INTRODUCTION:

The theory of groups, an important part in present day

mathematics, which was established early in the nineteenth century.
Originally a group was the set of all permutations of the roots of an
algebraic equation. Groups arise in a number of apparently disconnected
subjects. In fact, they appear in crystallography, quantum mechanics,
geometry, topology, and even in biology.

HISTORY ABOUT GROUP THEORY:

The term “Group” was coined by Galois around 1830 to

describe sets of one to one functions on finite set that could be grouped
together to form a closed set. But the study of groups started in 18th
century by “Lagrange”. However, this work as somewhat isolated and
more commonly referred to as the beginning of group theory.

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS Page 1

BINARY OPERATION:

To start the study about group theory, it is necessary to know about

Binary Operation.

A binary operation on a set is a calculation that combines two

elements of the set to produce another element of that set. More
formally, a binary operation is an operation of two arguments whose two
domains and one co-domain are in the same set.

EXAMPLE:

The most familiar binary operations are ordinary addition,

subtraction and multiplication of integers. Division of integers is not a
binary operation on the integer.

ALGEBRIC STRUCTURE:

A set together with one or more binary operations is called

algebraic structure. Let ‘G’ be a non-empty set and * be the binary
operation on A then (G, *) is called algebraic structure.

DEFINITION OF GROUP:

Let ‘G’ be a non-empty set. The elements of ‘G’ is said to form a

group. If there defined a binary operation (+, .) satisfying the following;

 G Satisfying closure axiom: ∀ 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ 𝐺 ⇒ 𝑎 + 𝑏 ∈ 𝐺 for addition

and 𝑎. 𝑏 ∈ 𝐺 for multiplication.

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS Page 2

  G Associative Property: ∀ 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 ∈ 𝐺 ⇒ (𝑎. 𝑏). 𝑐 = 𝑎. (𝑏. 𝑐)for
multiplication and 𝑎 + (𝑏 + 𝑐) = (𝑎 + 𝑏) + 𝑐 for addition.
 G (Existence of identity element): ∃ 𝑒 ∈ 𝐺 𝑆𝑡 𝑎 + 𝑏 ∈ 𝐺 for
addition and 𝑎. 𝑏 ∈ 𝐺 for multiplication.


DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS Page 3