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group

Table of Contents

1. Definition

A group is an ordered pair \((G, *)\) where \(G\) is a set and \(*\) is a binary operation (operation defined between two members of set G) defined such that:

\begin{align*} a * b \in G \\ \exists e : a * e = a \end{align*}

where the operation \(*\) is said to be closed under \(G\), and \(e\) is called the identity of group \((G, *)\).

1.1. Associativity

This is the property such that:

\begin{align*} (a * b) * c = a * (b * c) \end{align*}

1.2. inverse

An inverse is defined as follows:

\begin{align*} \forall a \exists a^{-1} : a * a^{-1} = e \end{align*}

2. Motivation

In physics, natural phenomena including conservation laws follow from group symmetries.

Copyright © 2024 Preston Pan