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For a finite group action on a finite set $X$, $R[X]$ is the free $R$-module with basis $X$, with the group permuting that basis. For a transitive set $G/H$ it is ${\mathrm{Ind}}_H^{G}R$. Disjoint unions of sets give direct sums of permutation modules.

For a group action, the pointwise stabilizer of a set $S$ is the subgroup fixing each of its points individually. It is the intersection of their stabilizer subgroups. This is stronger than merely mapping the set to itself.

Pólya enumeration counts objects under a group action, often by applying the Pólya enumeration theorem to colourings.

The Pólya enumeration theorem counts colourings up to a finite group action using the action's cycle index. Substituting colour weights into each cycle variable groups colourings by their colour inventories.

Suppose a binary operation on the underlying set $\mathbb{Z}$ makes it a group, and $\rho (n,x)=x^n$ is a group action on another group $G$. Every acting element must induce a bijection, with inverse function given by its acting inverse element. The integer $0$ instead induces the constant function $x\mapsto e$, where $e$ is the identity element of $G$, so $G$ must be the trivial group. Conversely, on the trivial group, ordinary addition on $\mathbb{Z}$ supplies such a group action.

An action is properly discontinuous when every compact set meets only finitely many of its translates. For an isometric action on a proper metric space, this gives the finiteness needed to extract a constant group element from a sequence with bounded source and target.

For a discrete group action on a locally compact space, a standard proper-discontinuity condition is that only finitely many group elements translate a given compact set to meet itself.

The rank is the number of orbits on ordered pairs under the diagonal group action. Its fixed-pair count at $g$ is $\chi (g{)}^2$, since the permutation character counts fixed points. Burnside's lemma identifies its average with the orbit count, while real-valuedness makes that average the character inner product of $\chi$ with itself. For a transitive action on at least two points, rank two is equivalent to transitivity on distinct ordered pairs.

A transitive group action is regular if every point stabilizer is trivial. Equivalently each ordered pair of points is connected by exactly one group element. Identifying one point with the identity identifies the action with left multiplication on the group. A regular normal subgroup inside a larger primitive group can supply translations or nonabelian left multiplication; the whole primitive group usually has a nontrivial stabilizer acting by automorphisms of this regular subgroup.

For a normal subgroup $K$ of $G$, each $c_h:k\mapsto h^{-1}kh$ is a group automorphism of $K$. Its inverse is $c_{h^{-1}}$, but the dependence on $h$ is a group antihomomorphism under ordinary function composition, because $(gh{)}^{-1}k(gh)=h^{-1}(g^{-1}kg)h$. The assignment $h\mapsto (k\mapsto hk{h}^{-1})$ instead is a group homomorphism to the automorphism group. Equivalently the first convention is a right group action, while the second is a left group action.

The orientation-preserving symmetries of a cube are the $3\times 3$ signed permutation matrices with determinant one. There are $3!2^2=24$ of them. Their group action on the four body diagonals identifies this group with the symmetric group $S_4$. Indeed choose diagonal directions $(1,1,1),(1,-1,-1),(-1,1,-1),(-1,-1,1)$, whose sum is zero and whose only linear relation has all coefficients equal. A rotation fixing every diagonal sends each direction to itself or its negative; the relation forces all four signs equal. All negative would give $-I$, which has determinant $-1$, so the kernel of a group homomorphism is trivial. Both groups have order 24, giving the identification. Its face permutations have cycle types $1^6$, $1^{2}4$, $1^2{2}^2$, $2^3$ and $3^2$, occurring $1,6,3,6,8$ times respectively.

A group action is sharply two-transitive when exactly one element sends each ordered distinct pair to each other ordered distinct pair. The affine group over a finite field provides an example: solve $ax+b=u$ and $ay+b=v$ uniquely, giving $a=(v-u)/(y-x)$.

A group action on a nonempty set $X$ is simply transitive when exactly one group element sends any chosen point to any other:Equivalently it is both a transitive group action and a free group action; this is also a regular group action. Transitivity supplies a transport, and freeness makes it unique. Conversely, putting $y=x$ in the uniqueness condition shows that every stabilizer subgroup is $\{e\}$, since the identity element already fixes $x$. In a transitive group action, checking that just one stabilizer subgroup is trivial suffices: all the others are conjugate subgroups.

The cyclic group $C_3$ in the diagram under transitive group action is simply transitive. More generally, the left regular action of any group $G$ on itself is simply transitive: the equation $gx=y$ has the unique solution $g=y{x}^{-1}$, using the inverse element of $x$. This shows why the property is useful: every position has a unique label relative to a chosen starting position.

Choose a point $x_0\in X$. Its orbit mapis a bijection and an equivariant map from the left regular action: ${\varphi }_{x_0}(hg)=h\cdot {\varphi }_{x_0}(g)$. This identifies $X$ with a copy of $G$, but $X$ does not come with a preferred identity element. If $x_1=a\cdot x_0$, then ${\varphi }_{x_1}(g)={\varphi }_{x_0}(ga)$: changing the chosen point composes this identification with right multiplication by $a$. An old label $g$ therefore becomes the new label $g{a}^{-1}$, which also specifies the side of multiplication for a noncommutative group.

The transport from $x$ to $y$ remains independent of the chosen point. Writing $x=b\cdot x_0$ and $y=c\cdot x_0$, it is $c{b}^{-1}$. With $x_1=a\cdot x_0$, the new labels are $b{a}^{-1}$ and $c{a}^{-1}$, andFor a finite group, simple transitivity implies $|X|=|G|$. Conversely, a transitive group action with $|X|=|G|<\infty$ is simply transitive by the orbit-stabilizer theorem. Equality of cardinalities alone is insufficient without transitivity: the cyclic group $C_2$ can fix both points of a two-point set, giving two group orbits and two possible self-transports at each point.

A determinant-one matrix over ${\mathbb{F}}_2$ permutes the three nonzero vectors of ${\mathbb{F}}_2^2$. This group action is faithful because fixing two basis vectors forces the matrix to be the identity. There are $(4-1)(4-2)=6$ invertible matrices, all of determinant one since the only nonzero field element is one, so the action identifies the group with the symmetric group $S_3$. Reduction of integer determinant-one matrices modulo two is onto: $\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& -1\\ 1& 0\end{array}\right)$ and $\left(\begin{array}{cc}1& 1\\ 0& 1\end{array}\right)$ induce two distinct transpositions, which generate $S_3$. Its kernel consists of matrices congruent to the identity modulo two, the level-two principal congruence subgroup.

For nonzero holomorphic one-forms and holomorphic quadratic differentials, apply $A\in {\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ to every flat coordinate. Translation and sign transition maps remain of the same type, defining a new complex structure and differential. Composition gives a group action, zero orders persist and area is preserved. The zero section has no such atlas; fixing it gives only a set-theoretic extension that is generally discontinuous.

For a group action $F:G\times X\to X$ and fixed $x$, the orbit map $f_x(g)=F(g,x)$ hides the stabilizer subgroup $G_x$: $f_x(g)=f_x(h)$ exactly when $h^{-1}g\in G_x$, equivalently when $g$ and $h$ lie in the same left coset of $G_x$.

For a group action of a group $G$ on a set $X$, the stabilizer subgroup of $x\in X$ consists of the transformations that leave $x$ fixed:It is a subgroup: the identity element fixes $x$, products of transformations fixing $x$ fix $x$, and the inverse element of a transformation fixing $x$ also fixes $x$. A stabilizer subgroup is a subset of $G$, whereas the orbit of a group action is a subset of $X$. See Ackerman's algebra notes, definition 0.4.1.2.

For the square group actions defined under group action, direct calculation givesThe reflection $s$ fixes $A$ and $C$ individually. The reflection $rs$ preserves the unoriented side of a polygon $AB$ by exchanging its two vertices of a polygon. The half-turn rotation $r^2$ exchanges the two ends of the unoriented diagonal of a polygon $AC$ while preserving that diagonal of a polygon. Thus fixing a side of a polygon or diagonal of a polygon as an object does not mean fixing every point on it; the latter condition uses a pointwise stabilizer. The four stabilizer subgroups have group orders $2,2,4,8$, matching group orbit sizes $4,4,2,1$ through the orbit-stabilizer theorem.

A stabilizer subgroup records the transformations still available after imposing a constraint. Fixing a vertex of a polygon of the square leaves two choices; fixing its centroid leaves all eight. In a faithful group action, a stabilizer subgroup can still contain a nonidentity transformation, as $s\in (D_4{)}_A$ shows: a faithful group action requires that only the identity element fix every point of $X$ simultaneously, not that every individual stabilizer subgroup be trivial. The two-point cyclic group example under group action has both stabilizer subgroups equal to the group kernel $\{0,2\}$ of its associated group homomorphism.

A subgroup $H\le G$ is a subset of a group $G$ that is itself a group under the same group operation. It must contain the identity element of $G$ and be closed under products and inverse elements. Associativity is inherited from $G$, so it needs no new proof. The whole group and the trivial group $\{e\}$ are always subgroups. A proper subgroup satisfies $H\ne G$.

A useful single-condition test isTo see why it works, choose $a\in H$; then $a{a}^{-1}=e\in H$. Taking $a=e$ gives every inverse element $b^{-1}\in H$. Applying the test to $a$ and $b^{-1}$ then gives $ab\in H$. Conversely, every subgroup satisfies the test by closure under products and inverse elements. This also makes the additive version memorable: a nonempty subset of an additive group is a subgroup exactly when it is closed under differences. See McKernan's MIT lecture 2, Proposition 2.3, for the equivalent closure criterion.

For the square dihedral group $D_4$ above, $R=\{e,r,r^2,r^3\}$ is a cyclic subgroup: products add exponents modulo four, and $(r^k{)}^{-1}=r^{-k}$. The smaller collections $\{e,r^2\}$ and $\{e,s\}$ are subgroups of group order two. But $\{e,r\}$ is not a subgroup, since $r\cdot r=r^2$ lies outside it. A plausible-looking list of symmetries therefore need not constitute a complete collection of reversible operations.

Inside $(\mathbb{Z},+)$, the even numbers $2\mathbb{Z}$ form a subgroup: $2m-2n=2(m-n)$ is an even number. Its two cosets consist of the even numbers and the odd numbers, so its index of a subgroup is two. The parity group homomorphism $k\mapsto k\mathrm{mod}2$ has $2\mathbb{Z}$ as its kernel of a group homomorphism. A subgroup can thus identify exactly which information a composition-preserving map forgets.

Subgroups also describe residual symmetry. In the group action of $D_4$ on the four vertices, the stabilizer subgroup of $(1,1)$ is $\{e,sr\}$: the diagonal reflection $sr$ fixes that vertex, and the other six motions move it. Requiring a feature to stay fixed still leaves a group, because both composition and reversal preserve that requirement. This is why subgroups are useful for studying a group action one feature at a time.

Let $G$ be finite and let $H$ have index $p$, the smallest prime divisor of $|G|$. The group action on left cosets gives $\Phi :G\to S_p$, with $\ker \Phi \subseteq H$. The image order divides both $|G|$ and $p!$. By the choice of $p$, the only possible nontrivial prime factor common to these orders is $p$, and $p!$ contains only one factor of $p$. Thus the image order is $1$ or $p$. The action is transitive on $p>1$ cosets, so its image is nontrivial and has order $p$. The first isomorphism theorem gives $|\ker \Phi |=|G|/p=|H|$, hence $\ker \Phi =H$. A kernel of a group homomorphism is a normal subgroup, proving the claim. For example, every subgroup of order $25$ in a group of order $75$ is normal.

A symmetry group collects bijections of an object to itself that preserve a specified structure in both directions, with function composition as the operation. For a geometric object one may require Euclidean distances to be preserved, giving an isometry group; for a graph, one preserves adjacency, giving a graph automorphism group. For an unstructured finite set, every permutation is allowed. The structure to be preserved is part of the definition.

For a square with its usual geometric structure, the symmetry group consists of four rotations and four reflections. These form the dihedral group of group order eight. The existing group action example shows how its eight elements move the vertices of a polygon; changing the object to its edges or a marked configuration changes the group action being studied.^[ref]

Specifying the preserved data makes it possible to test a proposed symmetry exactly. After the preserved data are declared, function composition, the identity map, and inverse maps automatically preserve them too. Symmetry transformations therefore form a group, and questions about equivalent configurations become questions about group orbits, stabilizer subgroups, and group homomorphisms. This supplies reusable mathematics for comparing many different kinds of objects.

For a Hamiltonian group action, a regular value level preserved by a free proper group action has a smooth quotient. The restricted symplectic form descends to a symplectic form on that quotient when the kernel is exactly the orbit directions; this is symplectic reduction.