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Symmetric groups are groups of permutations of a set. The symmetric group Sn is the group of all permutations of a set of n elements. Sn is a group under the operation of function composition. Permutations in Sn are represented as bijections that map each element of the set to another element. In general, permutations in Sn are non-commutative, meaning αβ ≠ βα for permutations α and β. However, disjoint permutations, which act on disjoint subsets, do commute.

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Hafiz Azeem
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50 views

1 Lecture

Symmetric groups are groups of permutations of a set. The symmetric group Sn is the group of all permutations of a set of n elements. Sn is a group under the operation of function composition. Permutations in Sn are represented as bijections that map each element of the set to another element. In general, permutations in Sn are non-commutative, meaning αβ ≠ βα for permutations α and β. However, disjoint permutations, which act on disjoint subsets, do commute.

Uploaded by

Hafiz Azeem
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Symmetric Groups

Introduction: - Let X be a set and


 : X  X be a permutation on X such that X  n .Let S n denote

the set of all permutations. Then S n is a group under the composition of permutations. It is called a group

of permutations. It is also known as a symmetric group of degree n. S n  n ! .

Let  ,   S n and X  {1,2,3,...........n} , then  : X  X and  : X  X are defined as


follows.

 (i )  (i ) , i  X

And

 ( j)  ( j) , j  X

Symbolically, we can write

 1 2 3 4 .............. n  i 
   
=  (1) (2) (3) (4) ......... (n)  =  (i ) 

1 2 3 4 ............. n  j 
     
 (1)  (2)  (3)  4 ......... (n)   =  ( j) 

We compute

  i   (i )   i   (i )   i 
            
 (i )   ((i ) )    (i )   (i )   (i ) 

EXAMPLE3.0.1:-
Let X  {1,2,3}
and e,  ,  ,  ,  ,   S 3 ;which are defined as follows.
2

1 2 3 
e   
1 2 3  ,

1 2 3 
   
 2 3 1 ,

1 2 3 
   
2 1 3 

1 2 3 
 2   
3 1 2 ,

1 2 3  1 2 3  1 2 3 
          
 2 3 1  2 1 3  1 3 2 

1 2 3  1 2 3  1 2 3 
          
 2 1 3  2 3 1   3 2 1 

We may note that

S 3  {e,  ,  2 ,  ,  ,  }

such that  3   2  ( ) 2  e, and    2 . We can write


S 3   ,  : 3   2  ( ) 2  e ,    2 

is a non-abelian group. The relations     ( )  e ;    2 which determine the group,


3 2 2

are called defining relations. S 3 is a group under the operation of composition of permutations denoted

by (0) and operation is defined with the help of the Caley- table-1

Caley Table _1
e  2   

e e  2   

  2 e   

2 2 e    

    e 2 

     e 2

    2  e

3.1:- PERMUTABILITY OF PERMUTATIONS

DEFINITION 3.1.1 .Let X be a set such that X  n and A  X . An   S n is said to move an

element a  A , if  (a )  b, for some b  A; where b  a . An   S n is defined to act on A, if it

moves all elements a A. ;otherwise, it is said to act on A trivially. Note that a permutation which acts on

A, acts trivially on X. Suppose X  {1,2,3............n} and A  {1,2,3}, B  {1,2}. let  ,   S n ,  , 

1 2 3  1 2 
       
act on A and B respectively as follows.  2 3 1 ,  2 1 .

1 2 3  1 2 3  1 2 3  1 2 3  1 2 3  1 2 3 
                 
Note that  2 3 1  2 1 3   1 3 2  ,  2 1 3  2 3 1  3 2 1 .It follows

that    and hence in general permutations are non-commutative. It may be noted that  ,  are

acting on A and B respectively; where A B   . This discussion is summed up as follows.


THEOREM 3.1.1:-If If X  3 , then S n is not abelian always.

DEFINITION 3.1.2:- let X be a set such that X  n .Two permutations  ,   S n are defined to be

disjoint permutations, if they act on A and B respectively ,where A  X , B  X and A B   .The

permutations acting on disjoint sub-sets are known as disjoint permutations.

THEOREM:- Two disjoint permutations commute.

PROOF:- Suppose X  {1,2,3,.....n} .Let A  X , B  X and A B   . Let  ,   S n

such that α acts on A and β acts on B respective ly.

Then permutations  and  act only on Z=Aand do not move any element of X\Z. Now

z  Z  z  A or z  B
If z  A, then ( z )  A under  and (( z ) )  is fixed under  ; that is (( z ) )   ( z ) . Thus z is

mapped onto ( z ) under  . but it is moved to (z ) under  as well. Hence  and  have the

same effect on every element of z  Z ; that is , ( z )  ( z )  ,  z  Z     . QED.

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