Finite Groups, Abelian Groups¶

Sage has some support for computing with permutation groups, finite classical groups (such as $$SU(n,q)$$), finite matrix groups (with your own generators), and abelian groups (even infinite ones). Much of this is implemented using the interface to GAP.

For example, to create a permutation group, give a list of generators, as in the following example.

sage: G = PermutationGroup(['(1,2,3)(4,5)', '(3,4)'])
sage: G
Permutation Group with generators [(3,4), (1,2,3)(4,5)]
sage: G.order()
120
sage: G.is_abelian()
False
sage: G.derived_series()           # random-ish output
[Permutation Group with generators [(1,2,3)(4,5), (3,4)],
Permutation Group with generators [(1,5)(3,4), (1,5)(2,4), (1,3,5)]]
sage: G.center()
Subgroup of (Permutation Group with generators [(3,4), (1,2,3)(4,5)]) generated by [()]
sage: G.random_element()           # random output
(1,5,3)(2,4)
sage: print latex(G)
\langle (3,4), (1,2,3)(4,5) \rangle


You can also obtain the character table (in LaTeX format) in Sage:

sage: G = PermutationGroup([[(1,2),(3,4)], [(1,2,3)]])
sage: latex(G.character_table())
\left(\begin{array}{rrrr}
1 & 1 & 1 & 1 \\
1 & -\zeta_{3} - 1 & \zeta_{3} & 1 \\
1 & \zeta_{3} & -\zeta_{3} - 1 & 1 \\
3 & 0 & 0 & -1
\end{array}\right)


Sage also includes classical and matrix groups over finite fields:

sage: MS = MatrixSpace(GF(7), 2)
sage: gens = [MS([[1,0],[-1,1]]),MS([[1,1],[0,1]])]
sage: G = MatrixGroup(gens)
sage: G.conjugacy_class_representatives()
(
[1 0]  [0 6]  [0 4]  [6 0]  [0 6]  [0 4]  [0 6]  [0 6]  [0 6]  [4 0]
[0 1], [1 5], [5 5], [0 6], [1 2], [5 2], [1 0], [1 4], [1 3], [0 2],

[5 0]
[0 3]
)
sage: G = Sp(4,GF(7))
sage: G
Symplectic Group of degree 4 over Finite Field of size 7
sage: G.random_element()             # random output
[5 5 5 1]
[0 2 6 3]
[5 0 1 0]
[4 6 3 4]
sage: G.order()
276595200


You can also compute using abelian groups (infinite and finite):

sage: F = AbelianGroup(5, [5,5,7,8,9], names='abcde')
sage: (a, b, c, d, e) = F.gens()
sage: d * b**2 * c**3
b^2*c^3*d
sage: F = AbelianGroup(3,[2]*3); F
Multiplicative Abelian group isomorphic to C2 x C2 x C2
sage: H = AbelianGroup([2,3], names="xy"); H
Multiplicative Abelian group isomorphic to C2 x C3
sage: AbelianGroup(5)
Multiplicative Abelian group isomorphic to Z x Z x Z x Z x Z
sage: AbelianGroup(5).order()
+Infinity


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