ABSTRACT ALGEBRA(Definitions)

Prabhanjan Mannari
November 4, 2016

1. Group: A group is a non empty set G and a binary operation +, represented as (G,+),
which observe the following properties-

Closure- a, b G, a + b G
Associativity- (a + b) + c = a + (b + c), a, b, c G
Existence of identity element- a unique element e in the set G, such that a + e =
e+a=a
Existence of inverse- a G, an unique element a-1 , such that a + a-1 = a-1 + a =
e(the identity element)

Further, if the following property is satisfied, the group is abelian-

Commutativity- a + b = b + a, a, b G

The notation +, used for binary operations are abstract(may not be the conventional
addition and multiplication) and even the elements of G are abstract. For example- the
elements of set G can be strings and + can imply concatenation/ addition of corresponding
characters. Examples of Groups-

The integers Z form a group under the binary operation of addition. The identity
element is 0 and the inverse of a number is called the negative of the number.
The set {1, 1} forms a group under multiplication. The identity element is 1 and
each element is its own inverse.
A more interesting set {1, 1, i, i} forms a group under mulitplication. The identity
element is 1. We can figure out the inverses by inspection.
The set of all non singular N N matrices form a group under matrix multiplication.
The identity element is the N N identity matrix- INN and every matrix has an
inverse as it is non singluar.

2. Ring: A ring consists of a set R and 2 binary operations +, such that-

Abelian Group- (R, +) forms an abelian group

Closure- a, b R, a b R
Associativity- (a b) c = a (b c), a, b, c R
Existence of identity- a unique element e in the set R, such that a e = e a = a
Distributivity over multiplication-
(a + b) c = (a c) + (b c), a, b, c R

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 (a) Commutative Ring- A commutative ring (R, +, ) is one in which ab = ba, a, b
R
(b) Division Ring- A division ring (R, +, ) is in one in which each element except zero
(additive identity) has a multiplicative inverse, ie- for every element a R, a
unique element a-1 R such that a-1 a = a a-1 = e

Examples of Rings-

The integers Z form a ring under usual sense of addition and multiplication
The polynomials with coefficients from R, where (R, +, ) forms a ring, also form a
ring under usual polynomial addition and multiplication. Note that two polynomials
are said to be equal when all their coefficients are equal

3. Field: A field (F, +, ) is a commutative division ring. Finite fields are such that the set
F has a finite number of elements. Finite fields are called Galois Fields.
Examples of Fields-

The rational numbers form a field under the usual sense of addition and multiplica-
tion
Binary Field or GF(2)- A binary field is such that the set F contains only two
elements, F = {0, 1} and the binary operations are + : logical AND & : logical
XOR. Boolean Algebra concerns this field only, and hence this field is in much use
in computer science. The binary field is the smallest finite field.

4. Vector Space- A vector space over a field F is a set V and two binary operations +,
called vector addition and scalar multiplication respectively. The elements of the set F
are commonly called scalars, and the elements of set V are called vectors denoted in
bold(for example- v is a vector). Note that scalars & vectors are abstract and may not
have the usual meaning. The vector space denoted by (V, +, F, ) satisfies the following
properties-

(V, +) is an abelian group.

Compatibility of scalar multiplication with field multiplication-
a (b v) = (a b) v, a, b F and v in V
Identity of scalar multiplication- 1 v = v, v V, where 1 is the multiplicative
identity in F
Distributivity of scalar mulitplication over-
Vector addition- (a + b) = a + b, F, and a, b V
Field addition- ( + ) v = v + v, , F, and v V

Examples of vector spaces-

The field F itself is a vector space, where the vector addition is just the field addition
and scalar multiplication is just the field multiplication.
The n-dimensional space Rn forms a vector space over the field F. If the field consists
of real numbers, we get an n-dimensional vector space, or a complex vector space if
the field consists of complex numbers.

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 Linear Combination of a set of vectors-
Consider a set of vectors- P = {v1 , v2 , , vn } and a set of arbitrary scalars Q =
{1 , 2 , , n }. A linear combination of the set P is of the form-
Xn
1 v 1 + 2 v 2 + + n v n = i v i
i=1
Note that the linear combination is just another vector.
Linear independence-
A set of vectors is said to be linearly independent if and only if-
Xn
1 v1 + 2 v2 + + n vn = i vi = n (Additive inverse of the vector space)
i=1
1 = 2 = = n = 0 (Additive inverse of the field)
A set of vectors is said to be linearly dependent if they are not linearly independent.

Linear Span- The linear span of a set of vectors- V = {v1 , v2 , , vn } is the set of all
linear combinations of the set V. Note that linear span is just another set of vectors.
Linear Span=for every 1 , 2 , , n F, {1 v1 + 2 v2 + + n vn } Span(V)

Basis and Dimension-

A basis of a vector space V is a set B = {b1 , b2 , }, B V, such that it is-

Maximal Linear Independent Set- The basis is linearly independent. No other linearly
independent subset of the vector space has more elements than the basis.

Minimum Spanning Set- The basis spans the vector space. No other set which spans the
whole vector space has lesser elements than the basis.

Note that the basis of a vector space is not unique.

The dimension of a vector space is the cardinality of its basis(number of elements in the basis).
Inner Product Spaces-
An inner product space is a vector space, with an additional structure defined, called the inner
product. Inner product gives us a geometrical intuition about the length of a vector and angle
between vectors. A vector space complete with an inner product, such that the norm(length)
of a vector is given as the square root of the inner product of the vector with itself, is defined
as a Hilbert space.
Definition-
Formally, an inner product space is a vector space V over a field F, with an inner product de-
fined, there exists a map- < , >: VV F, that satisfies the following axioms x, y, z V,
and , F-

Conjugate Symmetry- < x, y >= < y, x >, x, y V

Linearity in the first argument- < x + y, z >= < x, z > + < y, z >

Positive definiteness- < x, x >= 0 x = 0

Examples of Inner Products-

Vector Space CN , n-tuples :< x, y >= xH y

R
Vector Space of functions: f (x)g(x) dx