Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/paper-2/9/b/solution

The two diagonal generators are independent involutions, so
It is a Klein four-group. Write the swapping generator as . Then , so has order two. Moreover,
Thus normalizes . The set
is a group: its products reduce using
and inverses reduce in the same way. It contains both generating subgroups, so minimality gives ; conversely every displayed product is in , giving .
There are four diagonal matrices and four off-diagonal matrices , all distinct. Consequently
Also , since is not diagonal, and every element of has the form . This proves condition (I), hence the exact factorization of a group. Here is a normal subgroup and is a semidirect product. Its matrices are the two-dimensional signed permutation matrices, also realizing the dihedral group of the square.

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