(New page: == Group Action == A group action of a group <math>G</math> on a set <math>X</math> is a mapping <math>\circ: G \times X \to X</math> such that the following axioms hold: 1. <math>e \...)
 
 
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--[[User:Jvaught|Jvaught]] 21:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
 
--[[User:Jvaught|Jvaught]] 21:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
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[[EE662Sp10AbstarctAlgebra|Back to Jvaught's group theory summary]]
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Latest revision as of 07:38, 2 April 2010

Group Action

A group action of a group $ G $ on a set $ X $ is a mapping $ \circ: G \times X \to X $ such that the following axioms hold:

  1. $ e \circ x = x ~~ \forall x \in X $ where $ e $ is the identity of $ G $
  2. $ (g_1 \cdot g_2) \circ x = g_1 \circ (g_2 \circ x) ~~ \forall x\in X, g_1,g_2\in G $

In many cases, there is a very natural and intuitive action for a group. For example, when $ G = S_n $, a symmetric group, since the elements are themselves functions on $ \{1, 2, \ldots, n\} $ (or an arbitrary n element set), it is natural to take $ X = \{1, 2, \ldots, n\} $ and define the action as evaluation of the permutation. Since the operation of $ G $ is function composition and the identity element maps every element to itself, it is clear that the group action axioms hold. As an example, let $ g = (1 2 3) \in S_3, x = 2 $. Then $ g \circ x = 3 $ since $ (1 2 3) $ takes $ 2 \mapsto 3 $.

--Jvaught 21:09, 30 March 2010 (UTC)


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