Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Total

The Australian National University

Practice Mid-Semester Examination - September 2014
MATH2322/3104/6118 - Algebra 1 Honours
Student No.: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Important notes:
No notes, calculators or books permitted.
Questions vary in weight and diculty. The value of each is shown, and the maxi-
mum possible grade is **.
Place your answers in the space provided on the test sheet. If you need more space,
use the back of the pages.
You have 15 minutes reading time.
You have 2 hours to complete the entire exam.
You may use results proved in lecture or in the text, but you should
clearly state the result you are applying. Of course, if you are asked to
prove a statement that was presented in the lecture or the book, it is not
sucient to simply quote it.
Unless otherwise indicated, you must prove your answers. Please be neat.
Assessment will be based upon both the correctness of your argument
and the quality of your exposition.
MATH 2322/3104/6118, Page 1 of 2
The cover sheet is formatted as on the actual exam. The remainder of this
practice exam simply lists problems with no special formatting.
1. (a) Find a non-trivial homomorphism from S
3
to S
4
. Is the image normal in S
4
?
(b) Find a non-trivial homomorphism from S
4
to S
3
. (Can you nd one that is
surjective?)
(c) Prove that there is no surjective homomorphism from S
7
to S
6
.
2. Suppose that : G G

is a homomorphism of groups. Complete the statements

below. In the case that more than one answer seems possible, choose one that you
think is best.
(a) The map determines a partition of G by . . .
(b) Two elements a, b G are in the same left coset of ker if . . .
(c) There is a bijective correspondence between subgroups of G containing ker
and . . .
(d) The group G/ ker is isomorphic to . . .
3. Let H be a subgroup of G.
(a) Fix g G. Show that if H is normal, conjugation by g denes an automorphism
of H.
(b) For each g G, dene the map
g
: G G by
g
(h) = ghg
1
. The group
= {
g
| g G} is called the group of inner automorphisms of G. Show that

= G/Z, where Z denotes the centre of G.
(c) Show by example that if a subgroup H of a group G is not normal, then the
left and right cosets of H need not be equal.
4. Prove that if a group G has a unique subgroup of order r, then that subgroup is
normal.
5. (a) Show that Z/6Z is isomorphic to a product of two nontrivial cyclic groups.
(b) Show that Z/4Z cannot be decomposed as a product of two nontrivial groups.
6. Show that if a subgroup H of a group G is not normal, then there are left cosets
aH and bH whose product is not a coset.
7. You will be asked to give denitions of some important terms. Make sure you can
dene the following:
group, subgroup, order, index, homomorphism, isomorphism, automorphism, kernel,
image, preimage, bre, coset, normal subgroup, permutation, commutator, abelian
group, cyclic group, generator, conjugacy class, equivalence relation, partition, con-
gruence, conjugate, SL
n
(R), GL
n
(R), symmetric group, centre, quotient group,
product group, presentation of a group, generators and relations
MATH 2322/3104/6118, Page 2 of 2