Groups of order 4
This article gives information about, and links to more details on, groups of order 4
See pages on algebraic structures of order 4 | See pages on groups of a particular order
There are, up to isomorphism, two possibilities for a group of order 4. Both of these are abelian groups and, in particular are abelian of prime power order. 4 is the first natural number such that there are non-isomorphic groups of that order.
The classification can be done by hand using multiplication tables, but it also follows more generally from the classification of groups of prime-square order or the classification of groups of an order two times a prime.
See also groups of prime-square order for side-by-side comparison with the situation for other primes.
The groups are:
Group | GAP ID (second part) | Defining feature |
---|---|---|
cyclic group:Z4 | 1 | unique cyclic group of order 4 |
Klein four-group | 2 | unique elementary abelian group of order 4; also a direct product of two copies of cyclic group:Z2. |