## Problem 499

Find an example of an infinite algebraic extension over the field of rational numbers $\Q$ other than the algebraic closure $\bar{\Q}$ of $\Q$ in $\C$.

## Problem 498

Let $T:\R^2 \to \R^2$ be a linear transformation of the $2$-dimensional vector space $\R^2$ (the $x$-$y$-plane) to itself which is the reflection across a line $y=mx$ for some $m\in \R$.

Then find the matrix representation of the linear transformation $T$ with respect to the standard basis $B=\{\mathbf{e}_1, \mathbf{e}_2\}$ of $\R^2$, where
$\mathbf{e}_1=\begin{bmatrix} 1 \\ 0 \end{bmatrix}, \mathbf{e}_2=\begin{bmatrix} 0 \\ 1 \end{bmatrix}.$

## Problem 497

Let $G$ be an abelian group.
Let $a$ and $b$ be elements in $G$ of order $m$ and $n$, respectively.
Prove that there exists an element $c$ in $G$ such that the order of $c$ is the least common multiple of $m$ and $n$.

Also determine whether the statement is true if $G$ is a non-abelian group.

## Problem 496

Prove that if $2^n-1$ is a Mersenne prime number, then
$N=2^{n-1}(2^n-1)$ is a perfect number.

On the other hand, prove that every even perfect number $N$ can be written as $N=2^{n-1}(2^n-1)$ for some Mersenne prime number $2^n-1$.

## Problem 495

Prove that every finite group having more than two elements has a nontrivial automorphism.

(Michigan State University, Abstract Algebra Qualifying Exam)

## Problem 494

Prove that the rings $\Z[x]$ and $\Q[x]$ are not isomoprhic.

## Problem 493

Let $G$ be a finite group and let $A, B$ be subsets of $G$ satisfying
$|A|+|B| > |G|.$ Here $|X|$ denotes the cardinality (the number of elements) of the set $X$.
Then prove that $G=AB$, where
$AB=\{ab \mid a\in A, b\in B\}.$

## Problem 492

Let
$D=\begin{bmatrix} d_1 & 0 & \dots & 0 \\ 0 &d_2 & \dots & 0 \\ \vdots & & \ddots & \vdots \\ 0 & 0 & \dots & d_n \end{bmatrix}$ be a diagonal matrix with distinct diagonal entries: $d_i\neq d_j$ if $i\neq j$.
Let $A=(a_{ij})$ be an $n\times n$ matrix such that $A$ commutes with $D$, that is,
$AD=DA.$ Then prove that $A$ is a diagonal matrix.

## Problem 491

Let $\zeta_8$ be a primitive $8$-th root of unity.
Prove that the cyclotomic field $\Q(\zeta_8)$ of the $8$-th root of unity is the field $\Q(i, \sqrt{2})$.

## Problem 490

Let $G, H, K$ be groups. Let $f:G\to K$ be a group homomorphism and let $\pi:G\to H$ be a surjective group homomorphism such that the kernel of $\pi$ is included in the kernel of $f$: $\ker(\pi) \subset \ker(f)$.

Define a map $\bar{f}:H\to K$ as follows.
For each $h\in H$, there exists $g\in G$ such that $\pi(g)=h$ since $\pi:G\to H$ is surjective.
Define $\bar{f}:H\to K$ by $\bar{f}(h)=f(g)$.

(a) Prove that the map $\bar{f}:H\to K$ is well-defined.

(b) Prove that $\bar{f}:H\to K$ is a group homomorphism.

## Problem 489

Suppose that $\alpha$ is a rational root of a monic polynomial $f(x)$ in $\Z[x]$.
Prove that $\alpha$ is an integer.

## Problem 488

Let $G$ be a finite group and let $S$ be a non-empty set.
Suppose that $G$ acts on $S$ freely and transitively.
Prove that $|G|=|S|$. That is, the number of elements in $G$ and $S$ are the same.

## Problem 487

Let
$P=(2, \sqrt{10})=\{a+b\sqrt{10} \mid a, b \in \Z, 2|a\}$ be an ideal of the ring
$\Z[\sqrt{10}]=\{a+b\sqrt{10} \mid a, b \in \Z\}.$ Then determine the quotient ring $\Z[\sqrt{10}]/P$.
Is $P$ a prime ideal? Is $P$ a maximal ideal?

## Problem 486

Determine whether there exists a nonsingular matrix $A$ if
$A^4=ABA^2+2A^3,$ where $B$ is the following matrix.
$B=\begin{bmatrix} -1 & 1 & -1 \\ 0 &-1 &0 \\ 2 & 1 & -4 \end{bmatrix}.$

If such a nonsingular matrix $A$ exists, find the inverse matrix $A^{-1}$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 485

Let
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & -14 & 4 \\ -1 &6 &-2 \\ -2 & 24 & -7 \end{bmatrix} \quad \text{ and }\quad \mathbf{v}=\begin{bmatrix} 4 \\ -1 \\ -7 \end{bmatrix}.$ Find $A^{10}\mathbf{v}$.

You may use the following information without proving it.
The eigenvalues of $A$ are $-1, 0, 1$. The eigenspaces are given by
$E_{-1}=\Span\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix} 3 \\ -1 \\ -5 \end{bmatrix} \,\right\}, \quad E_{0}=\Span\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix} -2 \\ 1 \\ 4 \end{bmatrix} \,\right\}, \quad E_{1}=\Span\left\{\, \begin{bmatrix} -4 \\ 2 \\ 7 \end{bmatrix} \,\right\}.$

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 484

Let $A$ be a square matrix and its characteristic polynomial is given by
$p(t)=(t-1)^3(t-2)^2(t-3)^4(t-4).$ Find the rank of $A$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 483

Diagonalize the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 1 & 1 & 1 \\ 1 &1 &1 \\ 1 & 1 & 1 \end{bmatrix}.$ Namely, find a nonsingular matrix $S$ and a diagonal matrix $D$ such that $S^{-1}AS=D$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 482

For which values of constants $a, b$ and $c$ is the matrix
$A=\begin{bmatrix} 7 & a & b \\ 0 &2 &c \\ 0 & 0 & 3 \end{bmatrix}$ diagonalizable?

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 481

Let $P_2$ be the vector space of all polynomials with real coefficients of degree $2$ or less.
Let $S=\{p_1(x), p_2(x), p_3(x), p_4(x)\}$, where
\begin{align*}
\end{align*}

(a) Find a basis of $P_2$ among the vectors of $S$. (Explain why it is a basis of $P_2$.)

(b) Let $B’$ be the basis you obtained in part (a).
For each vector of $S$ which is not in $B’$, find the coordinate vector of it with respect to the basis $B’$.

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)

## Problem 480

(a) Let $S$ be the subset of $\R^4$ consisting of vectors $\begin{bmatrix} x \\ y \\ z \\ w \end{bmatrix}$ satisfying
$2x+4y+3z+7w+1=0.$ Determine whether $S$ is a subspace of $\R^4$. If so prove it. If not, explain why it is not a subspace.

(b) Let $S$ be the subset of $\R^4$ consisting of vectors $\begin{bmatrix} x \\ y \\ z \\ w \end{bmatrix}$ satisfying
$2x+4y+3z+7w=0.$ Determine whether $S$ is a subspace of $\R^4$. If so prove it. If not, explain why it is not a subspace.

(These two problems look similar but note that the equations are different.)

(The Ohio State University, Linear Algebra Final Exam Problem)