MAA 201 2022-2023

Reduction of endomorphisms

Exercises - Week III - (Groups again and) Rings

Exercise 1.
Let G be a finite group. We recall from Exercise 8 Sheet 1, that for any subgroup
H of G, the cardinality of H divides the cardinality of G.
1. Show that the order of any element of G divides the cardinality of G.
2. What are the groups with prime cardinality.

Solution:
1. The group < g > generated by g has cardinality equal to the order of g. From Exo 8 Sheet
1, the order of g divides the cardinality of G.
2. if |G| is a prime number p, the order of any g ∈ G is either 1 (then g = e) or p. In the last
case we have G =< g >' Z/pZ.

Exercise 2.
Let G = GL2 (R) be the group of invertible 2 by 2 matrices with real coefficients
endowed with multiplication, and consider the subset
  
a −b 2 2
H= | a, b ∈ R, a + b = 1 .
b a

1. Prove that H is a subgroup of G. Is it abelian ?

2. Construct a group isomorphism between H and the group of complex num-
bers of absolute value equal to 1.

Solution:  
a −b
1. We start by observing that the determinant of the matrix is a2 + b2 . Therefore,
b a
all elements of H have determinant 1 and are invertible matrices. Since
    
a −b c −d ac − bd −(ad + bc)
=
b a d c ad + bc ac − bd
    
c −d a −b ac − bd −(ad + bc)
= ,
d c b a ad + bc ac − bd
 
α −β
the product of two elements of H is still of the shape and has determinant equal
β α
to 1 since the determinant of a product of matrices is the product of their determinants.
It follows that H is stable under multiplication. Besides, H contains the identity matrix
  
1 0
, which is the neutral element for multiplication. It remains to show that the
0 1
inverse of an element of H is still in H. Using, for example, the formula for the inverse of
a matrix in terms of its determinant and its cofactor matrix, one finds
 −1    
a −b 1 a b a b
= 2 = ,
b a a + b2 −b a −b a

which is still of the same shape as the elements of H. Since our computation also shows
that the product of matrices in H is commutative, we have proved that H is an abelian
subgroup of GL2 (R).
2. Write S 1 = {z ∈ C | |z| = 1}. Let us check that the map
 
a −b
ϕ : H −→ S 1 , 7−→ z = a + bi
b a

is a group isomorphism.
√ First of all, its image lies in S 1 since the complex number a + bi
has absolute value a2 + b2 = 1. Secondly, it is a group morphism as the computation
 
ac − bd −(ad + bc)
ϕ = (ac − bd) + (ad + bc)i
ad + bc ac − bd
= (a + bi)(c + di)
   
a −b c −d
=ϕ ϕ
b a d c

shows. Since the map ϕ is clearly injective and surjective, it is a group isomorphism.

Exercise 3.
Show that the groups Z/72Z × Z/84Z and Z/36Z × Z/168Z are isomorphic.

Solution: By applying Chineese remainder lemma several times, we get

(Z/72Z) × (Z/84Z) ' (Z/8Z × Z/9Z) × (Z/4Z × Z/3Z × Z/7Z),

' (Z/4Z × Z/9Z) × (Z/8Z × Z/3Z × Z/7Z),
' Z/36Z × Z/168Z.

Exercise 4.
Let P be a monic polynomial with integer coefficients of degree d with a complex
root a.
1. Prove that the subset

Z[a] = n0 + n1 a + ... + nd−1 ad−1 | ni ∈ Z



is a subring of C.

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 2. Why the ring Z[i] = {a + bi | a, b ∈ Z} a special case of this construction ?
Solution:
1. That (Z[a], +) is a subgroup is proven exactly in the same way as in Exercise 4. We
also see that Z[a] contains 1 = 1 + 0 · a + · · · + 0 · ad−1 . It remains to prove that the
product of two elements in Z[a] is still in Z[a]. Since a is a root of a monic polynomial
P = X d +ad−1 X d−1 +· · ·+a1 X+a0 with all ai ∈ Z, we have −ad = ad−1 ad−1 +...+a1 a+a0 .
Hence we can write every power an for n ≥ d as a polynomial of degree at most d − 1 with
integer coefficients. For example,

−ad+1 = (ad−2 − a2d−1 )ad−1 + ... + (a0 − a1 ad−1 )a − ad−1 a0

From this it follows that Z[a] is stable under product.

2. Z[i] is the special case where we take a = i, which is a root of the monic polynomial with
integer coefficients P = X 2 + 1.

Exercise 5.
Let E be a set and P (E) its power set. For A, B ∈ P (E) we let A∆B = (A \
B) ∪ (B \ A) be the symetric difference of A and B and we let A ∩ B be the usual
intersection set.
Show that (P (E), ∆, ∩) defines a ring with A2 = A for all A ∈ P (E). Precise
the neutral elements for the two laws.
Exercise√6.
We let Z[ 2]be the following set
√ √
Z[ 2] := {m + n 2, m, n ∈ Z}.
√
1. Show that Z[ 2] endowed with the addition and multiplication of real num-
bers defines a subring of R.
√ √ √
2. Show that φ : Z[ 2] , m + n 2 7→ m − n 2 is an automorphism of ring.
√
3. Show that N : Z[ 2] → Z, x 7→ xφ(x) is multiplicative, i.e. N (xy) =
N (x)N (y).
√
4. Show that x ∈ Z[ 2] is invertible if and only if N (x) = ±1.
Solution:
√
1. One checks easily Z[ 2] is stable by addition and multiplication...
2. We have
√ √ √
φ(m + n 2 + m0 + n0 2) = m + m0 − (n + n0 ) 2,
√ √
= φ(m + n 2) + φ(m0 + n0 2).
 √ √  √
φ (m + n 2)(m0 + n0 2) = φ(mm0 + 2nn0 + (mn0 + m0 n) 2),
√
= mm0 + 2nn0 − (mn0 + m0 n) 2,
√ √
= φ(m + n 2)φ(m0 + n0 2).

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Exercise 7.
Let M2 (Z) be the ring of two by two matrices with integer coefficients.
1. Prove that a matrix A is an invertible element of the ring M2 (Z) if and only
if its determinant det(A) is equal to 1 or −1.
2. Is the ring M2 (Z) a field ?
3. Does the ring M2 (Z) contain zero divisors ?

Solution:
1. If A is invertible in M2 (Z), then A−1 ∈ M2 (Z). Thus det(A) and det(A−1 ) are integers.
And, as det(A−1 ) = det(A)−1 , thus det(A) is invertible in Z, i.e. det(A) = ±1.
Reciprocally, if det(A) = ±1, then using the explicit formula of A−1 in M2 (R), we see
that A−1 ∈ M2 (Z).
2. As not all non-zero integers matrices have determinant ±1, not all non-zero integers ma-
trices are invertible in M2 (Z). Hence M2 (Z) is not a field.
 
0 1
3. The matrix A = is a zero-divisor. Indeed A · A = 0.
0 0

Exercise 8. √
Set ρ = e2πi/3 = (−1 + 3i)/2 and consider the subset of the complex numbers

Z[ρ] = {a + bρ | a, b ∈ Z}.

1. Show that ρ satisfies the equation 1 + ρ + ρ2 = 0 and that its complex

conjugate is equal to ρ = ρ2 .
2. Deduce that the square of the complex norm of a + bρ is equal to |a + bρ|2 =
a2 + b2 − ab.
3. Show that Z[ρ] is a subring of (C, +, ·).
4. Prove that the invertible elements of Z[ρ] are 1, −1, ρ, −ρ, ρ2 , −ρ2 .

Solution:
1. We have (1−ρ)(1+ρ+ρ2 ) = 1−ρ3 = 1−1 = 0, and hence 1+ρ+ρ2 = 0 as ρ 6= 1. Moreover,
since |ρ| = 1, its complex conjugate is its inverse and ρ = 1/ρ = e−2πi/3 = e4πi/3 = ρ2 .
2. By direct computation,

|a+bρ|2 = (a+bρ)(a + bρ) = (a+bρ)(a+bρ) = (a+bρ)(a+bρ2 ) = a2 +ab(ρ+ρ2 )+b2 ρ3 = a2 +b2 −ab.

3. It is clear that (Z[ρ], +) is a subgroup of (C, +) and that 1 ∈ Z[ρ]. Finally if a + bρ and
a0 + b0 ρ are two elements of Z[ρ], then their product is equal to

(a + bρ)(a0 + b0 ρ) = aa0 + (ab0 + a0 b)ρ + bb0 ρ2 = aa0 + (ab0 + a0 b)ρ + bb0 (−1 − ρ)
= (aa0 − bb0 ) + (ab0 + a0 b − bb0 )ρ

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4. Assume that a + bρ ∈ Z[ρ] is invertible in Z[ρ]. Then there exists a0 + b0 ρ ∈ Z[ρ] such that
(a + bρ)(a0 + b0 ρ) = 1 and hence (a2 + b2 − ab)(a02 + b02 − a0 b0 ) = 1 using the computation of
the square of the complex norm from question 2. Since both of these numbers are integers,
this means that a2 + b2 − ab is invertible in Z, and hence a2 + b2 − ab = ±1 since 1 and
−1 are the unique invertible integers. We thus need to solve the equation

a2 + b2 − ab = ±1

for integers a, b ∈ Z.
— If a, b have opposite sign, then a2 + b2 − ab is a sum of non-negative terms, and hence
a2 + b2 − ab = 1. The only solutions are (a, b) = (±1, 0) and (0, ±1).
— If a, b have the same sign, then a2 + b2 − ab = (a − b)2 + ab is a sum of non-negative
terms, and thus (a − b)2 + ab = 1. The only solutions are (a, b) = (±1, 0), (0, ±1), and
±(1, 1).
(Alternatively, one can argue that, since a2 + b2 − ab is the square of the norm of the
complex number a + bρ, it is always > 0, and hence we only need to solve the equation
a2 + b2 − ab = 1).
One way or the other, the invertible elements of Z[ρ] are t most {1, −1, ρ, −ρ, ρ2 , −ρ2 },
and one easily checks that all those elements are invertible. For example, the inverse of
−ρ is −ρ2 since (−ρ) · (−ρ2 ) = ρ3 = 1.

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