MATH 223 Assignment 1

due January 19
40 marks

1. (2 marks) Define a binary operation on A = {1, 2, 3} that is commu-

tative but not associative. (Give a specific example of elements a, b, c
with (a ∗ b) ∗ c 6= a ∗ (b ∗ c).)

There are lots of different examples but this is mine:

∗ 1 2 3
1 1 2 2
2 2 1 3
3 2 3 1

Notice that the table is symmetric, this means that the operation is
commutative. Also

(1 ∗ 2) ∗ 3 = 2 ∗ 3 = 3 but 1 ∗ (2 ∗ 3) = 1 ∗ 3 = 2

so this operation is not associative.

2. (2 marks) Find a binary operation on A = {1, 2, 3, 4} that has an iden-

tity but is not associative or commutative. State which element is the
identity and gives examples to prove that your operation is not asso-
ciative or commutative.

This is my example:
∗ 1 2 3 4
1 1 2 3 4
2 2 3 2 4
3 3 1 4 1
4 4 3 3 2

The element 1 is the identity. I call tell without doing any work because
the the first row is the same as the top row and the first column is the
same left column.

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 It is not associative, to see this consider the elements 2, 3 and 4 (could
I have used the element 1 in this example?)
(2 ∗ 3) ∗ 4 = 2 ∗ 4 = 4 2 ∗ (3 ∗ 4) = 2 ∗ 1 = 2.

It is not commutative since 3 ∗ 2 = 1 but 2 ∗ 3 = 2.

3. (4 marks) List all binary operation on A = {0, 1} that have an identity.
For each operation, state what the identity is and if the operation is
commutative or associative.

If there is an identity for this binary operation then the identity is

either 0 or 1. If it is 0 then the multiplication table is one of the two
below:
∗ 0 1 ∗ 0 1
0 0 1 0 0 1
1 1 0 1 1 1
If 1 is the identity then the multiplication table is one of the two below:
∗ 0 1 ∗ 0 1
0 0 0 0 1 0
1 0 1 1 0 1

Since all the tables are symmetric, all the operations are commutative.
All the operations are associative. Let a, b, c ∈ {0, 1}. If any of a, b or
c is the identity then (a ∗ b) ∗ c = a ∗ (b ∗ c). If none of the elements
a, b, c are the identity then a = b = c and again (a ∗ b) ∗ c = a ∗ (b ∗ c).
4. (3 marks) A = {1, 2, 3, 4} with a ∗ b defined in the table below
∗ 1 2 3 4
1 2 2 3 4
2 3 1 4 3
3 1 4 1 2
4 4 3 2 1
Find all the (non-empty) subsets of A that are closed under the oper-
ation ∗.
These sets are:
{1}, {1, 2}, {1, 3}, {1, 4}, {1, 2, 3, 4}

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5. (2 marks each) For the following operations give the identity if one
exists (justify your answers)

(a) A = {A, B, C, D} with a ∗ b defined in the table below

∗ A B C D
A A A A A
B A B A B
C A A C C
D A B C D

The identity is D (since the D column and the D row is just the
elements repeated in order).
(b) A = P X where X = {1, 2, 3, 4} and S ∗ T = (S ∪ T )\(S ∩ T ) (this
is the set of elements that are in either S or T but not both.

The identity is the empty set since for any set S

(S ∪ ∅)\(S ∩ ∅) = S\∅ = S.

(c) A = P = {1, 2, 3, 4, ...} (the set of positive integers) and a ∗ b =

max{a, b}.

This set has no identity. To see this assume that e ∈ P is the

identity. Consider the element e+1, which is in P, then e∗(e+1) =
max{e, e + 1} = e + 1. But this is a contradiction with e being
the identity.

6. (4 marks) Assume that ∗ is an associative binary operation on a set

A with identity e. Can an element of A have a distinct left and right
inverses? Either prove that this cannot happen or give an example
where it does.

Assume that a ∈ A and that b is the left inverse of a and c is the right
inverse of a. This means that

b ∗ a = e and a ∗ c = e.

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 Putting these together we get that

(b ∗ a) ∗ c = e ∗ c = c and b ∗ (a ∗ c) = b ∗ e = b.

Since the operation is associative this means that b = c, so the left

inverse must be the same as the right inverse.

7. (2 marks) Find a binary operation on A = {1, 2, 3} that has an identity

but inverses are not unique.
Here is my example:
∗ 1 2 3
1 1 2 3
2 2 1 1
3 3 1 1

The identity is 1 and both 2 and 3 are inverse for 2. Note that this
operation is not associative since

2 ∗ (2 ∗ 3) = 2 ∗ 1 = 2 and (2 ∗ 2) ∗ 3 = 1 ∗ 3 = 3.

8. Let X = R and let A be the set of all functions on X. Let ∗ be the

binary operation on A with f ∗ g = f ◦ g for all f, g ∈ A.
Let Ta : R → R be the function defined by Ta (x) = a + x, such a
function is called a translation. Let

B = {Ta | a ∈ R}.

So B is the set of all functions that are translations.

(a) (3 marks) Show that B is a closed subset of A under the binary

operation of composition of functions (so Ta ∗ Tb = Ta ◦ Tb ).
(b) (2 marks) Show that ∗ is a commutative operation on B.

Let Ta , Tb be two elements of B. Then Ta (x) = a + x and Tb (x) = b + x.

We need to show that Ta ∗ Tb is an element of B. For any x ∈ R,

(Ta ∗ Tb )(x) = (Ta ◦ Tb )(x) = Ta (Tb (x)) = Ta (b + x) = a + b + x.

This function is equal to Ta+b (since Ta+b (x) = a + b + x).

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 Further,

(Ta ∗Ta )(x) = (Tb ◦Ta )(x) = Tb (Ta (x)) = Tb (a+x) = b+a+x = a+b+x = Ta+b (x)

so the operation of composition is commutative on B (but it is not

commutative on all functions, only on translations!)

9. (4 marks) Show if f : X → X and g : X → X are both onto functions,

then f ◦ g is also an onto function.
To prove that f ◦ g is onto we need to show that for any z ∈ X that
there is an x ∈ X such that (f ◦ g)(x) = f (g(x)) = z. For z ∈ X
there is a yz ∈ X such that f (yz ) = z (this is because f is onto.
Further, since g is onto, there is an xy such that g(xy ) = yz . Then
(f ◦ g)(x) = f (g(xy )) = f (yz ) = z.

10. Let Pn be the set of integers {1, 2, . . . , n}. Let f : Pn → Pn .

(a) (2 marks) Prove if f is one-to-one then it is also onto.

If f is injective then the image of f has n distinct values. Since

Pn has n elements, every element of Pn must be in the image of f .
(b) (2 marks) Prove if f is onto then it is also one-to-one.

Assume f is not injective. Then the image of f has fewer than n

elements and f can not be surjective.

(This means if f is a one-to-one map between two finite sets of the

same size, then it is a bijection and if f is an onto map between two
finite sets of the same size, then it is a bijection.)

11. (4 marks) Let P be the set of all positive integers. Find a map f : P → P
that is one-to-one but not onto. Find a map g : P → P that is onto
but not one-to-one. (So the result in Question 10 only holds for finite
sets!)

Let f (n) = n+1. Clearly f is injective but there is no n with f (n) = 1.

Thus f is not surjective.

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Next, define g as follows

1 if n = 1
g(n) =
n − 1 otherwise

Then g is not injective since g(1) = g(2) = 1 but g is onto.