Group (mathematics)?

Did you mean | Travel | Economics | Finance | Marketing | Business | Culture | Geography | History | Life | Mathematics | Science | Society | Technology | New site added |

In mathematics, a group is a set, together with a binary operation, such as multiplication or addition, satisfying certain axioms, detailed below. For example, the set of integers is a group under the operation of addition. The branch of mathematics which studies groups is called group theory.

The historical origin of group theory goes back to the works of Evariste Galois (1830), concerning the problem of when an algebraic equation is soluble by radicals. Previous to this work, groups were mainly studied concretely, in the form of permutations; some aspects of abelian group theory were known in the theory of quadratic forms.

A great many of the objects investigated in mathematics turn out to be groups. These include familiar number systems, such as the integers, the rational numbers, the real numbers, and the complex numbers under addition, as well as the non-zero rationals, reals, and complex numbers, under multiplication. Another important example is given by non-singular matrices under multiplication, and more generally, invertible functions under composition. Group theory allows for the properties of these systems and many others to be investigated in a more general setting, and its results are widely applicable. Group theory is also a rich source of theorems in its own right.

Groups underlie many other algebraic structures such as fields and vector spaces. They are also important tools for studying symmetry in all its forms; the principle that the symmetries of any object form a group is foundational for much mathematics. For these reasons, group theory is an important area in modern mathematics, and also one with many applications to mathematical physics (for example, in particle physics).

History

See Group theory.

Basic definitions

A group (G, * ) is a nonempty set G together with a binary operation * : G × G → G, satisfying the group axioms below. "a * b" represents the result of applying the operation * to the ordered pair (a, b) of elements of G. The group axioms are the following:

• Associativity: For all a, b and c in G, (a * b) * c = a * (b * c).
• Identity element: There is an element e in G such that for all a in G, e * a = a * e = a.
• Inverse element: For all a in G, there is an element b in G such that a * b = b * a = e, where e is the identity element from the previous axiom.

You will often also see the axiom

• Closure: For all a and b in G, a * b belongs to G.

The way that the definition above is phrased, this axiom is not necessary, since binary operations are already required to satisfy closure. When determining if * is a group operation, however, it is nonetheless necessary to verify that * satisfies closure; this is part of verifying that it is in fact a binary operation.

The above axioms are not strictly minimal from a logical viewpoint; they contain a small amount of redundancy. However, the difference is slight and in practice one usually just checks the above axioms.

It should be noted that there is no requirement that the group operation be commutative, that is there may exist elements such that a * b ≠ b * a. A group G is said to be abelian (after the mathematician Niels Abel) (or commutative) if for every a, b in G, a * b = b * a. Groups lacking this property are called non-abelian.

The order of a group G, denoted by |G| or o(G), is the number of elements of the set G. A group is called finite if it has finitely many elements, that is if the set G is a finite set.

Note that we often refer to the group (G, * ) as simply "G", leaving the operation * unmentioned. But to be perfectly precise, different operations on the same set define different groups.

Notation for groups

Usually the operation, whatever it really is, is thought of as an analogue of multiplication, and the group operations are therefore written multiplicatively. That is:

• We write "a · b" or even "ab" for a * b and call it the product of a and b;
• We write "1" for the identity element and call it the unit element;
• We write "a⁻¹" for the inverse of a and call it the reciprocal of a.

However, sometimes the group operation is thought of as analogous to addition and written additively:

• We write "a + b" for a * b and call it the sum of a and b;
• We write "0" for the identity element and call it the zero element;
• We write "−a" for the inverse of a and call it the opposite of a.

Usually, only abelian groups are written additively, although abelian groups may also be written multiplicatively. When being noncommittal, one can use the notation (with "*") and terminology that was introduced in the definition, using the notation a⁻¹ for the inverse of a.

If S is a subset of G and x an element of G, then, in multiplicative notation, xS is the set of all products {xs : s in S}; similarly the notation Sx = {sx : s in S}; and for two subsets S and T of G, we write ST for {st : s in S, t in T}. In additive notation, we write x + S, S + x, and S + T for the respective sets.

Some elementary examples and nonexamples

An abelian group: the integers under addition

A group that we are introduced to in elementary school is the integers under addition. For this example, let Z be the set of integers, {w/., −4, −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, w/.}, and let the symbol "+" indicate the operation of addition. Then (Z,+) is a group (written additively).

Proof:

• If a and b are integers then a + b is an integer. (Closure; + really is a binary operation)
• If a, b, and c are integers, then (a + b) + c = a + (b + c). (Associativity)
• 0 is an integer and for any integer a, 0 + a = a + 0 = a. (Identity element)
• If a is an integer, then there is an integer b := −a, such that a + b = b + a = 0. (Inverse element)

This group is also abelian: a + b = b + a.

The integers with both addition and multiplication together form the more complicated algebraic structure of a ring. In fact, the elements of any ring form an abelian group under addition, called the additive group of the ring.

Not a group: the integers under multiplication

On the other hand, if we consider the operation of multiplication, denoted by "·", then (Z,·) is not a group:

• If a and b are integers then a · b is an integer. (Closure)
• If a, b, and c are integers, then (a · b) · c = a · (b · c). (Associativity)
• 1 is an integer and for any integer a, 1 · a = a · 1 = a. (Identity element)
• However, it is not true that whenever a is an integer, there is an integer b such that ab = ba = 1. For example, a = 2 is a integer, but the only solution to the equation ab = 1 in this case is b = 1/2. We cannot choose b = 1/2 because 1/2 is not an integer. (Inverse element fails)

Since not every element of (Z,·) has an inverse, (Z,·) is not a group. The most we can say is that it is a commutative monoid.

An abelian group: the nonzero rational numbers under multiplication

Consider the set of rational numbers Q, that is the set of numbers a/b such that a and b are integers and b is nonzero, and the operation multiplication, denoted by "·". Since the rational number 0 does not have a multiplicative inverse, (Q,·), like (Z,·), is not a group.

However, if we instead use the set Q \ {0} instead of Q, that is include every rational number except zero, then (Q \ {0},·) does form an abelian group (written multiplicatively). The inverse of a/b is b/a, and the other group axioms are simple to check. We don't lose closure by removing zero, because the product of two nonzero rationals is never zero.

Just as the integers form a ring, so the rational numbers form the algebraic structure of a field. In fact, the nonzero elements of any given field form a group under multiplication, called the multiplicative group of the field.

A finite nonabelian group: permutations of a set

For a more concrete example, consider three colored blocks (red, green, and blue), initially placed in the order RGB. Let a be the action "swap the first block and the second block", and let b be the action "swap the second block and the third block".

Cycle diagram for D₆. A loop specifies a series of powers of any element connected to the identity element (1). For example, the e-ba-ab loop reflects the fact that (ba)²=ab and (ba)³=e, as well as the fact that (ab)²=ba and (ab)³=e The other "loops" are roots of unity so that, for example a²=e.