Math 250A: Groups, Rings, and Fields. H. W. Lenstra Jr. 1. Prerequisites
Math 250A: Groups, rings, and fields. H. W. Lenstra jr. 1. Prerequisites This section consists of an enumeration of terms from elementary set theory and algebra. You are supposed to be familiar with their definitions and basic properties. Set theory. Sets, subsets, the empty set , operations on sets (union, intersection, ; product), maps, composition of maps, injective maps, surjective maps, bijective maps, the identity map 1X of a set X, inverses of maps. Relations, equivalence relations, equivalence classes, partial and total orderings, the cardinality #X of a set X. The principle of math- ematical induction. Zorn's lemma will be assumed in a number of exercises. Later in the course the terminology and a few basic results from point set topology may come in useful. Group theory. Groups, multiplicative and additive notation, the unit element 1 (or the zero element 0), abelian groups, cyclic groups, the order of a group or of an element, Fermat's little theorem, products of groups, subgroups, generators for subgroups, left cosets aH, right cosets, the coset spaces G=H and H G, the index (G : H), the theorem of n Lagrange, group homomorphisms, isomorphisms, automorphisms, normal subgroups, the factor group G=N and the canonical map G G=N, homomorphism theorems, the Jordan- ! H¨older theorem (see Exercise 1.4), the commutator subgroup [G; G], the center Z(G) (see Exercise 1.12), the group Aut G of automorphisms of G, inner automorphisms. Examples of groups: the group Sym X of permutations of a set X, the symmetric group S = Sym 1; 2; : : : ; n , cycles of permutations, even and odd permutations, the alternating n f g group A , the dihedral group D = (1 2 : : : n); (1 n 1)(2 n 2) : : : , the Klein four group n n h − − i V , the quaternion group Q = 1; i; j; ij (with ii = jj = 1, ji = ij) of order 4 8 { g − − 8, additive groups of rings, the group Gl(n; R) of invertible n n-matrices over a ring R.
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