In group theory, a **quotient group** (or factor group) is a way of constructing a new group from an existing group by partitioning it into disjoint subsets, called cosets, that are determined by a normal subgroup. Here's how it works, step by step: 1. **Group**: Let \( G \) be a group, which is a set equipped with a binary operation satisfying the group axioms (closure, associativity, identity element, and inverses).

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Quotient group by Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For a group and a normal subgroup , the quotient group is the set of cosets , with operation
Its identity element is the coset , and the inverse element of is . A quotient group treats all elements within one coset as the same input while retaining a consistent operation on the classes. The normal subgroup condition is what makes this operation independent of which representatives are chosen. [ref].
Take the additive group and . Since is an abelian group, is a normal subgroup. There are three elements in the quotient group:
Adding two copies of gives ; adding and gives . Hence the quotient group has the addition table of . It does not select one representative and discard the others: its elements are the entire cosets.
Figure 1.
Identifying residues differing by three turns a six-element cyclic group into a three-element quotient group
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This is useful whenever distinctions within a normal subgroup should be ignored. For example, the sign of a permutation retains only even or odd parity of a permutation in . Its group kernel is the alternating group , and the quotient group has two elements. The first isomorphism theorem explains why a group homomorphism's image is a quotient group of its domain.