Trevor Williams

MAS 6369
December 6, 2018
Overview

Group Theory Review

Definition (Group). A non-empty set of elements, G, is said to form a group if in G there
is defined a binary operation, called the product and denoted by ·, such that

1. a, b ∈ G =⇒ a · b ∈ G

2. a, b, c ∈ G =⇒ a · (b · c) = (a · b) · c

3. ∃ e ∈ G s.t. a · e = e · a = a ∀a ∈ G

4. ∀a ∈ G ∃ a−1 s.t. a · a−1 = a−1 · a = e

Definition (Subgroup). A non-empty subset, H, of a group, G, is said to be a subgroup

of G if, under the product in G, H itself forms a group.

Theorem (Legrange’s Theorem). If G is a finite group and H is a subgroup of G, then |H|

is a divisor of |G|.

Definition (Homomorphism). A mapping φ from a group, G, into a group, Ḡ, is said to be

a homomorphism if for all a, b ∈ G, φ(ab) = φ(a)φ(b).

Finite Fields
Rings & Fields
Definition (Ring). A non-empty set R is said to be an associative ring if in R there are
defined two operations, denoted by + and · respectively, such that for all a, b, c ∈ R:

1. a + b ∈ R

2. a + b = b + a

3. (a + b) + c = a + (b + c)

4. ∃ 0 ∈ R s.t. a + 0 = a ∀a ∈ R

5. ∃ − a ∈ R s.t. a + (−a) = 0

6. a · b ∈ R

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 7. a · (b · c) = (a · b) · c

8. a · (b + c) = a · b + a · c

9. (b + c) · a = b · a + c · a

Definition (Ring with identity). If R is a ring and there exists an element 1 ∈ R such that
if a ∈ R then a · 1 = 1 · a = a, then R is called a Ring with identity .

Definition (Commutative Ring). If R is a ring with the following property a · b = b ·

a ∀a, b ∈ R, then R is called a commutative ring.

Definition (Integral Domain). A commutative ring with identity, R, is called an integral

domain if ∀a, b ∈ R, a · b = 0 =⇒ a = 0 or b = 0.

Definition (Field). A commutative ring with identity, R, is call a field if its non-zero
elements form a group under multiplication.

Theorem. A finite integral domain is a field

Theorem (Corollary). If p is a prime number then Zp , the ring of integers mod p, is a

field.

Definition (Characteristic). If D is an integral domain, then we define the characteristic

of D to be the smallest positive integer p such that pa = 0 for all a ∈ D. If no integer
p exists we say D is of characteristic 0. If such a p does exist we say D is of finite
characteristic.

Theorem. If D is an integral domain of finite characteristic, then its characteristic is a

prime number

Definition (Polynomial Ring). Let F be a field, then the ring of polynomials in the
indeterminate x, denoted F[x], is the set of all symbols a0 + a1 x + a2 x2 + · · · + an xn where
n is any non-negative integer and the coefficients a0 , a1 , a2 , . . . , an ∈ F. Addition and
multiplication are the familiar polynomial addition and multiplication.

Definition (Degree). If f(x) = a0 + a1 x + · · · + an xn 6= 0 and an 6= 0 then the degree of

f(x), denoted deg(f(x)), is n.

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Definition (Ring Homomorphism). A mapping φ from the ring R into the ring R 0 is said
to be a ring homomorphism if

1. φ(a + b) = φ(a) + φ(b)

2. φ(ab) = φ(a)φ(b)

For all a, b ∈ R.

Definition (Ideal). If R is a ring, and I is a non-empty subset of R, then I is said to be an

ideal if

1. I is a subgroup of R under addition

2. For every i ∈ I and r ∈ R, both ir and ri are in I.

Definition (Maximal Ideal). An ideal M 6= R in a ring R is said to be a maximal ideal

of R if whenever I is an ideal of R such that M ⊂ I ⊂ R, then either R = I or M = I

Theorem. If R is a commutative ring with identity and M is an ideal of R, then M is a

maximal ideal of R if and only if R/M is a field.

Definition (Irreducible Polynomial). A polynomial p(x) in F[x] is said to be irreducible

over F if whenever p(x) = a(x)b(x) with a(x), b(x) ∈ F[x], then deg(a(x)) = 0 or deg(b(x) =
0).

Theorem. The ideal A = hp(x)i in F[x] is a maximal ideal if and only if p(x) is irreducible
over F.

Finite Field Construction

∼ Zp .
Theorem. If F is a field with order p, p a prime, then F =

Theorem. If p(x) is an irreducible polynomial over Zp and deg(p(x)) = m. Then Zp / hp(x)i

is a field of order pm . This field contains all polynomials in x of degree less than m and
coefficients in Zp . All operations in the field are performed modulo p(x).

Theorem. If F is a field of order pm , then the set F? = {f ∈ F : f 6= 0} forms a cyclic

multiplicative group of order pm − 1.

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Theorem (Corollary). Every element β of a field, F, of order pm satisfies the identity
m
βp = β. Thus, Y
m
xp − x = (x − β)
β∈F

Definition (Primitive Element). If F is a field of order pm , an element α of F is called

primitive if it has order pm − 1, and thus generates the cyclic multiplicative group F? .

Theorem (Corollary). Every finite field contains a primitive element.

Theorem. In any field of characteristic p,

(x + y)p = xp + yp

Remark. From this point on we will use the notation of the Sloan/MacWilliams book, in
which a finite field is denoted as GF(pm ) where pm is the order of the group and p is prime.
We will shortly see why it is appropriate to define a finite field by its order alone.

Definition (Minimal Polynomial). The minimal polynomial over GF(p) of β is the lowest
degree monic polynomial M(x) with coefficients from GF(p) such that M(β) = 0.

Definition (Cyclotomic Cosets). The operation of multiplying by p divides the integers

mod pm −1 into sets called the cyclotomic cosets mod pm −1. If s is the smallest number
in a coset the coset is called Cs . The subscripts s are called the coset representatives
mod pm − 1.

Theorem. Suppose M(x) is the minimal polynomial of β ∈ GF(pm ), then M(x) has the
following properties:

1. M(x) is irreducible.

2. If f(x) is any polynomial (with coefficients in GF(p)) such that f(β) = 0, then M(x)f(x).
 m
3. M(x)xp − x

4. deg M(x) ≤ m

5. The minimal polynomial of a primitive element of GF(pm ) has degree m. Such a

polynomial is called a primitive polynomial.

6. β and βp have the same minimal polynomial.

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 7. If i is in Cs then Y
M(i) (x) = (x − αj )
j∈Cs

Furthermore Y
m −1
xp −1= M(s) (x)
s

where s runs through the coset representatives mod pm − 1.

Theorem. All finite fields of order pm are isomorphic.

Definition (Subfields). A subset S of GF(pm ) is called a subfield if it is a field under the

addition and multiplication of GF(pm ).

Theorem. (i) GF(pr ) contains a subfield (isomorphic to) GF(ps ) if and only if s divides
r.
s
(ii) If β ∈ GF(pr ) then β is in GF(ps ) if and only if βp = β. In any field if β2 = β then
β is 0 or 1.

Remark. To construct a finite field of order pm one must simply find an irreducible polyno-
∼ Zp , then the field
mial, f(x), of degree m with coefficients in GF(p) =

GF(p)/ hf(x)i

is a field of order pm .

Coding Theory
We talked about numerous codes including

1. Hamming Codes

2. Golay Codes

3. BCH Codes

4. Reed-Muller Codes

These codes are one of the many applications of finite fields.