Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-2/8/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2017 Paper 2 8 c Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Let be the set of torsion elements of the given Abelian group. It contains the identity element, which has order one. If have orders , set . Commutativity permits powers of the product to split:Hence has finite order, dividing , and lies in . The nonempty set therefore satisfies the subgroup test and is a subgroup:This is the torsion subgroup. The proof uses commutativity exactly when rearranging the factors in ; one cannot use that step in an arbitrary noncommutative group. The subgroup need not itself be a finite set.
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