4 Direct Products
4 Direct products 4.1 Definition and Examples Direct products are a straightforward way to define new groups from old. The simplest example is the Cartesian product Z2 × Z2. Writing Z2 = f0, 1g, we see that Z2 × Z2 = f(0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 0), (1, 1)g has four elements. This set can be given a group structure in an obvious way. Simply define (p, q) + (r, s) := (p + r, q + s) where p + r and q + s are computed in Z2. This is clearly a binary operation on Z2 × Z2. It is straightforward to check that this operation defines a group. Indeed, we obtain the following Cayley table: + (0, 0) (0, 1) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 0) (0, 0) (0, 1) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 1) (0, 1) (0, 0) (1, 1) (1, 0) (1, 0) (1, 0) (1, 1) (0, 0) (0, 1) (1, 1) (1, 1) (1, 0) (0, 1) (0, 0) ∼ This should look familiar: it is exactly the Cayley table for the Klein 4-group: Z2 × Z2 = V. This construction works in general. Theorem 4.1. Let G1,..., Gn be multiplicative groups. The binary operation (a1,..., an) · (b1,..., bn) := (a1b1,..., anbn) induces a group structure on the set G1 × · · · × Gn. Definition 4.2. The group G1 × · · · × Gn is the direct product of the groups G1,..., Gn. If the groups G1,..., Gn are additive, then the operation will also be written additively. It is immediate that a direct product has cardinality equal to the product of the cardinalities of G1,..., Gn. Proof of Theorem.
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