Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/paper-2/9/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2001 Paper 2 9 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
Definitions. A group homomorphism preserves multiplication, . A group isomorphism is a bijective group homomorphism. The kernel of a group homomorphism isPreserving multiplication implies and : the first follows by cancelling from its square, and the second follows by applying to .
Normality. For and ,Hence every is again in , proving . Applying the same statement with gives equality , and therefore .
Group of cosets. Define the product on the left cosets byTo check that this does not depend on representatives, replace by . Thenbecause normality puts in . Thus the product is well defined. It is associative because multiplication in is associative; its identity is , and the inverse of is . Consequently the cosets form the quotient group .
The map is well defined and gives an isomorphism . If the original mapping is onto , this becomes . No surjectivity is needed for the kernel of a group homomorphism to be a normal subgroup or for the quotient group to exist.
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