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
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 by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
The two diagonal generators are independent involutions, soIt is a Klein four-group. Write the swapping generator as . Then , so has order two. Moreover,Thus normalizes . The setis a group: its products reduce usingand 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. ConsequentlyAlso , 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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