OCR FP3 2008 January — Question 1 6 marks

Exam BoardOCR
ModuleFP3 (Further Pure Mathematics 3)
Year2008
SessionJanuary
Marks6
PaperDownload PDF ↗
Mark schemeDownload PDF ↗
TopicGroups
TypeSubgroups and cosets
DifficultyStandard +0.3 This is a straightforward FP3 group theory question testing basic definitions and table reading. Part (a) requires identifying commutativity from a given Cayley table (trivial inspection), counting order-2 subgroups (direct observation), and listing an order-3 subgroup (simple identification). Part (b) asks for orders of elements in a cyclic group of order 6, which follows immediately from standard results about cyclic groups. While group theory is a Further Maths topic, these are foundational exercises requiring only recall and basic pattern recognition, making it easier than an average A-level question overall.
Spec8.03e Order of elements: and order of groups8.03f Subgroups: definition and tests for proper subgroups8.03i Properties of groups: structure of finite groups up to order 7

  1. A group \(G\) of order 6 has the combination table shown below.
    \(e\)\(a\)\(b\)\(p\)\(q\)\(r\)
    \(e\)\(e\)\(a\)\(b\)\(p\)\(q\)\(r\)
    \(a\)\(a\)\(b\)\(e\)\(r\)\(p\)\(q\)
    \(b\)\(b\)\(e\)\(a\)\(q\)\(r\)\(p\)
    \(p\)\(p\)\(q\)\(r\)\(e\)\(a\)\(b\)
    \(q\)\(q\)\(r\)\(p\)\(b\)\(e\)\(a\)
    \(r\)\(r\)\(p\)\(q\)\(a\)\(b\)\(e\)
    1. State, with a reason, whether or not \(G\) is commutative. [1]
    2. State the number of subgroups of \(G\) which are of order 2. [1]
    3. List the elements of the subgroup of \(G\) which is of order 3. [1]
  2. A multiplicative group \(H\) of order 6 has elements \(e, c, c^2, c^3, c^4, c^5\), where \(e\) is the identity. Write down the order of each of the elements \(c^3, c^4\) and \(c^5\). [3]

\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*)]
\item A group $G$ of order 6 has the combination table shown below.

\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{c|cccccc}
& $e$ & $a$ & $b$ & $p$ & $q$ & $r$ \\
\hline
$e$ & $e$ & $a$ & $b$ & $p$ & $q$ & $r$ \\
$a$ & $a$ & $b$ & $e$ & $r$ & $p$ & $q$ \\
$b$ & $b$ & $e$ & $a$ & $q$ & $r$ & $p$ \\
$p$ & $p$ & $q$ & $r$ & $e$ & $a$ & $b$ \\
$q$ & $q$ & $r$ & $p$ & $b$ & $e$ & $a$ \\
$r$ & $r$ & $p$ & $q$ & $a$ & $b$ & $e$ \\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\begin{enumerate}[label=(\roman*)]
\item State, with a reason, whether or not $G$ is commutative. [1]
\item State the number of subgroups of $G$ which are of order 2. [1]
\item List the elements of the subgroup of $G$ which is of order 3. [1]
\end{enumerate}

\item A multiplicative group $H$ of order 6 has elements $e, c, c^2, c^3, c^4, c^5$, where $e$ is the identity. Write down the order of each of the elements $c^3, c^4$ and $c^5$. [3]
\end{enumerate}

\hfill \mbox{\textit{OCR FP3 2008 Q1 [6]}}