Let $G$ and $H$ be two groups, and $f$ a map from $G$ to $H$ ($\forall g\in G \Rightarrow f(g)\in H$). Then $f$ is a homomorphism if $\forall g_1,g_2\in G \Rightarrow f(g_1g_2)=f(g_1)f(g_2)$.
This means that $G$ and $H$ are algebraically identical.
Isomorphism is a bijective homomorphism.
I see that isomorphism is more than homomorphism, but I don't really understand its power. When we hear about bijection, the first thing that comes to mind is topological homeomorphism, but here we are talking about algebraic structures, and topological spaces are not algebraic structures.
Then what is the "power" that makes us to define isomorphism as a special case of homomorphism?
Best Answer
Isomorphisms capture "equality" between objects in the sense of the structure you are considering. For example, $2 \mathbb{Z} \ \cong \mathbb{Z}$ as groups, meaning we could re-label the elements in the former and get exactly the latter.
This is not true for homomorphisms--homomorphisms can lose information about the object, whereas isomorphisms always preserve all of the information. For example, the map $\mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}/ 2\mathbb{Z}$ given by $z \mapsto z \text{ mod 2}$ loses a ton of information but is still a homomorphism.
Alternatively, isomorphisms are invertible homomorphisms (again emphasizing the preservation of information -- you can revert the map and go back).