Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2003 / Paper 2 / 9 / Solution

A group homomorphism $h:G\to F$ preserves multiplication: $h(g_1{g}_2)=h(g_1)h(g_2)$. It sends the identity element to the identity and inverse elements to inverse elements. Its group kernel is $K=\{g\in G:h(g)=e_F\}$. This contains $e_G$ and is closed under multiplication and inverse elements, so it is a subgroup. For $k\in K$ and $g\in G$,Thus $gK{g}^{-1}\subseteq K$; applying the same argument with $g^{-1}$ gives equality. Hence the group kernel is a normal subgroup.

Let $S_2=\{e,\tau \}$ with $\tau =(12)$. The parity of a permutation defines the desired map from $S_3$:The sign of a permutation is multiplicative, so parity adds modulo two under composition, exactly matching ${\tau }^2=e$. Thus this is a group homomorphism; it is surjective because a transposition maps to $\tau$. Its group kernel isThis is the alternating group on three objects, a normal subgroup of index two in $S_3$.