Group Theory
Symmetry made algebraic -- groups, subgroups, and the homomorphisms between them, built from first principles up through the classification of finite groups and the Sylow theorems.
Free to read now, no account needed: Readiness: the discrete math this course leans on. Create a free account to open the other chapters, take the quizzes and keep your progress.
- Chapter overview
- Sets and set operations, revisited ~8 min
- Functions, injective, surjective, and bijective, revisited ~9 min
- Equivalence relations and partitions, revisited ~9 min
- Direct proof, contradiction, and contrapositive, revisited ~8 min
- Mathematical induction, revisited ~9 min
- Divisibility and the division algorithm, revisited ~8 min
- Chapter wrap-up
1 Foundations and the idea of a group π
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- What is abstract algebra? ~12 min
- Symmetry as motivation ~14 min
- Binary operations and closure ~14 min
- Associativity ~12 min
- Identity and inverses ~14 min
- Cayley tables ~12 min
- The group axioms ~12 min
- Groups and non-groups ~14 min
- A first gallery of groups ~15 min
2 Basic group concepts π
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- Abelian vs. non-abelian groups ~12 min
- Finite and infinite groups; order of a group ~12 min
- Order of an element ~14 min
- Powers and integer exponents of an element ~13 min
- Cyclic groups ~13 min
- Generators of a cyclic group ~12 min
- Subgroups: definition and first examples ~14 min
- The trivial subgroup and generated subgroups ~13 min
3 Modular arithmetic and cyclic groups π
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- Congruence modulo n, revisited as group structure ~14 min
- The group Z_n under addition ~13 min
- Units modulo n and the group U(n) ~14 min
- The greatest common divisor and group structure ~16 min
- Euler's phi function ~13 min
- Generators of Z_n ~12 min
- Order of elements in Z_n and U(n) ~13 min
- Classifying finite cyclic groups ~14 min
- A first look at modular exponentiation ~15 min
4 Permutation groups π
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- Permutations as bijections and two-line notation ~16 min
- The symmetric group Sβ ~15 min
- Cycle notation ~16 min
- Disjoint cycle decomposition ~17 min
- Composing permutations ~17 min
- Inverse permutations ~15 min
- Transpositions and generating Sβ ~18 min
- Parity -- even and odd permutations ~18 min
- The alternating group Aβ ~17 min
5 Dihedral and symmetry groups π
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- Symmetries of geometric objects, revisited ~14 min
- The dihedral group Dβ ~15 min
- Rotations and reflections as generators ~16 min
- Composing symmetries and non-abelian behavior ~16 min
- A presentation of Dβ ~17 min
- Cayley tables for Dβ ~16 min
- Symmetry groups of regular polygons ~15 min
- Dβ as a subgroup of Sβ ~17 min
6 Subgroups π
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- The subgroup test ~15 min
- The finite subgroup test ~14 min
- Cyclic subgroups, revisited ~15 min
- Subgroups generated by a subset ~15 min
- Intersections of subgroups ~14 min
- Products of subgroups ~16 min
- Subgroups of cyclic groups ~15 min
- The subgroup lattice ~15 min
7 Cosets and Lagrange's theorem π
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- Left and right cosets ~16 min
- Coset representatives and the coset partition ~15 min
- The index of a subgroup ~13 min
- Lagrange's theorem ~15 min
- Consequences: element order divides group order ~12 min
- Groups of prime order are cyclic ~12 min
- Possible orders of elements and subgroups ~12 min
- Euler's theorem and Fermat's little theorem ~18 min
8 Normal subgroups π
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- When left and right cosets agree ~16 min
- Conjugation ~16 min
- The definition of a normal subgroup ~18 min
- Normality tests ~17 min
- The center of a group ~17 min
- The normalizer of a subgroup ~17 min
- Normal subgroups: examples and counterexamples ~18 min
9 Quotient groups π
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- Motivation: collapsing cosets into elements ~15 min
- Why normality makes the operation well-defined ~18 min
- The quotient group G/N ~18 min
- Quotient groups of cyclic groups ~16 min
- Quotient groups of permutation groups ~17 min
- A first look at the First Isomorphism Theorem ~16 min
- The quotient construction as a recurring pattern ~14 min
10 Homomorphisms and the isomorphism theorems π
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- Group homomorphisms: definition and examples ~18 min
- The kernel of a homomorphism ~20 min
- The image of a homomorphism ~18 min
- Injective and surjective homomorphisms ~20 min
- Isomorphisms ~20 min
- Automorphisms ~18 min
- The First Isomorphism Theorem ~24 min
- The Second Isomorphism Theorem ~22 min
- The Third Isomorphism Theorem ~20 min
- The Correspondence Theorem ~22 min
11 Direct products and group constructions π
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- The external direct product ~16 min
- Orders of elements in a direct product ~15 min
- When is a direct product cyclic? ~16 min
- Internal direct products ~17 min
- Recognizing an internal direct product ~15 min
- The classification of finite abelian groups ~18 min
- Applying the classification theorem ~16 min
- A first look at semidirect products ~17 min
12 Group actions π
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- Groups that move things ~13 min
- The definition of a group action ~15 min
- Orbits ~15 min
- Stabilizers ~15 min
- The orbit-stabilizer theorem ~17 min
- Transitive and faithful actions ~15 min
- The conjugation action and conjugacy classes ~16 min
- Cayley's theorem revisited ~16 min
13 Counting with group actions π
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- Fixed points of a group element ~14 min
- Burnside's lemma ~18 min
- Counting distinct colorings ~15 min
- Necklace and bracelet problems ~16 min
- A first look at PΓ³lya enumeration ~15 min
- Symmetry and combinatorial counting ~15 min
- Choosing a group action to solve a counting problem ~16 min
14 Classification of finite groups π
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- Groups of prime order ~14 min
- Groups of order pΒ² ~18 min
- Groups of order pq ~17 min
- Small-order classification as a worked recipe ~20 min
- Finite abelian groups, revisited ~15 min
- Simple groups: a first look ~16 min
- Composition series ~18 min
- The JordanβHΓΆlder theorem ~16 min
15 Sylow theory π
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- p-groups ~16 min
- Sylow p-subgroups: definition ~17 min
- The First Sylow Theorem: existence ~20 min
- The Second Sylow Theorem: conjugacy ~19 min
- The Third Sylow Theorem: counting ~20 min
- Using Sylow's theorems to classify groups ~21 min
- Normal Sylow subgroups ~18 min
16 Advanced group theory: presentations and structure π
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- Generators and relations ~18 min
- Free groups ~16 min
- Finitely generated and finitely presented groups ~17 min
- Group presentations revisited ~19 min
- The commutator and the commutator subgroup ~18 min
- Abelianization ~17 min
- Solvable groups ~19 min
- Nilpotent groups ~17 min
- Inner and outer automorphisms ~18 min
- Characteristic subgroups ~16 min
- Group extensions and the SchurβZassenhaus theorem ~17 min
17 Cayley graphs π
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- What a Cayley graph is ~18 min
- Generating sets and Cayley graphs ~18 min
- Directed versus undirected Cayley graphs ~18 min
- Reading group structure from a graph ~20 min
- Group theory and graph theory: connections ~20 min
18 Applications of group theory π
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- Cryptography: RSA, completed ~22 min
- Algebraic coding theory ~22 min
- Symmetry in geometry: frieze and wallpaper groups ~16 min
- Molecular symmetry and crystallography ~16 min
- The Rubik's Cube as a group ~14 min
- Group theory in physics: symmetry and conservation laws ~14 min
- Group theory in computer science and coding ~14 min
19 Capstone: the group investigation π
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- Synthesizing group identification ~16 min
- Synthesizing subgroup and coset computation ~18 min
- Synthesizing homomorphisms and isomorphisms ~20 min
- Synthesizing group actions and counting ~18 min
- Synthesizing classification and Sylow ~20 min
- The group investigation: a guided case study ~20 min