Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Galois groups through invariant relations
- Construction of Co3. An example of the use of an integrated system for computational group theory
- Embedding some recursively presented groups
- The Dedekind-Frobenius group determinant: new life in an old problem
- Group characters and π-sharpness
- Permutation group algorithms via black box recognition algorithms
- Nonabelian tensor products of groups: the commutator connection
- Simple subalgebras of generalized Witt algebras of characteristic zero
- Applications of the Baker-Hausdorff formula in the theory of finite p-groups
- Generalizations of the restricted Burnside problem for groups with automorphisms
- The ∑m-conjecture for a class of metabelian groups
- Rings with periodic groups of units II
- Some free-by-cyclic groups
- The residually weakly primitive geometries of the Suzuki simple group Sz(8)
- Semigroup identities and Engel groups
- Groups whose elements have given orders
- The Burnside groups and small cancellation theory
- Solvable Engel groups with nilpotent normal closures
- Nilpotent injectors in finite groups
- Some groups with right Engel elements
- The growth of finite subgroups in p-groups
- Symplectic amalgams and extremal subgroups
- Primitive prime divisor elements in finite classical groups
- On the classification of generalized Hamiltonian groups
- Permutability properties of subgroups
- When Schreier transversals grow wild
- Probabilistic group theory
- Combinatorial methods: from groups to polynomial algebras
- Formal languages and the word problem for groups
- Periodic cohomology and free and proper actions on ℝn × Sm
- On modules over group rings of soluble groups of finite rank
- On some series of normal subgroups of the Gupta-Sidki 3-group
The Dedekind-Frobenius group determinant: new life in an old problem
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- Galois groups through invariant relations
- Construction of Co3. An example of the use of an integrated system for computational group theory
- Embedding some recursively presented groups
- The Dedekind-Frobenius group determinant: new life in an old problem
- Group characters and π-sharpness
- Permutation group algorithms via black box recognition algorithms
- Nonabelian tensor products of groups: the commutator connection
- Simple subalgebras of generalized Witt algebras of characteristic zero
- Applications of the Baker-Hausdorff formula in the theory of finite p-groups
- Generalizations of the restricted Burnside problem for groups with automorphisms
- The ∑m-conjecture for a class of metabelian groups
- Rings with periodic groups of units II
- Some free-by-cyclic groups
- The residually weakly primitive geometries of the Suzuki simple group Sz(8)
- Semigroup identities and Engel groups
- Groups whose elements have given orders
- The Burnside groups and small cancellation theory
- Solvable Engel groups with nilpotent normal closures
- Nilpotent injectors in finite groups
- Some groups with right Engel elements
- The growth of finite subgroups in p-groups
- Symplectic amalgams and extremal subgroups
- Primitive prime divisor elements in finite classical groups
- On the classification of generalized Hamiltonian groups
- Permutability properties of subgroups
- When Schreier transversals grow wild
- Probabilistic group theory
- Combinatorial methods: from groups to polynomial algebras
- Formal languages and the word problem for groups
- Periodic cohomology and free and proper actions on ℝn × Sm
- On modules over group rings of soluble groups of finite rank
- On some series of normal subgroups of the Gupta-Sidki 3-group
Summary
Introduction
The following remarks appear in the introduction to the first edition of Burnside's group theory book (1897).
“Cayley's dictum that ‘a group is defined by means of the laws of combination of its symbols’ would imply that, in dealing purely with the theory of groups, no more concrete mode of representation should be used than is absolutely necessary. It may then be asked why, in a book which professes to leave all applications aside, a considerable space is devoted to substitution groups; while other particular modes of representation, such as groups of linear transformations, are not even referred to. My answer to this question is that while, in the present state of our knowledge, many results in the pure theory are arrived at most readily by dealing with the properties of substitution groups, it would be difficult to find a result that could be directly obtained by consideration of groups of linear transformations” (italics inserted by the present author).
The mathematics which initiated this work provides a diametrically opposite point of view to Burnside's interpretation of Cayley's dictum. A problem motivated by number theory and posed in terms of determinants, which Dedekind thought might lead to new systems of “hypercomplex numbers”, was solved and incidentally gave rise to both group character theory and group representation theory thanks to the virtuosity of Frobenius. The original methods are difficult to follow for those not intimately familiar with 19th century determinant theory but were quickly supplanted by those of Burnside, Dickson and Schur, so that it is possible to be an expert in representation theory without any acquaintance with the original work in the area.
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- Groups St Andrews 1997 in Bath , pp. 417 - 428Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999
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