in the quotient group G/H to be
well-defined.

Cayley diagrams and presentations.

(1) Be able to use a Cayley diagram as a “group calculator”, e.g., multiply elements and find
their inverses.
(2) Be able to construct Cayley diagrams of V4 , Cn , Dn , Q8 , Dicn , SD8 , SA8 , and write a
group presentation for these groups.
(3) Given an unknown Cayley diagrams, write a group presentation that describes it.
(4) Be able to identify left and right cosets from a Cayley diagram.
(5) Be able to find the normalizer of a subgroup from a Cayley diagram.

Cycle diagrams.
(1) Be able to construct a cycle diagram of groups like Cn , Dn , and Q8 .
(2) Use a cycle diagram to identity all cyclic subgroups, the first step in constructing a sub-
group lattice.
Subgroup lattices.
(1) Be able to construct the subgroup lattices of Zn , V4 , D3 ∼
= S3 , D4 , D5 , Q8 , Z4 × Z2 , and
A4 .
(2) Be able to label the edges of a subgroup lattice with the index, [H : K].
(3) Know how to be “fluent” reading subgroup lattices. For example, given H and K, where
to find H ∩ K and hH ∪ Ki, and how to identify when a subgroup is normal (e.g., G, {e},
index-2 subgroups, and unicorns).
(4) Be able to determine the normalizer of H on a Cayley diagram, given knowledge of its
conjugacy class, or vice-versa.

Helpful misc. facts about familiar groups.

(1) The cyclic group Cn is generated by rk , iff gcd(n, k) = 1.
(2) Cn × Cm ∼ = Cnm iff gcd(n, m) = 1.
(3) Every subgroup of Q8 is normal.
(4) The dihedral group Dn has n or n + 1 elements of order 2, depending on the parity of n.
It can be generated by a rotation and reflection, or two adjacent reflections.
(5) The dihedral group Dn is a semidirect product Cn oθ C2 .
(6) There is one frieze group that needs three symmetries to generate it. It contains three
non-abelian frieze groups (the “infinite dihedral group”) as subgroups: (i) removing all
horizontal reflections, (ii) remove all 180◦ -rotations, or (iii) remove half of each of these.
(7) Know how to represent the groups V4 , Cn , Dn , Qn , and Dicn with 2 × 2 matrices.
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(8) Two canonical generatating sets for the symmetric group: Sn = h(12), (123 · · · n)i =
h(12), (23), . . . , (n−1 n)i.
(9) Know the difference between minimal and minimum generating sets.
(10) The automorphism group Aut(Cn ) (of “rewirings”) is isomorphic to the group

Un = k | 1 ≤ k < n, gcd(n, k) = 1 .
(11) Know how to construct the Cayley diagram of Aut(Cn ), and a semidirect product, given
a “labeling map” θ : H → Aut(Cn ).
Useful facts and techniques.
(1) Two different ways to show that a subset H ⊆ G is a subgroup.
(2) Three different ways to show that a subgroup H ≤ G is normal.
(3) Know to how compose permutations in cycle notation, and find inverses, e.g., (123 · · · n)−1 =
(1n · · · 32).
(4) Know which permutations are even vs. odd.
(5) Learn to classify all finite abelian groups of a fixed order.
Proofs to learn.
(1) Show that the identity element of a group is unique.
(2) Show that every element in a group has a unique inverse. \
(3) Show that if {Hα | α ∈ A} is a collection of subgroups, then Hα is a subgroup.
α∈A
(4) Show that xH = H if and only if x ∈ H.
(5) Show that if [G : H] = 2, then H E G.
(6) Show that the center Z(G) = {z ∈ G | gz = zg, ∀g ∈ G} is a subgroup of G and that it
is normal.
(7) Let H E G. Prove that multiplication of cosets is well-defined: if a1 H = a2 H and b1 H =
b2 H, then a1 H · b1 H = a2 H · b2 H. Additionally, show that G/H is a group under this
binary operation.
(8) The tower law: [G : H][H : K] = [G : K].
(9) Show that the normalizer NG (H) = {g ∈ G | gHg −1 = H} is a subgroup of G.
(10) Show that if A, B ≤ G, and A normalizes B, then AB is a subgroup of G.
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Study guide: Midterm 2.

Definitions to know.
(1) The conjugacy class clG (x) of an element x ∈ G, and the conjugacy class clG (H) of a
subgroup.
(2) The centralizer CG (x) of an element x ∈ G.
(3) A homomorphism φ from a group G to a group H.
(4) What it means for a homomorphism to be an embedding and a quotient.
(5) An isomorphism φ : G → H.
(6) An automorphism φ : G → H.
(7) The kernel of a homomorphism φ : G → H.
(8) What it means for a map f : G/N → H to be well-defined.
(9) The commutator subgroup G0 of a group G, and the abelianization G/G0 .
(10) An inner automorphism and outer automorphism of G.
(11) A group action of G on a set S.
(12) Local features of an action: the orbit orb(s) and stabilizer stab(s) of s ∈ S, and the fixed
point set fix(g) of g ∈ G.
(13) Global features of an action: the set Fix(φ) of fixed points, and the kernel Ker(φ).
Useful facts and techniques.
(1) Two elements in Sn are conjugate iff they have the same cycle type.
(2) If n is odd, then all reflections in Dn are conjugate. If n is even, then there are two
conjugacy classes of reflections.
(3) clG (x) = {x} if and only if x ∈ Z(G).
(4) clG (H) = {H} if and only if H E G.
(5) Use the fact that | clG (x)| = [G : CG (x)] to help partition G by conjugacy classes, and/or
find the centralizer.
(6) Use the fact that | clG (H)| = [G : NG (H)] to help partition G’s subgroups by conjugacy
classes, and/or find the normalizer.
(7) Be able to show that a certain map is a homomorphism, using the definition.
(8) A homomorphism is 1-to-1 iff Ker(φ) = h1i.
(9) There are two ways to prove that G/N ∼ = H: Either construct a map G/N → H and
prove it is a well-defined bijective homorphism, or construct a map φ : G → H and prove
it is an onto homomorphism with Ker(φ) = N .
(10) Learn the statement of the correspondence theorem: there is a 1–1 correspondence between
subgroup of G/N and subgroups of G that contain N . Moreover, every subgroup of G/N
is of the form H/N for some N ≤ H ≤ G. Be able to interpret this visually in terms of
subgroup lattices.
(11) Be able to recongize subgroups and quotients of a group simply from the subgroup lattice:
subgroups appears as “stagmites”, and quotients as “stalactites.”
(12) Learn how to identify the commutator subgroup of G and abelinization G/G0 just from
the subgroup lattice.
(13) The automorphism group of a cyclic group is Aut(Zn ) ∼ = Un , the multiplitive group of
integers modulo n.
(14) Inner automorphism have the form ϕg : x 7→ gxg −1 . The inner automorphism group of G
is Inn(G) ∼= G/Z(G). That is, ϕg = ϕh iff g and h are in the same cosets of Z(G).
(15) Given only a subgroup lattice of G, be able to determine whether G is isomorphic to the
semidirect product, or direct product, of two of its subgroups.

(16) The orbit-stabilizer theorem: If G acts on S, then |G| = | orb(s)| · | stab(s)| for any s ∈ S.
(17) The orbit counting theorem: the average size of fix(g) is the number of orbits.
(18) Learn the local featuers (orbits, stabilizers, fixed point sets), and global features (kernel,
set of fixed points) for each of the following actions: following actions:
(i) G acting on itself by right multiplication.
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(ii) G acting on itself by conjugation.

(iii) G acting on its subgroups by conjugation.
(iv) G acting on its right cosets by right multiplication.
(19) Constructing the “fixed point table” of an action, and identifying the features of an action
from it.
Proofs to learn.
(1) If φ : G → H is a homomorphism, then φ(1G ) = 1H .
(2) If φ : G → H is a homomorphism, then φ(g −1 ) = φ(g)−1 for all g ∈ G.
(3) If G is abelian, then so is G/H.
(4) If G/Z(G) is cyclic, then G is abelian (and hence G/Z(G) is the trivial group).
(5) The kernel of any homomorphism is a subgroup, and is normal.
(6) Given a homomorphism φ : G → H, each preimage φ−1 (h) is a coset of Ker(φ).
(7) A × B ∼ = B × A.
(8) If H ≤ G, then xHx−1 ∼ = H for any x ∈ G.
(9) There is no embedding ϕ : Zn → Z.
(10) If ϕ : G → H is a homomorphism and N E H, then ϕ−1 (N ) is a normal subgroup of G.
(11) If H ≤ G is the only subgroup of G of order |H|, then it must be normal.
(12) The FHT: if φ : G → H is a homomorphism, then G/ Ker(φ) ∼ = Im(φ).
(13) The correspondence theorem: every subgroup of G/N is has the form H/N , for some
H ≤ G that contains N .
(14) The freshman theorem: given a chain N ≤ H ≤ G of normal subgroups of G, (G/N )/(H/N ) ∼ =
G/H.
(15) The diamond isomorphism theorem: if A normalizes G, then AB ≤ G, BEAB, (A∩B)EA,
and AB/B ∼ = A/(A ∩ B).
(16) Use the FHT to show that |N H| = |N | · |H|/|N ∩ H|.
(17) Show that Q∗ ∼ = Q+ × C2 and Q∗ /h−1i ∼ = Q+ , where Q∗ is the nonzero rationals under
+ ∗
multiplication, and Q ≤ Q is the subgroup of positive rationals.
(18) Show that G is abelian iff its commutator subroup G0 = {e}.
(19) Show that G/G0 is abelian.
(20) Show that Inn(G) is a normal subgroup of Aut(G).
(21) Use the FHT to show that G/Z(G) ∼ = Inn(G).
(22) Show that if G acts on S, then stab(s) is a subgroup of G, for any s ∈ S.
(23) Show that if G is a p-group, then |Z(G)| > 1.
(24) Show how Cayley’s theorem follows from the orbit-stabilizer theorem, and a group acting
on itself by multiplication.
(25) Show that if G has no subgroup of index 2, then any subgroup of index 3 is normal.
(26) Show that of [G : H] = p for the smallest prime dividing |G|, then H E G.
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Study guide: Final exam.

Note: This is in addition, not instead, of the Midterm 1 and 2 material.

Definitions to memorize.
(1) A p-group, and a Sylow p-subgroup of a group G.
(2) A ring R.
(3) A unit, and a zero divisor of a ring.
(4) An ideal of a ring R (left, right, and two-sided).
(5) Types of rings: integral domain, division ring, principle ideal domain (PID), unique fac-
torization domain (UFD), Euclidean domain, field.
(6) The quotient ring R/I for some two-sided ideal I, and how to multiply elements.
(7) A homomorphism φ from a ring R to a ring S.
(8) A maximal ideal and a prime ideal of a ring R.
(9) A prime and irreducible element of a PID.
Useful facts and techniques.
(1) Learn how to use the 3rd Sylow theorem to show that a group of a certain order is simple.
(Usually, by showing that np = 1 for some prime p.)
(2) Know that fields ( Euclidean domains ( PIDs ( UFDs ( integral domains ( commutative
rings ( all rings. And be able to give an example that’s in each class, but not in any smaller
ones.
(3) Know examples of both maximal ideals and prime ideals, prime ideals that aren’t maximal.
(4) Learn how to construct a finite field Fq of order q = pk .
(5) Know the statements of the fundamental homomorphism theorem and the correspondence
theorem for rings and how to apply them.
(6) Every prime is irreducible, but not every irreducible is prime (examples?). In a PID, these
definitions are equivalent.
Proofs to learn.
(1) If an ideal I of R contains a unit, then I = R.
(2) The FHT for rings: if φ : R → S is a ring homomorphism, then Ker(φ) is an ideal of R
and R/ Ker(φ) ∼ = Im(φ).
(3) The following are equivalent for commutative rings: (i) I is a maximal ideal, (ii) R/I is
simple, (iii) R/I is a field.
(4) An ideal P is prime iff R/P is an integral domain.
(5) A ring R is an integral domain iff 0 is a prime ideal.
(6) Every maximal ideal is prime.