Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-2/5/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 2 5 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Let afford the given group representation of . Its induced representation is the left -moduleChoose representatives of the left cosets ; then it is the direct sum of the spaces . If with , the action sends to . This is independent of the representatives up to equivalence, and its dimension is .
Only cosets fixed by contribute to its trace. Their contribution is , giving the induced character formulaFor an arbitrary class function on , the same averaging formula defines its induced class function on . Equivalently, extend by zero outside and average . This definition is linear and does not require to be an actual character.
For a complex character of a finite group afforded by a representation , its determinant character isMultiplicativity of the determinant makes this a linear character; it does not mean the determinant of the scalar value . The definition depends only on the character because characters determine the equivalence class of a finite-dimensional complex representation. In particular the determinant character is trivial on the derived subgroup .
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