Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2024 / Paper 2 / 10 / b / Solution

Here $a^2=-I$, $a^3=-a$ and $a^4=I$, so $K$ is a cyclic group of order four. Its multiplication table isWrite the specified image of $a$ as $A$. Direct matrix multiplication givesA group representation is a group homomorphism to a general linear group, so the images of all powers of $a$ are forced:All four images are invertible. Defining $\Phi (a^j)=A^j$ is well-defined modulo four because $A^4=I_2$, and $A^{j+\ell }=A^j{A}^{\ell }$ verifies every product in the table. These observations prove both existence and uniqueness of this representation with the prescribed image.