118 Groups

Exercises

When you feel how depressingly

slowly you climb,
it’s well to remember that
Things Take Time.
piet hein, “t. t. t.,” Grooks (1966)†*

1. Let

a5 c d and b ⫽ c d.
1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
2 1 3 5 4 6 6 1 2 4 3 5
Compute each of the following.
a. a21
b. ba
c. ab

a5 c d and b 5 c d.
2. Let
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2 3 4 5 1 7 8 6 1 3 8 7 6 5 2 4
Write a, b, and ab as
a. products of disjoint cycles;
b. products of 2-cycles.
3. Write each of the following permutations as a product of disjoint
cycles.
a. (1235)(413)
b. (13256)(23)(46512)
c. (12)(13)(23)(142)
4. Find the order of each of the following permutations.
a. (14)
b. (147)
c. (14762)
d. (a1a2 . . . ak)
5. What is the order of each of the following permutations?
a. (124)(357)
b. (124)(3567)
c. (124)(35)
d. (124)(357869)
e. (1235)(24567)
f. (345)(245)

†Hein is a Danish engineer and poet and is the inventor of the game Hex.
*Piet Hein, “T.T.T.,” Grooks (1966) Copyright © Piet Hein Grooks. Reprinted with
kind permission from Piet Hein a/s, DK-5500 Middelfart, Denmark.

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 5 | Permutation Groups 119

6. What is the order of each of the following permutations?

a. c d
1 2 3 4 5 6
2 1 5 4 6 3

b. c d
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 6 1 2 3 4 5
7. What is the order of the product of a pair of disjoint cycles of
lengths 4 and 6?
8. Show that A8 contains an element of order 15.
9. What are the possible orders for the elements of S6 and A6? What
about A7? (This exercise is referred to in Chapter 25.)
10. What is the maximum order of any element in A10?
11. Determine whether the following permutations are even or odd.
a. (135)
b. (1356)
c. (13567)
d. (12)(134)(152)
e. (1243)(3521)
12. Show that a function from a finite set S to itself is one-to-one if and
only if it is onto. Is this true when S is infinite? (This exercise is re-
ferred to in Chapter 6.)
13. Suppose that a is a mapping from a set S to itself and a(a(x)) 5 x
for all x in S. Prove that a is one-to-one and onto.
14. Find eight elements in S6 that commute with (12)(34)(56). Do they
form a subgroup of S6?
15. Let n be a positive integer. If n is odd, is an n-cycle an odd or an
even permutation? If n is even, is an n-cycle an odd or an even per-
mutation?
16. If a is even, prove that a21 is even. If a is odd, prove that a21 is odd.
17. Prove Theorem 5.6.
18. In Sn, let a be an r-cycle, b an s-cycle, and g a t-cycle. Complete
the following statements: ab is even if and only if r 1 s is . . . ;
abg is even if and only if r 1 s 1 t is . . . .
19. Let a and b belong to Sn. Prove that ab is even if and only if a
and b are both even or both odd.
20. Associate an even permutation with the number 11 and an odd
permutation with the number 21. Draw an analogy between the
result of multiplying two permutations and the result of multiply-
ing their corresponding numbers 11 or 21.

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120 Groups

21. Let s be the permutation of the letters A through Z that takes each
letter to the one directly below it in the display following. Write s
in cycle form.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V WX Y Z
HDB GJ E C M I L ONP F KR US AWQT V Z XY
22. If a and b are distinct 2-cycles, what are the possibilities for |ab|?
23. Show that if H is a subgroup of Sn, then either every member of H
is an even permutation or exactly half of the members are even.
(This exercise is referred to in Chapter 25.)
24. Suppose that H is a subgroup of Sn of odd order. Prove that H is a
subgroup of An.
25. Give two reasons why the set of odd permutations in Sn is not a
subgroup.
26. Let a and b belong to S n . Prove that a 21 b 21 ab is an even
permutation.
27. Use Table 5.1 to compute the following.
a. The centralizer of a3 5 (13)(24)
b. The centralizer of a12 5 (124)
28. How many elements of order 5 are in S7?
29. How many elements of order 4 does S6 have? How many elements
of order 2 does S6 have?
30. Prove that (1234) is not the product of 3-cycles.
31. Let b [ S7 and suppose b 4 5 (2143567). Find b. What are the
possibilities for b if b [ S9?
32. Let b 5 (123)(145). Write b 99 in disjoint cycle form.
33. Find three elements s in S 9 with the property that s 3 5
(157)(283)(469).
34. What cycle is (a1a2 ? ? ? an)21?
35. Let G be a group of permutations on a set X. Let a [ X and define
stab(a) 5 {a [ G | a(a) 5 a}. We call stab(a) the stabilizer of a in
G (since it consists of all members of G that leave a fixed). Prove
that stab(a) is a subgroup of G. (This subgroup was introduced by
Galois in 1832.) This exercise is referred to in Chapter 7.
36. Let b 5 (1,3,5,7,9,8,6)(2,4,10). What is the smallest positive inte-
ger n for which bn 5 b25?
37. Let a 5 (1,3,5,7,9)(2,4,6)(8,10). If am is a 5-cycle, what can you
say about m?
38. Let H 5 {b [ S5 | b(1) 5 1 and b(3) 5 3}. Prove that H is a sub-
group of S5. How many elements are in H? Is your argument valid
when S5 is replaced by Sn for n $ 3? How many elements are in H
when S5 is replaced by An for n $ 4?

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 5 | Permutation Groups 121

39. How many elements of order 5 are there in A6?

40. In S4, find a cyclic subgroup of order 4 and a noncyclic subgroup
of order 4.
41. Suppose that b is a 10-cycle. For which integers i between 2 and
10 is b i also a 10-cycle?
42. In S3, find elements a and b such that |a| 5 2, |b| 5 2, and |ab| 5 3.
43. Find group elements a and b in S5 such that |a| 5 3, |b| 5 3, and
|ab| 5 5.
44. Represent the symmetry group of an equilateral triangle as a group
of permutations of its vertices (see Example 3).
45. Prove that Sn is non-Abelian for all n $ 3.
46. Prove that An is non-Abelian for all n $ 4.
47. For n $ 3, let H 5 {b [ Sn | b(1) 5 1 or 2 and b(2) 5 1 or 2}.
Prove that H is a subgroup of Sn. Determine |H|.
48. Show that in S7, the equation x2 5 (1234) has no solutions but the
equation x3 5 (1234) has at least two.
49. If (ab) and (cd) are distinct 2-cycles in Sn, prove that (ab) and (cd)
commute if and only if they are disjoint.
50. Let a be a 2-cycle and b be a t-cycle in Sn. Prove that aba is a
t-cycle.
51. Use the previous exercise to prove that, if a and b belong to Sn and
b is the product of k-cycles of lengths n1, n2, . . . , nk, then aba21 is
the product of k-cycles of lengths n1, n2, . . . nk.
52. Let a and b belong to Sn. Prove that bab21 and a are both even or
both odd.
53. What is the smallest positive integer n such that Sn has an element
of order greater than 2n?
54. Let n be an even positive integer. Prove that An has an element of
order greater than n if and only if n $ 8.
55. Let n be an odd positive integer. Prove that An has an element of
order greater than 2n if and only if n $ 13.
56. Let n be an even positive integer. Prove that An has an element of
order greater than 2n if and only if n $ 14.
57. Viewing the members of D4 as a group of permutations of a square
labeled 1, 2, 3, 4 as described in Example 3, which geometric sym-
metries correspond to even permutations?
58. Viewing the members of D5 as a group of permutations of a regular
pentagon with consecutive vertices labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, what geo-
metric symmetry corresponds to the permutation (14253)? Which
symmetry corresponds to the permutation (25)(34)?

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