Paper 2, Section II, G

Groups, Rings and Modules | Part IB, 2021

Let MM be a module over a ring RR and let S⊂MS \subset M. Define what it means that SS freely generates MM. Show that this happens if and only if for every RR-module NN, every function f:S→Nf: S \rightarrow N extends uniquely to a homomorphism ϕ:M→N\phi: M \rightarrow N.

Let MM be a free module over a (non-trivial) ring RR that is generated (not necessarily freely) by a subset T⊂MT \subset M of size mm. Show that if SS is a basis of MM, then SS is finite with ∣S∣⩽m|S| \leqslant m. Hence, or otherwise, deduce that any two bases of MM have the same number of elements. Denoting this number rk⁡M\operatorname{rk} M and by quoting any result you need, show that if RR is a Euclidean Domain and NN is a submodule of MM, then NN is free with rk⁡N⩽rk⁡M\operatorname{rk} N \leqslant \operatorname{rk} M.

State the Primary Decomposition Theorem for a finitely generated module MM over a Euclidean Domain RR. Deduce that any finite subgroup of the multiplicative group of a field is cyclic.

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