Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2015/prelims/mathematics-i/6/a/iv/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford 2015 Prelims Mathematics I 6 a iv Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-25
Choose distinct , possible because . By iii, and commute, and . The four elementsare distinct: would give , while or would make or . Commutativity and show that products stay in , and every element is its own inverse. More explicitly,is a group isomorphism, with addition of exponents modulo two. Hence contains a subgroup isomorphic to the Klein four-group.
The converse is false. The direct product of groups contains , but it has elements of order of a group element three. Thus the existence of the specified subgroup does not force every nonidentity element to have order of a group element two.
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