1999 Spring Algebra Questions U

B First Qual

1. Let H be a normal subgroup of a finite group G. If G/H has an element of order n, prove
that G has an element of order n.

2. A subgroup H of a group G is called a characteristic subgroup if φ(H) ⊂ H for all automor-

phisms φ of G.
(a) Prove that each subgroup of a cyclic group is a characteristic subgroup.
(b) Find a finite abelian group G and a subgroup H of G such that H is not a characteristic
subgroup of G.

3. Is the polynomial 2x10 − 25x3 + 10x2 − 30 irreducible over Q? Explain.

4. Let R be a commutative ring with identity of characteristic p, where p is a prime. Show that
the map φp : R → R given by φp (a) = ap is a ring homomorphism.

5. Find the minimal polynomial for T , a linear operator, which in standard basis is given by :
 
5 −6 −6
 
 −1 4 2 .
3 −6 4

6. Let V be a finite dimensional vector space over the real numbers with an inner product hv, wi.
Let f be a linear functional on V , that is, a linear transformation f : V → R. Prove that there
exists a unique vector v0 ∈ V such that f (v) = hv, v0 i for all v ∈ V .

7. Let A be a n × n matrix with complex entries. If Am = 0 for some positive integer m, prove
that An = 0.

8. Let V be a vector space and T : V → V be a linear operator. For each basis of V , T can be
P
represented by an n × n matrix A = (aij ). Show that trace of T defined as tr T = ni=1 aii is
independent of the choice of basis. z
1999 Spring Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Let {an }∞
n=1 be a sequence of real numbers such that limn→∞ an = a. Prove that
Pn
i=1 ai
lim =a
n→∞ n

10. Does limn→∞ xn (1−xn ) = 0 uniformly on the closed interval 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 ? Justify your answer.
RR
11. Assume that f (x, y) is continuous on an open subset D of R2 and that R f = 0 for each
closed rectangle R contained in D. Prove that f (x, y) = 0 for all (x, y) ∈ D.

12. Prove or disprove the following:

P P∞ 2
(a) If ∞n=1 an converges absolutely, then so does n=1 an .
P∞ P
(b) If n=1 an converges and limn→∞ abnn = 1, then ∞ n=1 bn converges.

13. Let D be a bounded subset of Rn and let f : D → Rm be uniformly continuous on D. Show

that f is bounded on D.

14. Let (
x2 y
x6 +3y 2
for (x, y) 6= (0, 0)
f (x, y) =
0 for (x, y) = (0, 0)
(a) Use the definition of directional derivative to show that f has a directional derivative in every
direction at (0, 0).
(b) Show that f is not continuous at (0, 0). z
1998 Fall Algebra Questions U
B First Qual

 
0 0 1 0 0
 
 0 0 0 1 0 
 
1. Find the Jordan form of A := 
 0 0 0 0 1 

 
 0 0 0 0 0 
0 0 0 0 0
2. Given square matrices A, B, X, Y such that AX = XA = In and BY = Y B = Im , and, given
a rectangular n × m matrix C, express the inverse of
à !
A C
O B

in terms of X, Y, C.

3. Let Mn (R) be the ring of n × n real matrices. Show that if A ∈ Mn (R) and AB = BA ∀ B ∈
Mn (R), then A = cIn , for some c ∈ R.

4. Let A be a n × n matrix with complex entries. Prove that A is the sum of two non-singular
matrices.

5. Let G be the multiplicative group of non-zero real numbers and H be the additive group of
real numbers.
(a) Prove that there exists a homomorphism from G onto H.
(b) Prove that G and H are not isomorphic.

6. Use the class equation to show that if G is a group of order pn , where p is a prime and n ∈ N,
then Z(G), the center of G, contains more than one element.

7. Let F [x] be the polynomial ring over a field F . Prove that if I is a non-zero ideal of F [x] then
there exists in g(x) ∈ F [x] such that

I = {f (x)g(x) : f (x) ∈ F [x]}

8. Let I be the ideal of Z11 [x] generated by p(x) = x2 + 1. Prove that Z11 [x]/I is a field with 121
elements. z
1998 Fall Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Prove the following version of Darboux’s Theorem:

If f 0 (x) exists for all x ∈ [a, b], with f 0 (a) = 1 and f 0 (b) = −1, then there exist a number c ∈ [a, b],
with f 0 (c) = 0. Note that we are not assuming that f 0 is continuous.

10. Prove the Ratio Test: if {xn } is a sequence of positive numbers such that
³x ´
n+1
lim =α <1
n→∞ xn
P
then ∞ n=1 xn converges.

11. It is known that a bounded function f on [a, b] is Riemann integrable iff, for each ², there
exists a partition P of [a, b] such that the difference between the upper and the lower sum of f
with respect to P is less than ². Use this fact to show that if f is continuous on [a, b] then f is
Riemann integrable on [a, b].

12. Let f and f 0 be defined on open bounded interval (a, b). Prove that if f 0 (x) is bounded on
(a, b), then f (x) has a continuous extension to the closed interval [a, b].

13. Let f be real-valued, non-decreasing function on R. Prove that f has at most countable many
discontinuities.

14. (a) Prove that ZZ

2 +y 2 ) π
lim e−(x dxdy =
R→∞ CR 4
where CR = {(x, y) : x2 = y 2 ≤ R2 , x ≥ √0, y ≥ 0}.
R∞
(b) Use (a) to show that 0 e−x dx = 2π .
2
z
1998 Spring Algebra Questions U
B First Qual
" #
2 2
1. Let A = . Find a matrix B such that B 2 = A.
1 3
2. Find the minimal polynomials of the following two matrices
   
2 0 0 2 1 0
   
A= 0 2 2  B= 0 2 0 
0 0 1 0 0 1

√ √
3. For each element α = a + b 5 in Z[ 5], define N (α) = a2 − 5b2 . It is known that
√
N (αβ) = N (α)N (β) ∀ α, β ∈ Z[ 5]
√
(a) Prove that α ∈ Z[ 5] is a unit if and only if N (α) = ±1.
√ √
(b) Prove that 4 + 5 is a prime in Z[ 5].

4. Let Q be the additive group of rational numbers. Prove that if f is an automorphism on Q,

then there is a non-zero c ∈ Q such that f (x) = cx for every x ∈ Q.

5. (a) Prove that if G1 and G2 are proper subgroups of a group G, then G1 ∪ G2 =

6 G.
(b) Find a group G and proper subgroups G1 , G2 , G3 such that G = G1 ∪ G2 ∪ G3 .

6. Assume that R is a finite, commutative integral domain which contains at least one non-zero
element. Prove that R is a field by showing:
(a) R has an identity element.
(b) Each non-zero element in R has an inverse.

7. Let V be a vector space with inner product h·, ·i. Let u and v be elements in V such that
|hu, vi| = kukkvk. Prove that u and v are linearly dependent.

8. Let A and B be matrices of sizes m × n and n × m respectively. Prove that det (AB) = 0 if
n < m. z
1998 Spring Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Let
∞
X 2n n
f (x) = (x + 1)n .
n2 + 1
n=0

(a) Find the interval of convergence I for this power series.

(b) Does this series converge uniformly on I? Justify your answer.

10. Let f and g be real-valued functions on a closed, bounded rectangle R in the plane. Using
the definition of Riemann integral, prove that if
Z Z Z Z
f (x, y) dx dy and g(x, y) dx dy
R R

exist, then
RR RR RR
R (f (x, y) + g(x, y)) dx dy exists and equals R f (x, y) dx dy + R g(x, y) dx dy.

11. Let f : R −→ R be defined by

(
x if x is irrational
f (x) =
1 − x if x is rational

Prove that f is continuous at exactly one point. Which point?

12. If f and g are bounded uniformly continuous functions on Rn , prove that the product f g is
uniformly continuous on Rn .
R1
13. Let f be continuous function on [0, 1] and f (x) ≥ 0 for all x ∈ [0, 1]. Prove that if 0 f (x) dx =
0, then f (x) = 0 ∀ x ∈ [0, 1].

14. Let f : R3 −→ R2 be of class C 1 such that f (3, −1, 2) = (0, 0) and

" #
1 2 1
(Df )(3, −1, 2) =
1 −1 1

(a) Prove that there is an open neighborhood B of 3 in R and a function g : B −→ R2 of class

C 1 such that g(3) = (−1, 2) and f (x, g(x)) = (0, 0, 0) for all x ∈ B.
(b) Find (Dg)(3). z
1997 Fall Algebra Questions U
B First Qual

1. Let T be the linear transformation on R3 defined by the formula T (x, y, z) = (2x − y − z, −x +

2y − z, −x − y + 2z). Find a basis B = {v1 , v2 , v3 } in R3 with respect to which the matrix of T is
diagonal.

2. Let S be a k-dimensional linear subspace of Rn and let S ⊥ = {u ∈ Rn |hu, vi = 0 ∀ v ∈ S}.

Define the vector space S ⊕ S ⊥ = {(u, v)|u ∈ S, v ∈ S ⊥ } with the obvious structure. Define the
linear map L : S ⊕ S ⊥ → Rn by the formula L(u, v) = u + v. Show that L is one-to-one and onto.

3. Let n ≥ 2 be an integer. Characterize all the invertible elements in the ring Z/nZ.

4. Let G be an abelian group and let T be the set of all the elements of finite order in G.
(a) Prove that T is a subgroup in G.
(b) Prove that the only element of finite order in G/T is the unit element.

5. (a) Prove that if N and M are normal subgroups of a group G then N M = {nm : n ∈ N &m ∈
M } is also a normal subgroup of G.
(b) Assuming, in addition, that N ∩ M = {e}, prove that nm = mn for all n ∈ N and m ∈ M .

6. (a) Prove that for any n × n matrices A & B, AB − BA 6= I.

(b) Find 2 × 2 matrices A & B so that AB − BA is invertible.
√
7. Show that the equation x2 = 2 has no solutions in the field Q[ 3 2].

8. Let V be a vector space over a field F and let T be a linear transformation on V . Suppose
that λ1 , . . . , λk are distinct eigenvalues of T and that v1 , · · · , vk are corresponding eigenvectors
i.e., T vj = λj vj , j = 1, . . . , k. Prove that v1 , . . . , vk are linearly independent over F . z
1997 Fall Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Let A and B be non-empty subsets of Rn and let A + B = {x + y : x ∈ A, y ∈ B}. If A is

closed and B is compact, prove that A + B is closed.
R∞
10. Prove that the improper integral π |sinx x| dx is divergent .
RR ³ ´
x−y 2
11. Evaluate the integral R exp x+y dxdy, where R is the region in R bounded by x + y =
1, x = 0 & y = 0.

12. Let f (x) be a real-valued continuous function on R such that lim|x|→∞ f (x) = ∞. Prove that
f has an absolute minimum on R.

13. Recall that e = 1 + 1 + 2!1 + 3!1 + 4!1 + · · ·

P
(a) Prove that 0 < e − nj=0 j!1 < (n+1)!
3
for every n ∈ N.
(b) Use (a) to prove that e is an irrational number.
P
14. Does the infinite series ∞ n=2 (log n)
− log n converge? Justify your answer. z
1997 Spring Algebra Questions U
B First Qual
" #
1 4
1. Let A =
2 3
(a) Diagonalize A. That is, find a 2 × 2 invertible matrix T and a 2 × 2 diagonal matrix D such
that A = T DT −1 .
(b) Compute A100 .

2. Let V be a finite dimensional vector space and let P : V → V be linear and satisfy P 2 = P .
Show that every v ∈ V can be written in the from of v = v1 + v2 where v1 ∈ range (P ) and v2 ∈
kernel (P ).

3. Let x be an element in a group G such that xm and xn commute with every element in G,
where m and n are positive integers which are relatively prime. Prove that x commutes with
every element in G.

4. Prove that a subgroup H of G, of index 2 is normal.

5. An element b in a ring is said to be an idempotent if b2 = b. For p(x) ∈ Q[x], let (p(x)) :=

{p(x)q(x) : q(x) ∈ Q[x]}.
(a) Prove that the only idempotents in Q[x] are 0 and 1.
(b) Find an idempotent in Q[x]/(x2 + x4 ) which differs from 0 and 1.

6. Let T : V → W be a linear transformation of vector spaces. Assuming kernel(T ) and range

(T ) are finite dimensional, prove that dim kernel(T ) + dim range (T ) = dim V .

7. Let V be an n-dimensional vector space, and let L be the vector space which consists of all
the linear transformations from V to V . Given T ∈ L, let LT := {S ∈ L : T S = 0}; LT is a linear
subspace of L. Prove that the dimension of LT is divisible by n.

8. An element x in a ring is said to be nilpotent if xn = 0 for some n ∈ N. Let R be a commutative

ring and let N be the collection of all the nilpotents in R.
(a) Prove that x + y ∈ N if x, y ∈ N .
(b) Prove that N is an ideal in R.
(c) Prove that in the quotient ring R/N , the only nilpotent is 0. z
1997 Spring Analysis Questions U
B First Qual

9. Suppose that f is a uniformly continuous function on a finite open interval (a, b). Prove that
f is bounded on (a, b).
xy
10. Let Q := {(x, y) : x ≥ 0, y ≥ 0}, the first quadrant in the xy-plane. Define f (x, y) = 1+x2 +y 2
.
(a) Prove that f (x, y) < 1/2 for every (x, y) ∈ Q.
(b) Prove that sup(x,y)∈Q f (x, y) = 1/2.
(c) Prove that f (x, y) has no maximum value on Q.

11. Prove that the sequence of functions {xn (1 − x)}∞ n=1 uniformly converges to 0 on the interval
[0, 1].
P R An 1
12. (a) Prove that if 0 < A1 < A2 < · · · < An < · · · , then ∞ n=2 An−1 x2 dx < ∞.
P∞ an
(b) Let {an }∞
n=1 be a sequence of positive numbers. Prove that n=2 (a1 +a2 +···+an )2 < ∞.
(Hint : Consider An = a1 + a2 + · · · + an and the relation between the two series. )

13. Let X be a subset of Rn such that the boundary of X is empty, where the boundary of X is
defined to be the intersection of the closure of X with the closure of Rn \X. Prove that either X
is the empty set or X equals Rn .

14. Let ~u be a fixed unit vector in R3 and let B be the half-ball {~r ∈ R3 ||~r| ≤ 1, ~r · ~u ≥ 0}.
R R R ~r
Compute the vector-valued integral r|3
B |~ dV .
(Hint : Use coordinates aligned with ~u.) z