MATH 3005 Homework Solution Han-Bom Moon

Homework 7 Solution
Chapter 7.

1. Let H = {(1), (12)(34), (13)(24), (14)(23)}. Find the left cosets of H in A4 .

Because |A4 | = 12 and |H| = 4, there are exactly 12/4 = 3 distinct cosets of H.

H = {e, (12)(34), (13)(24), (14)(23)}

(123)H = {(123)e, (123)(12)(34), (123)(13)(24), (123)(14)(23)}

= {(123), (134), (243), (142)}

(124)H = {(124)e, (124)(12)(34), (124)(13)(24), (124)(14)(23)}

= {(124), (143), (132), (234)}

So they are all of them. Indeed, H = (12)(34)H = (13)(24)H = (14)(23)H,

(123)H = (134)H = (243)H = (142)H, (124)H = (143)H = (132)H = (234)H.

6. Let n be a positive integer. Let H = {0, ±n, ±2n, ±3n, · · · }. Find all left cosets of
H in Z. How many are there?
Note that H = hni. We claim that H, 1 + H, 2 + H, · · · , (n − 1) + H are all distinct
cosets of H.
Step 1. They are distinct.
If a + H = b + H for 0 ≤ a, b ≤ n − 1, then a ∈ b + H = {b, b ± n, b ± 2n, · · · }.
Because b is the only positive integer in b + H less than n, a = b. Therefore they
are distinct.
Step 2. They are all of them.
If c + H is a coset containing c ∈ Z, then by division algorithm, there are q and r
such that c = qn + r and 0 ≤ r < n. Then c ∈ r + H and c + H = r + H.
In summary, there are n distinct cosets.

7. Find all of the left cosets of {1, 11} in U (30).

Note that U (30) = {1, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29}. So there are 4 distinct cosets. Let
H = {1, 11}. Then
H, 7H = {7 · 1, 7 · 11} = {7, 17},
13H = {13 · 1, 13 · 11} = {13, 23}, 19H = {19 · 1, 19 · 11} = {19, 29}
are distinct cosets.

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MATH 3005 Homework Solution Han-Bom Moon

8. Suppose that a has order 15. Find all of the left cosets of ha5 i in hai.
Because |hai : ha5 i| = 15/3 = 5, there are 5 distinct cosets. Let H = ha5 i. We claim
that H, aH, a2 H, a3 H, a4 H are all cosets. They are distinct, because the smallest
positive n such that an is in the coset is 5, 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively.

12. Let a and b be nonidentity elements of different orders in a group G of order 155.
Prove that the only subgroup of G that contains a and b is G itself.
Let H be a non-trivial subgroup of G containing both a and b. By Lagrange’s
theorem, |H| = 5, 31, or 155. If |H| = 5, then it is cyclic and all non-identity
elements have the same order 5. Similarly, if |H| = 31, all non-identity elements
are of order 31. Therefore |H| = 155 and H = G.

18. Recall that, for any integer n greater than 1, φ(n) denotes the number of posi-
tive integers less than n and relatively prime to n. Prove that if a is any integer
relatively prime to n, then aφ(n) mod n = 1.
Let a mod n = b. Because a is relatively prime to n, b ∈ U (n). Because |U (n)| =
φ(n), bφ(n) = b|U (n)| = 1 mod n. Therefore aφ(n) = bφ(n) = 1 mod n.

20. Use Corollary 2 of Lagrange’s Theorem (Theorem 7.1) to prove that the order of
U (n) is even when n > 2.
Because gcd(n − 1, n) = 1, n − 1 ∈ U (n). If n > 2, then n − 1 6= 1. Now
(n−1)2 = n2 −2n+1 = 1 mod n. Therefore |n−1| = 2. Because 2 = |n−1|||U (n)|,
|U (n)| is even.

21. Suppose G is a finite group of order n and m is relatively prime to n. If g ∈ G and

g m = e, prove that g = e.
Because g m = e, |g||m. Also |g|||G| = n. Therefore |g| is a common divisor of m
and n, which is 1. Therefore |g| = 1 and g = e.

27. Let |G| = 15. If G has only one subgroup of order 3 and only one of order 5, prove
that G is cyclic. Generalize to |G| = pq, where p and q are prime.
Note that for a non-identity element a ∈ G, |a| = 3, 5, or 15. Let A = {a ∈
G | |a| = 3} and B = {a ∈ G | |a| = 5}. For b ∈ A, hbi = {e, b, b2 } is a subgroup of
order 3. Because there is only one subgroup of order 3, A = {b, b2 } and |A| = 2.
Similarly, for c ∈ B, hci = {e, c, c2 , c3 , c4 } is the unique subgroup of order 5 and
B = {c, c2 , c3 , c4 }. Therefore |B| = 4. This implies that there are 15 − 2 − 4 − 1 = 8
elements of order 15 (The one is for the identity). Hence G is cyclic.
The argument can be generalized in a straightforward way. If we define Sp =
{a ∈ G | |a| = p} and Sq = {a ∈ G | |a| = q}, then |Sp | = p − 1 and |Sq | = q − 1.
Because (p − 1)(q − 1) > 0, |G| = pq > p − 1 + q − 1 + 1 = p + q − 1. Thus there is
an element of order pq and G is cyclic.

30. Let |G| = 8. Show that G must have an element of order 2.

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MATH 3005 Homework Solution Han-Bom Moon

For a non-identity a ∈ G, |a| = 2, 4, or 8. If |a| = 2, a is what we want. If |a| = 4,

then |a2 | = 4/2. If |a| = 8, |a4 | = 8/4 = 2. Thus in any cases, we can find an order
two element.

42. Let G be a group of order n and k be any integer relatively prime to n. Show that
the mapping from G to G given by g → g k is one-to-one. If G is also Abelian,
show that the mapping given by g → g k is an automorphism of G.
Let φ : G → G is defined by φ(g) = g k . Because n and k are relatively prime, there
are two integers a, b such that an + bk = 1. If φ(g) = φ(h), then g k = hk . So

g = g an+bk = (g n )a (g k )b = (g k )b = (hk )b = (hn )a (hk )b = han+bk = h.

Therefore G is one-to-one.
Now suppose that G is Abelian. Then φ is one-to-one as above. Moreover, φ is
onto because an one-to-one map between two finite sets with the same number
of elements is onto as well. Finally, because G is Abelian,

φ(gh) = (gh)k = g k hk = φ(g)φ(k).

Therefore φ is an automorphism.

45. Let G = {(1), (12)(34), (1234)(56), (13)(24), (1432)(56), (56)(13), (14)(23), (24)(56)}.

(a) Find the stabilizer of 1 and the orbit of 1.

stabG (1) = {(1), (24)(56)}, orbG (1) = {1, 2, 3, 4}

(b) Find the stabilizer of 3 and the orbit of 3.

stabG (3) = {(1), (24)(56)}, orbG (3) = {3, 4, 1, 2}

(c) Find the stabilizer of 5 and the orbit of 5.

stabG (5) = {(1), (12)(34), (13)(24), (14)(23)}, orbG (5) = {5, 6}

57. Let G = GL(2, R) and H = SL(2, R). Let A ∈ G and suppose that det A = 2.
Prove that AH is the set of all 2 × 2 matrices in G that have determinant 2.
Let D = {A ∈ GL(2, R) | det A = 2}.
If B ∈ AH, then B = AC where C ∈ H = SL(2, R). So det B = det AC =
det A det C = 2 · 1 = 2. Therefore B ∈ D and AH ⊂ D.
On the other hand, if B ∈ D, then B = AA−1 B and det A−1 B = det A−1 det B =
1/2 · 2 = 1. Therefore A−1 B ∈ SL(2, R) = H and B ∈ AH. Hence D ⊂ AH and
D = AH.