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Burnside's Problem
The Burnside problem asks whether a finitely generated group in which every element has finite order must necessarily be a finite group. It was posed by William Burnside in 1902, making it one of the oldest questions in group theory and was influential in the development of combinatorial group theory. It is known to have a negative answer in general, as Evgeny Golod and Igor Shafarevich provided a counter-example in 1964. The problem has many refinements and variants (see bounded and restricted below) that differ in the additional conditions imposed on the orders of the group elements, some of which are still open questions. Brief history Initial work pointed towards the affirmative answer. For example, if a group ''G'' is finitely generated and the order of each element of ''G'' is a divisor of 4, then ''G'' is finite. Moreover, A. I. Kostrikin was able to prove in 1958 that among the finite groups with a given number of generators and a given prime exponent, there exists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finitely Generated Group
In algebra, a finitely generated group is a group ''G'' that has some finite generating set ''S'' so that every element of ''G'' can be written as the combination (under the group operation) of finitely many elements of ''S'' and of inverses of such elements. By definition, every finite group is finitely generated, since ''S'' can be taken to be ''G'' itself. Every infinite finitely generated group must be countable but countable groups need not be finitely generated. The additive group of rational numbers Q is an example of a countable group that is not finitely generated. Examples * Every quotient of a finitely generated group ''G'' is finitely generated; the quotient group is generated by the images of the generators of ''G'' under the canonical projection. * A subgroup of a finitely generated group need not be finitely generated. * A group that is generated by a single element is called cyclic. Every infinite cyclic group is isomorphic to the additive group of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Periodic Group
In group theory, a branch of mathematics, a torsion group or a periodic group is a group in which every element has finite order. The exponent of such a group, if it exists, is the least common multiple of the orders of the elements. For example, it follows from Lagrange's theorem that every finite group is periodic and it has an exponent dividing its order. Infinite examples Examples of infinite periodic groups include the additive group of the ring of polynomials over a finite field, and the quotient group of the rationals by the integers, as well as their direct summands, the Prüfer groups. Another example is the direct sum of all dihedral groups. None of these examples has a finite generating set. Explicit examples of finitely generated infinite periodic groups were constructed by Golod, based on joint work with Shafarevich, see Golod–Shafarevich theorem, and by Aleshin and Grigorchuk using automata. These groups have infinite exponent; examples with finite expo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dihedral Group
In mathematics, a dihedral group is the group of symmetries of a regular polygon, which includes rotations and reflections. Dihedral groups are among the simplest examples of finite groups, and they play an important role in group theory, geometry, and chemistry. The notation for the dihedral group differs in geometry and abstract algebra. In geometry, or refers to the symmetries of the -gon, a group of order . In abstract algebra, refers to this same dihedral group. This article uses the geometric convention, . Definition Elements A regular polygon with n sides has 2n different symmetries: n rotational symmetries and n reflection symmetries. Usually, we take n \ge 3 here. The associated rotations and reflections make up the dihedral group \mathrm_n. If n is odd, each axis of symmetry connects the midpoint of one side to the opposite vertex. If n is even, there are n/2 axes of symmetry connecting the midpoints of opposite sides and n/2 axes of symmetry connecting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Britton (mathematician)
John Leslie Britton (18 November 1927 – 13 June 1994) was an English mathematician from Yorkshire who worked in combinatorial group theory and was an expert on the word problem for groups. Britton was a member of the London Mathematical Society and was Secretary of Meetings and Membership with that organization from 1973-1976. Britton died in a climbing accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ... on the Isle of Skye. References * External links MacTutor biography* 1927 births 1994 deaths 20th-century English mathematicians Group theorists Mountaineering deaths Sport deaths in Scotland {{UK-mathematician-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Even And Odd Numbers
In mathematics, parity is the property of an integer of whether it is even or odd. An integer is even if it is a multiple of two, and odd if it is not.. For example, −4, 0, 82 are even because \begin -2 \cdot 2 &= -4 \\ 0 \cdot 2 &= 0 \\ 41 \cdot 2 &= 82 \end By contrast, −3, 5, 7, 21 are odd numbers. The above definition of parity applies only to integer numbers, hence it cannot be applied to numbers like 1/2 or 4.201. See the section "Higher mathematics" below for some extensions of the notion of parity to a larger class of "numbers" or in other more general settings. Even and odd numbers have opposite parities, e.g., 22 (even number) and 13 (odd number) have opposite parities. In particular, the parity of zero is even. Any two consecutive integers have opposite parity. A number (i.e., integer) expressed in the decimal numeral system is even or odd according to whether its last digit is even or odd. That is, if the last digit is 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, then it is odd; otherw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshall Hall (mathematician)
Marshall Hall Jr. (17 September 1910 – 4 July 1990) was an American mathematician who made significant contributions to group theory and combinatorics. Career Hall studied mathematics at Yale University, graduating in 1932. He studied for a year at Cambridge University under a Henry Fellowship working with G. H. Hardy. He returned to Yale to take his Ph.D. in 1936 under the supervision of Øystein Ore. He worked in Naval Intelligence during World War II, including six months in 1944 at Bletchley Park, the center of British wartime code breaking. In 1946 he took a position at Ohio State University. In 1959 he moved to the California Institute of Technology where, in 1973, he was named the first IBM Professor at Caltech, the first named chair in mathematics. After retiring from Caltech in 1981, he accepted a post at Emory University in 1985. Hall died in 1990 in London on his way to a conference to mark his 80th birthday. Contributions He wrote a number of papers of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abelian Group
In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is commutative. With addition as an operation, the integers and the real numbers form abelian groups, and the concept of an abelian group may be viewed as a generalization of these examples. Abelian groups are named after early 19th century mathematician Niels Henrik Abel. The concept of an abelian group underlies many fundamental algebraic structures, such as fields, rings, vector spaces, and algebras. The theory of abelian groups is generally simpler than that of their non-abelian counterparts, and finite abelian groups are very well understood and fully classified. Definition An abelian group is a set A, together with an operation \cdot that combines any two elements a and b of A to form another element of A, denoted a \cdot b. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Direct Product Of Groups
In mathematics, specifically in group theory, the direct product is an operation that takes two groups and and constructs a new group, usually denoted . This operation is the group-theoretic analogue of the Cartesian product of sets and is one of several important notions of direct product in mathematics. In the context of abelian groups, the direct product is sometimes referred to as the direct sum, and is denoted G \oplus H. Direct sums play an important role in the classification of abelian groups: according to the fundamental theorem of finite abelian groups, every finite abelian group can be expressed as the direct sum of cyclic groups. Definition Given groups (with operation ) and (with operation ), the direct product is defined as follows: The resulting algebraic object satisfies the axioms for a group. Specifically: ;Associativity: The binary operation on is associative. ;Identity: The direct product has an identity element, namely , where is the identity e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyclic Group
In group theory, a branch of abstract algebra in pure mathematics, a cyclic group or monogenous group is a group, denoted C''n'', that is generated by a single element. That is, it is a set of invertible elements with a single associative binary operation, and it contains an element ''g'' such that every other element of the group may be obtained by repeatedly applying the group operation to ''g'' or its inverse. Each element can be written as an integer power of ''g'' in multiplicative notation, or as an integer multiple of ''g'' in additive notation. This element ''g'' is called a '' generator'' of the group. Every infinite cyclic group is isomorphic to the additive group of Z, the integers. Every finite cyclic group of order ''n'' is isomorphic to the additive group of Z/''n''Z, the integers modulo ''n''. Every cyclic group is an abelian group (meaning that its group operation is commutative), and every finitely generated abelian group ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Group Homomorphism
In mathematics, given two groups, (''G'', ∗) and (''H'', ·), a group homomorphism from (''G'', ∗) to (''H'', ·) is a function ''h'' : ''G'' → ''H'' such that for all ''u'' and ''v'' in ''G'' it holds that : h(u*v) = h(u) \cdot h(v) where the group operation on the left side of the equation is that of ''G'' and on the right side that of ''H''. From this property, one can deduce that ''h'' maps the identity element ''eG'' of ''G'' to the identity element ''eH'' of ''H'', : h(e_G) = e_H and it also maps inverses to inverses in the sense that : h\left(u^\right) = h(u)^. \, Hence one can say that ''h'' "is compatible with the group structure". Older notations for the homomorphism ''h''(''x'') may be ''x''''h'' or ''x''''h'', though this may be confused as an index or a general subscript. In automata theory, sometimes homomorphisms are written to the right of their arguments without parentheses, so that ''h''(''x'') becomes simply xh. In areas of mathematics where on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Presentation Of A Group
In mathematics, a presentation is one method of specifying a group. A presentation of a group ''G'' comprises a set ''S'' of generators—so that every element of the group can be written as a product of powers of some of these generators—and a set ''R'' of relations among those generators. We then say ''G'' has presentation :\langle S \mid R\rangle. Informally, ''G'' has the above presentation if it is the "freest group" generated by ''S'' subject only to the relations ''R''. Formally, the group ''G'' is said to have the above presentation if it is isomorphic to the quotient of a free group on ''S'' by the normal subgroup generated by the relations ''R''. As a simple example, the cyclic group of order ''n'' has the presentation :\langle a \mid a^n = 1\rangle, where 1 is the group identity. This may be written equivalently as :\langle a \mid a^n\rangle, thanks to the convention that terms that do not include an equals sign are taken to be equal to the group identity. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
