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MA10209 Algebra 1A: Sheet 1: GCS 26-Ix-14

This document contains a series of 10 algebra problems assigned as homework for a university course. It provides the instructor's contact information and due date for the assignment. The problems cover a range of algebraic topics including sets, functions, relations, and combinatorics. Students are asked to solve problems, prove statements, find patterns, and provide justifications for their work.

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Christopher Daniels
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118 views2 pages

MA10209 Algebra 1A: Sheet 1: GCS 26-Ix-14

This document contains a series of 10 algebra problems assigned as homework for a university course. It provides the instructor's contact information and due date for the assignment. The problems cover a range of algebraic topics including sets, functions, relations, and combinatorics. Students are asked to solve problems, prove statements, find patterns, and provide justifications for their work.

Uploaded by

Christopher Daniels
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MA10209 Algebra 1A

Sheet 1: GCS
26-ix-14
Hand in work to your tutor by 17:15, Monday Oct 6. I do not use moodle. For materials associated
with this course, please see http://people.bath.ac.uk/masgcs/, in particular the diary for MA10209
at the top of this page. On twitter I am @GeoffBath and my email address is [email protected].
1. Find an economical way to write these sets:
(a) {u | u Z, u
2
2u + 1 = 0}.
(b) {v | v Z, v
3
6v
2
+ 11v 6 = 0}.
(c) {w | w R, w
2
+ 1 = 0}.
(d) {x | x Q, x
2
Z}. Even if you cannot supply a justication of your answer, at least make
an educated guess as to what this set actually is.
(e) {y | y N}.
(f) {z | z C, z
2
+ 1 = 0}.
2. Suppose that A, B and C are nite sets. Suppose that |A|, |B|, |C|, |A B|, |B C|, |C A| and
|A B C| are given. Does this information determine |A B C|? If so, how and why?
3. Let A = {1, 2, 3} and B = {3, 4} be subsets of the integers. In each case determine if there is
a set X Z which satises the given conditions, and discuss whether or not this is the unique
subset of Z which satises the conditions.
(a) X B = and A X B.
(b) X B = A and X A = B.
(c) X X = A and |X B| = 1.
(d) X X = B and B B = X.
4. Suppose that f : R R is dened by f(x) = 2x for each x R and g : R R is dened by
g(x) = x/2 for each x R. Recall that f g : R R is dened by (f g)(x) = f(g(x)) for each
x R. Prove that f g = g f = Id
R
(the identity map from R to R).
5. Suppose that f : Z Z is dened by f(x) = 2x for each x Z.
(a) Show that there is at least one map g : Z Z such that g f = Id
Z
.
(b) Show that there are innitely many maps g : Z Z such that g f = Id
Z
.
(c) Show that there are no maps h : Z Z such that f h = Id
Z
.
(d) (interesting!) Is there a map k : Z Z such that k k = f?
6. If A is a set, then A
2
= A A is the set with elements the ordered pairs (x, y) where x, y A.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) invented the rectangular co-ordinate system which sets up a bijection
between a geometric plane and the set R
2
. Analogous things happen in 3-dimensions. In each
case, give a geometric meaning to the set or map.
(a) {(x, y) | (x, y) R
2
, x
2
+ y
2
= 1}
(b) {(x, y) | (x, y) R
2
, x
2
+ y
2
= 1}
(c) {(x, y) | (x, y) R
2
, 3x + 4y = 5}
(d) f : R
2
R
2
where f : (x, y) (y, x) for each (x, y) R
2
.
(e) g : R
2
R
2
where g : (x, y) (x, y) for each (x, y) R
2
.
(f) {(x, y, z) | (x, y, z) R
3
, x + y + z = 1, x 0, y 0, z 0}.
(g) {(x, y, z) | (x, y, z) R
3
, x
2
+ y
2
+ z
2
< 1}
(h) {(x, y, z) | (x, y, z) R
3
, (x 1)
2
+ (y + 1)
2
+ z
2
< 1}
7. A nite set P of people meet at a social occasion. Some of them shake hands with one another,
and no person shakes hands with the same person more than once. Let the set of handshakes S.
Let A P S consist of all pairs (p, s) where the person p takes part in the handshake s.
(a) Show that |A| is an even number.
(b) Deduce that the number of people who shake hands an odd number of times is even.
8. Suppose that f : A B is a map. We dene the graph of f to be Graph(f) = {(a, f(a)) | a A}
so Graph(f) AB.
(a) Suppose that f : R R is dened by f(x) = x
2
for each x R. Using Descartess
identication of R
2
with the geometric plane, draw a picture of Graph(f).
(b) Suppose that f and g are both maps from A to B and that Graph(f) = Graph(g). Does it
follow that f = g?
(c) Suppose that A and B are both nite sets, and that |A| = a and |B| = b. How many subsets
G of AB are graphs of functions from A to B?
9. Recall that

n
r

is the number of dierent subsets of size r that you can nd in a set of size n.
(a) Show that

n
r=0

n
r

= 2
n
.
(b) Show that

n
r=0
(1)
r

n
r

= 0 if n > 0.
(c) Suppose that n = 2m > 0 is an even integer. Prove that

m
t=0

n
2t

= 2
n1
.
10. (Challenge!) Consider triangular arrays with entries a
ij
(where i ranges from 1 to n and j ranges
from 1 to n + 1 i). The top row is (a
11
, a
12
, . . . , a
1n
), the second row is (a
21
, a
22
, . . . , a
2 (n1)
)
and so on. Each of the n entries of the top row is either 0 or 1. The top row of the array
determines the rest of the array as follows: for all i > 1 and any associated j we have a
ij
is 0 if
a
(i1) j
= a
(i1) (j+1)
, and a
ij
is 1 otherwise.
Let S denote the set of binary sequences of length n (that is to say, strings of n symbols, each of
which is a 0 or a 1). Note that |S| = 2
n
. Dene a map f: S S via f : (a
11
, a
12
, . . . , a
1n
)
(a
n1
, a
(n1) 2
, . . . , a
1n
).
Determine the number of xed points of f. (In other words, how many s S have the property
that f(s) = s?)

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