Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2014 / Paper 2 / 8

The identity commutes with every group element, so it lies in the center of a group. If $z,w$ are central and $g\in G$, then $gw=wg$ implies $g{w}^{-1}=w^{-1}g$. ConsequentlyThus $z{w}^{-1}$ is central. The subgroup test provesEquivalently, the centre is nonempty, closed under products, and closed under inverses. This proof does not require finiteness. In fact the centre is an Abelian subgroup, and it is normal because $gz{g}^{-1}=z$ for each central element.

Write the cyclic factors additively. The order of a group element $(r,s)$ in a direct product of groups is the least common multiple of its component orders, since a power is the identity exactly when it is the identity in both coordinates.

In $C_2\times C_3$, $(1,1)$ has order $\mathrm{lcm}(2,3)=6$, so it generates all six pairs. An explicit group isomorphism isIt is well defined and multiplicative in additive notation; its kernel is zero because an integer divisible by both two and three is divisible by six. Equal finite orders then give bijectivity.

In $C_2\times C_4$, every element has order dividing four. A generator of $C_8$ has order eight, and isomorphisms preserve element orders, soFor positive integers $n,m$, the maximum element order in $C_n\times C_m$ is $\mathrm{lcm}(n,m)=nm/\gcd (n,m)$, attained by a pair of generators. The product is cyclic of order $nm$ exactly when that number is $nm$. Thus cyclicity of a product of two finite cyclic groups givesFor coprime factors the map $[k{]}_{nm}\mapsto ([k{]}_n,[k{]}_m)$ gives the isomorphism, the group form of the Chinese remainder theorem.