Doubt in the proof of the First Group Isomorphism Theorem

abstract-algebragroup-homomorphismgroup-isomorphismgroup-theory

Let $f:G\to H$ be a group homomorphism. Then $G/\text{ker}(f)\cong \text{im}(f)$.

To prove this, we define a map $\varphi:G/\text{ker}(f)\to \text{im}(f)$ by $\varphi(gK)=f(g)$, where $K=\text{ker}(f)$.

My question is: how do we know that $\varphi$ is well-defined? That is, how do we know that

$g_1K=g_2K\Rightarrow \varphi(g_1K)=\varphi(g_2K)$?

Best Answer

Checking that $\varphi$ is well-defined is indeed a crucial step of the proof (if you have seen a proof that omits this step, that is a serious gap!). So, suppose $g_1K=g_2K$, so $g_1^{-1}g_2\in K$. Since $K=\ker(f)$, this means $f(g_1^{-1}g_2)=1$. Since $f$ is a homomorphism, this means $f(g_1)^{-1}f(g_2)=1$ so $f(g_1)=f(g_2)$, and thus $\varphi$ gives the same value whether you use $g_1$ or $g_1$.