Direct product of Z4 and Z2
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Contents
Definition
As a direct product
The direct product of Z4 and Z2 is an abelian group of order eight obtained as the external direct product of cyclic group:Z4 and cyclic group:Z2.
As a presentation
If we denote by and
the generators of the direct factors, then the presentation is given by:
.
Writing the presentation in additive notation, with commutativity implicit:
.
Multiplication table
Here, we use ordered pairs, as is typical for external direct products, with the first coordinate corresponding to the cyclic group of order four and the second coordinate corresponding to the cyclic group of order two. From the presentation notation, and
.
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As an abelian group of prime power order
The group is a 2-group corresponding to the partition:
In other words, it is the group for the case
. Other particular cases include:
Value of prime number ![]() |
Corresponding group |
---|---|
Generic prime | direct product of cyclic group of prime-square order and cyclic group of prime order |
3 | direct product of Z9 and Z3 |
5 | direct product of Z25 and Z5 |
7 | direct product of Z49 and Z7 |
Arithmetic functions
Group properties
Property | Satisfied | Explanation | Comment |
---|---|---|---|
Group of prime power order | Yes | By definition | |
Abelian group | Yes | Direct product of abelian groups | |
Cyclic group | No | No element of order eight | |
Elementary abelian group | No | Element of order four | Smallest abelian group that's not cyclic or elementary abelian |
Nilpotent group | Yes | Abelian implies nilpotent | |
T-group | Yes | Abelian groups are T-groups |
Subgroups
Further information: Subgroup structure of direct product of Z4 and Z2
The group has the following eight subgroups (all of which are normal subgroups, since the group is abelian):
- The trivial subgroup. Isomorphic to trivial group. (1)
- The cyclic subgroup of order two comprising the squares, i.e., the first agemo subgroup. In our notation, this is the subgroup
. Isomorphic to cyclic group:Z2. (1)
- Two other cyclic subgroups of order two, generated by elements that are not squares. In our notation, these are
and
. These are related by an outer automorphism. Isomorphic to cyclic group:Z2. (2)
- The group of order four comprising all the elements of order dividing two. In other words, the first omega subgroup. In our notation, this is
. Isomorphic to Klein four-group. (1)
- The two cyclic subgroups of order four, generated by elements of order four. In our notation. these are
and
. These are related by an outer automorphism. Isomorphic to cyclic group:Z4. (2)
- The whole group. (1)
Normal subgroups
Since the group is abelian, all subgroups are normal.
Characteristic subgroups
The subgroups of type (1), (2), (4) and (6) are characteristic. In particular, there is exactly one characteristic subgroup of each order.
GAP implementation
Group ID
This finite group has order 8 and has ID 2 among the groups of order 8 in GAP's SmallGroup library. For context, there are 5 groups of order 8. It can thus be defined using GAP's SmallGroup function as:
SmallGroup(8,2)
For instance, we can use the following assignment in GAP to create the group and name it :
gap> G := SmallGroup(8,2);
Conversely, to check whether a given group is in fact the group we want, we can use GAP's IdGroup function:
IdGroup(G) = [8,2]
or just do:
IdGroup(G)
to have GAP output the group ID, that we can then compare to what we want.
Other descriptions
It can also be described as a direct product using GAP's DirectProduct function:
DirectProduct(CyclicGroup(4),CyclicGroup(2))