MATH 223 Assignment 1

due January 19
40 marks

1. (2 marks) Define a binary operation on A = {1, 2, 3} that is commu-

tative but not associative. (Give a specific example of elements a, b, c
with (a ∗ b) ∗ c 6= a ∗ (b ∗ c).)
2. (2 marks) Find a binary operation on A = {1, 2, 3, 4} that has an
identity but is not associative or commutative. State which element
is the identity and gives examples to prove that your operation is not
associative or commutative.
3. (4 marks) List all binary operation on A = {0, 1} that have an identity.
(are these operations commutative? associative? For bonus marks,
show that any such operation must be associative.)
4. (3 marks) A = {1, 2, 3, 4} with a ∗ b defined in the table below

∗ 1 2 3 4
1 1 2 3 4
2 2 1 4 3
3 3 4 1 2
4 4 3 2 1

Find all the (non-empty) subsets of A that are closed under the oper-
ation ∗.
5. (2 marks each) For the following operations give the identity if one
exists (justify your answers)
(a) A = {A, B, C, D} with a ∗ b defined in the table below

∗ A B C D
A A A A A
B A B A B
C A A C C
D A B C D

(b) A = P X where X = {1, 2, 3, 4} and S ∗ T = (S ∪ T )\(S ∩ T ) (this

is the set of elements that are in either S or T but not both.

1
 (c) A = P = {1, 2, 3, 4, ...} (the set of positive integers) and a ∗ b =
max{a, b}.
6. (4 marks) Assume that ∗ is an associative binary operation on a set
A with identity e. Can an element of A have a distinct left and right
inverses? Either prove that this cannot happen or give an example
where it does.
7. (2 marks) Find a binary operation on A = {1, 2, 3} that has an identity
but inverses are not unique.
8. Let X = R and let A be the set of all functions on X. Let ∗ be the
binary operation on A with f ∗ g = f ◦ g for all f, g ∈ A.
Let Ta : R → R be the function defined by Ta (x) = a + x, such a
function is called a translation. Let
B = {Ta | a ∈ R}.
So B is the set of all functions that are translations.

(a) (3 marks) Show that B is a closed subset of A under the binary

operation of composition of functions (so Ta ∗ Tb = Ta ◦ Tb ).
(b) (2 marks) Show that ∗ is a commutative operation on B.

9. (4 marks) Show if f : X → X and g : X → X are both onto functions,

then f ◦ g is also an onto function.
10. Let Pn be the set of integers {1, 2, . . . , n}. Let f : Pn → Pn .
(a) (2 marks) Prove if f is one-to-one then it is also onto.
(b) (2 marks) Prove if f is onto then it is also one-to-one.
(This means if f is a one-to-one map between two finite sets of the
same size, then it is a bijection and if f is an onto map between two
finite sets of the same size, then it is a bijection.)
11. (4 marks) Let P be the set of all positive integers. Find a map f : P → P
that is one-to-one but not onto. Find a map g : P → P that is onto
but not one-to-one. (So the result in Question 10 only holds for finite
sets!)