Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/paper-2/8/solution

Cosets and counting. A left coset of a subgroup in a group is . The left cosets partition and each has elements. Lagrange's theorem states that for a finite group, ; in particular, the subgroup order divides the group order.
The matrix group. Work throughout in the finite field , so every nonzero entry has a multiplicative inverse. Denote a matrix by , with . Ordinary matrix multiplication, interpreted using modular arithmetic, gives
Its diagonal entries remain nonzero, proving closure. Associativity is inherited from matrix multiplication, is the identity element, and
This lies in the same set and multiplication checks the inverse in either order. Thus these matrices form a group. There are four choices each for and and five for , giving .
The subgroup. Write . Then
It contains the identity , is closed, and has inverse . Interchanging the two factors leaves the product unchanged because multiplication in is commutative. Therefore is an abelian subgroup, with
Equivalently is isomorphic to by , which also explains its abelian property. Its order divides , verifying Lagrange's theorem.
There are five distinct left cosets. Representatives can be taken as , : indeed
Every matrix lies in exactly the coset specified by this unique .
Elements whose square is the identity. Squaring gives
Thus and . For equal signs, in , so . For opposite signs, and all five values work. The complete set is therefore
It contains elements, including the identity; the other eleven are involutions. Since does not divide , Lagrange's theorem proves that this set is not a subgroup.

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