[Math] Subgroups of $U(n)$ isomorphic to a direct sum of cyclic groups

abstract-algebradirect-sumfinite-groupsgroup-theorymodular arithmetic

Let $U(n)$ to be the set of all positive integers less then $n$ and relatively prime to $n$. Then $U(n)$ is a group under multiplication modulo $n$.

A. Find integer $n$ such that $U(n)$ contains subgroup isomorphic to $Z_5\oplus Z_5$.

B. Show that there is an $U(n)$ containing a subgroup isomorphic to $Z_3 \oplus Z_3$, but not isomorphic to $Z_4 \oplus Z_4$.

Best Answer

(A) If $n$ is prime, then you know that $U(n)$ is cyclic, and so it cannot have a non-cyclic subgroup. So your goal is to find a composite $n$.

The simplest such would be $n = pq$, where $p, q$ are prime and $p\neq q$. Now $$ U(n) \cong U(p) \times U(q) \cong \mathbb{Z}_{p-1} \times \mathbb{Z}_{q-1} $$ To find a subgroup of the form $\mathbb{Z}_5\times \mathbb{Z}_5$, one can look for two primes $p$ and $q$ such that $$ 5\mid (p-1), \text{ and } 5\mid (q-1) $$ So you list down numbers of the form $(5k+1)$ until you hit two distinct primes : 11, and 31.

Hence, $U(341) \cong \mathbb{Z}_{10}\times \mathbb{Z}_{30}$ has a subgroup isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}_5\times \mathbb{Z}_5$.

Now can you try the same thing for (B)?

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