Quiz 1

MATH 3333
Dr. Maddox
1. Given a set S with operation ? on S, if S contains an identiy element, e,
with respect to ?, does e necessarily have an inverse in S with respect to
?? If so, what is it?
To get an idea for how to answer this, you might want to think about R (or
any field). For addition, 0 + 0 = 0, so the additive inverse of the additive
identity 0 is 0 itself. For multiplication, 1 1 = 1, so the multiplicative
inverse of the multiplicative identity 1 is 1. This suggests that maybe its
true in general that e is its own inverse.
By definition of identity, x ? e = e ? x = x for any x S. This means
that e ? e = e as well because e is an element of S. Then by definition of
inverse (as the element that combines with another element to yield the
identity, or in other words, the element which cancels out the other), the
inverse of e is e.
2. Consider the set R4 = {(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )|x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 R} with the operation : R4 R4 R4 defined by component-wise addition:
(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) (y1 , y2 , y3 , y4 ) = (x1 + y1 , x2 + y2 , x3 + y3 , x4 + y4 ).
Does R4 contain an identity element with respect to ? If so, what is it?
You can think of R4 as the set of all ordered lists of four real numbers. In
R, the additive identity is 0, so in R4 with component-wise addition, the
additive identity will be the ordered list of four zeroes.
(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) (0, 0, 0, 0) = (x1 + 0, x2 + 0, x3 + 0, x4 + 0)
= (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
(0, 0, 0, 0) (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = (0 + x1 , 0 + x2 , 0 + x3 , 0 + x4 )
= (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
identity = (0, 0, 0, 0)
3. Consider the set R4 = {(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )|x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 R} with the operation : R4 R4 R4 defined by component-wise multiplication
(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) (y1 , y2 , y3 , y4 ) = (x1 y1 , x2 y2 , x3 y3 , x4 y4 ).
Does R4 contain an identity element with respect to ? If so, what is it?
Again, you can think of R4 as the set of all ordered lists of four real
numbers. In R, the multiplicative identity is 1, so in R4 with componentwise multiplication, the multiplicative identity will be the ordered list of
four ones.
(x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) (1, 1, 1, 1) = (x1 1, x2 1, x3 1, x4 1)
= (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
(1, 1, 1, 1) (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 ) = (1 x1 , 1, x2 , 1, x3 , 1 x4 )
= (x1 , x2 , x3 , x4 )
identity = (1, 1, 1, 1)
1

4. Choose one of the following to prove.

i) In a field F , a 0 = 0 for any a F .
ii) In a field F , if a b = 0, then either a = 0 or b = 0.
i) You can look in the notes for a more detailed proof, but this is essentially
what I was expecting, where each line includes one easily readable step if
you know the basic properties of a field.
Given a 0 for any a F , where F is a field.
a 0 = a (0 + 0)
a0=a0+a0
a 0 + a 0 = a 0 + a 0 + a 0
a 0 + a 0 = a 0 + a 0 + a 0
0=a0+0
0=a0
ii) Again you can look in the notes for a more detailed proof, but this is what
I expected.
Given a b = 0 in F , where F is a field.
Either a = 0 or a 6= 0. If a = 0, the statement of the proof is satisfied.
1
If a 6= 0, then a has a multiplicative inverse, a1 or .
a
ab=0
1

a b = a1 0

a1 a b = 0
1b=0
b=0
Then b = 0, and the statement of the proof is satisfied in this case as well.