BSc (Hons) Mathematics

Cohort: BM/07/FT

Examinations for 2007 - 2008 / Semester 1

MODULE: ALGEBRA
MODULE CODE: MATH1120

Duration: 2 Hours and 30 minutes

Instructions to Candidates:

1. Answer any three questions.

2. Questions may be answered in any order but your answers must show
the question number clearly.
3. Always start a new question on a fresh page.
4. All questions carry equal marks.
5. Total marks 75.

This question paper contains 4 questions and 5 pages.

Page 1 of 5
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 ANSWER ANY THREE QUESTIONS

QUESTION 1: (25 MARKS)

(a) Consider the following matrices:

⎡2 5 −1 ⎤ ⎡1 −1 2⎤
⎡ 2 1− 2i ⎤
A = ⎢⎢ 4 −1 2 ⎥⎥ B = ⎢⎢ 3 4 ⎥⎥ C=⎢
4 ⎥⎦
2
⎢⎣ 6 4 1 ⎥⎦ ⎢⎣ 0 1 − 2 ⎥⎦
⎣1+ 2i

Show that ( A + B ) = AT + B T .
T
(i) (6 marks)

(ii) Determine whether matrix A is skew-symmetric. (3 marks)

(iii) Show that C is a Hermitian matrix. (5 marks)

(b) Differentiate between an equivalence relation and a partial ordering

on a set S . (4 marks)

(c) For any a, b ∈ N, the set of natural numbers, the relation ≤ is defined such that
a ≤ b if and only if a divides b .

Deduce whether ≤ is an equivalence relation or a partial ordering.

(7 marks)

(Please turn over)

Page 2 of 5
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QUESTION 2: (25 MARKS)

(a) The set A is such that A = { a, b, c, d , e } and • is a binary composition acting

on the set A as shown in the table below:

• a b c d e
a a b c d e
b b c d e a
c c d e a b
d d e a b c
e e a b c d

(i) Verify whether the associative property holds in A . (3 marks)

(ii) Check for the existence of the identity element in A . (5 marks)

(iii) Check for the existence of the inverse element for each element in A .
(5 marks)

(iv) Hence, justify whether or not A is a group with respect to • as the binary
composition. (2 marks)

{ }
(b) Prove that the set G = K , 2 −4 , 2 −3 , 2 −2 , 2 −1 , 1, 2, 2 2 , 2 3 , 2 4 , K forms an infinite
abelian group with respect to multiplication.

(10 marks)

(Please turn over)

Page 3 of 5
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QUESTION 3: (25 MARKS)

(a) Differentiate between a subgroup and a complex of a group G .

(3 marks)

(b) Prove that the intersection of any two subgroups, H and K , of a group G is
again a subgroup of G . (6 marks)

(c) Let H 1 and H 2 be two complexes of a group G , • . Then

H 1 H 2 = { h1 • h2 h1 ∈ H 1 , h2 ∈ H 2 }

is known as the product of complexes.

Prove that H 1 H 2 is also a complex of the group G . (4 marks)

(d) Give a definition of H −1 , the inverse of a complex H .

(2 marks)

(e) Prove that if H is a subgroup of a group G , then

(i) H −1 = H , (7 marks)

(ii) HH = H . (3 marks)

(Please turn over)

Page 4 of 5
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QUESTION 4: (25 MARKS)

(a) Give a definition of a right coset and a left coset.

(4 marks)

{ }
(b) Consider G = a, a 2 , a 3 , a 4 , which is a group under ordinary multiplication,

O (G ) = 4 and a 4 = 1.

{
Given that H is a subgroup of G and H = 1, a 2 : }

(i) Find all the cosets of H in G . (6 marks)

(ii) Establish the fact that two cosets are either disjoint or identical.

(3 marks)

(iii) Prove that G is equal to the union of all the cosets from part (b) (i) above.
(2 marks)

(c) Prove that a subgroup H of a group G is a normal subgroup of G if and only

if each left coset of H in G is a right coset of H in G , that is,

xHx −1 = H ⇔ xH = Hx ∀ x ∈G
(10 marks)

***END OF QUESTION PAPER***

Page 5 of 5
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