isomorphic groups
Two groups and are said to be isomorphic if there is a group isomorphism .
Next we name a few necessary conditions for two groups to be isomorphic (with isomorphism as above).
- 1.
If two groups are isomorphic, then they have the same cardinality. Indeed, an isomorphism is in particular a bijection of sets.
- 2.
If the group has an element of order , then the group must have an element of the same order. If there is an isomorphism then and where is the identity elements
of . Moreover, if then and by the injectivity of we must have so divides . Therefore the order of is .
- 3.
If one group is cyclic, the other one must be cyclic too. Suppose is cyclic generated by an element . Then it is easy to see that is generated by the element . Also if is finitely generated
, then is finitely generated as well.
- 4.
If one group is abelian
, the other one must be abelian as well. Indeed, suppose is abelian. Then
and using the injectivity of we conclude .
Note. Isomorphic groups are sometimes said to be abstractly identical, because their “abstract” are completely similar — one may think that their elements are the same but have only different names.