GROUP THEORY

J.S. Milne
Abstract These notes, which are a revision of those handed out during a course taught to rst-year graduate students, give a concise introduction to the theory of groups. They are intended to include exactly the material that every mathematician must know. They are freely available at www.jmilne.org. Please send comments and corrections to me at math@jmilne.org. v2.01 (August 21, 1996). First version on the web; 57 pages. v2.1. (January 28, 2002). Fixed misprints; made many improvements to the exposition; added an index, 80 exercises (30 with solutions), and an examination; 86 pages.

Contents
Notations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Basic Denitions Denitions . . . . . . . Subgroups . . . . . . . Groups of small order Multiplication tables . Homomorphisms . . . Cosets . . . . . . . . . Normal subgroups . . Quotients . . . . . . . Exercises 14 . . . . . ii ii 1 1 3 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 13

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2 Free Groups and Presentations Free semigroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Copyright 1996, 2002. J.S. Milne. You may make one copy of these notes for your own personal

use.

i Free groups . . . . . . . . Generators and relations . Finitely presented groups . Exercises 512 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 16 18 20 21 21 22 24 27 31 32 33 34 34 41 46 48 49 51 51 55 59 59 61 65 68 70 71 72 77 82 83

3 Isomorphism Theorems. Extensions. Theorems concerning homomorphisms . . Direct products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Automorphisms of groups . . . . . . . . . Semidirect products . . . . . . . . . . . . Extensions of groups . . . . . . . . . . . . The H older program. . . . . . . . . . . . . Exercises 1319 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Groups Acting on Sets General denitions and results Permutation groups . . . . . . The Todd-Coxeter algorithm. Primitive actions. . . . . . . . Exercises 2033 . . . . . . . .

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5 The Sylow Theorems; Applications The Sylow theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Normal Series; Solvable and Normal Series. . . . . . . . . . . Solvable groups . . . . . . . . . Nilpotent groups . . . . . . . . Groups with operators . . . . . Krull-Schmidt theorem . . . . . Further reading . . . . . . . . . A Solutions to Exercises B Review Problems C Two-Hour Examination Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nilpotent Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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ii

Notations.
We use the standard (Bourbaki) notations: N = {0, 1, 2, . . .}, Z = ring of integers, R = eld of real numbers, C = eld of complex numbers, Fp = Z/pZ = eld of p-elements, p a prime number. Given an equivalence relation, [] denotes the equivalence class containing . Throughout the notes, p is a prime number, i.e., p = 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, . . .. Let I and A be sets. A family of elements of A indexed by I , denoted (ai )iI , is a function i ai : I A. Rings are required to have an identity element 1, and homomorphisms of rings are required to take 1 to 1. X Y X is a subset of Y (not necessarily proper). df X = Y X is dened to be Y , or equals Y by denition. X Y X is isomorphic to Y . X = Y X and Y are canonically isomorphic (or there is a given or unique isomorphism).

References.
Artin, M., Algebra, Prentice Hall, 1991. Dummit, D., and Foote, R.M., Abstract Algebra, Prentice Hall, 1991. Rotman, J.J., An Introduction to the Theory of Groups, Third Edition, Springer, 1995. Also, FT: Milne, J.S., Fields and Galois Theory, available at www.jmilne.org.