[Math] Finite abelian groups of order 100

abstract-algebrafinite-groupsgroup-theory

(a) What are the finite abelian groups of order 100 up to isomorphism?

(b) Say $G$ is a finite abelian group of order 100 which contains an element of order 20 and no element with larger order. Then G will be isomorphic to exactly one group from your list in (a): which one, and why?

Can someone tell me how to analyze this question? As for question (a), I know that finite abelian group could be isomorphic to $Z_{a_1}\times Z_{a_2}\times…\times Z_{a_n}$, but have no idea what's the relation between $a_1,a_2,…,a_n$ and 100. Can someone tell me how to analyze this question?

Best Answer

We just have to use the fundamental theorem for finite abelian groups.

Note $100=2^2\cdot 5^2$

You just have to choose a factorization of $2^2$ and a factorization of $5^2$.

The only two factorizations for $2^2$ are $2\cdot 2$ and $4$

the only two factorizations for $5^2$ are $5\cdot 5 $ and $25$.

So there are $4$ combinations, these give us all the groups:

$\mathbb Z_2\times \mathbb Z_2\times \mathbb Z_5\times \mathbb Z_5$

$\mathbb Z_2\times \mathbb Z_2\times \mathbb Z_{25}$

$\mathbb Z_4\times \mathbb Z_{5}\times \mathbb Z_5$

$\mathbb Z_4\times \mathbb Z_{25} \cong \mathbb Z_{100}$


The only of these that has maximum order $20$ is the third element in the list.