All Questions
13 questions
19
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Does the amenability problem for Thompson's group $F$ predate 1980?
The first place where the amenability problem for Thompson's group $F$ appears in the literature is, I believe, 1980 in a problems article by Ross Geoghegan. I have heard, however, vague comments to ...
- 3,547
19
votes
1
answer
3k
views
On a theorem of Galois
I am currently teaching Galois theory and this week, I mentioned the following theorem of Galois :
Let $P(x) \in \mathbf{Q}[x]$ be an irreducible polynomial of prime degree. Then $P$ is solvable by ...
- 20.8k
17
votes
1
answer
2k
views
A synopsis of Adyan’s solution to the general Burnside problem?
Where can I find a high-level overview
of Adyan’s original proof of the existence of finitely generated infinite groups with finite exponent?
Additionally:
If possible, would an expert please ...
- 7,067
17
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Explicit character tables of non-existent finite simple groups
In connection with the historical development of the classification of finite simple groups, I am interested in a particular aspect that seems to be less well-documented than the main narrative of ...
11
votes
2
answers
778
views
History of Tarski's problems on free groups
As is known, Tarski posed his questions about first-order theories of non-abelian free groups around 1945. However, the questions were not published in his papers or books.
What is the original ...
- 893
10
votes
1
answer
382
views
Wiener's axiomatization of the group law based on division
Gian-Carlo Rota wrote that [*]:
Wiener axiomatized the group law by taking $xy^{-1}$ as the basic operation, and his axiomatization is quite different from any of the other axiom systems for groups....
- 3,393
9
votes
1
answer
271
views
Original references for the Hall - Witt identity
The group identity
$$
[[a,b^{-1}],c]^b \cdot [[b,c^{-1}],a]^c \cdot [[c,a^{-1}],b]^a = 1
$$
is commonly attributed to Hall and Witt (here $x^y:=y^{-1}xy$ and $[x,y]:=x^{-1}y^{-1}xy$). However, ...
- 17k
7
votes
2
answers
669
views
Élie Cartan's paper "Les groupes réels simples, finis et continus" of 1914
Question 1.
Does Élie Cartan's paper
Les groupes réels simples, finis et continus,
Ann. Sci. École Norm. Sup. (3) 31 (1914), 263–355
contain a classification of $\Bbb C$-linear involutions of simple ...
- 14.2k
7
votes
2
answers
918
views
Historical reference request on Nilpotent groups
From Wikipedia:
"Abelian groups were named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel by Camille Jordan because Abel found that the commutativity of the group of a polynomial implies that the ...
- 1,555
6
votes
0
answers
234
views
Nascent formal group law
$\DeclareMathOperator\FGL{FGL}$The formal group law (cf. Wikipedia, Ex. 1.6 of nLab, Hazewinkel) derived from an analytic function or formal series $f(x) = x + a_2 x^2 + a_3 x^3 + ...$ and its formal ...
- 10.5k
3
votes
0
answers
115
views
Reference for the Netto's theorem on the permutation groups which was mentioned in the paper of Frobenius
I'm trying to read 'Uber die Charaktere der mehrfach transitiven Gruppen' written by Frobenius.
There he mentioned some theorems of Netto.
I'm depending on the Google translator. and the translation ...
- 1,013
3
votes
0
answers
239
views
Groups with "just not" a property
There seems to be a standard trick in group theory which is to show that a group has a quotient group which "just not" has some property.
To make things clear:
let $\mathcal{P}$ be a group ...
- 4,432
3
votes
0
answers
282
views
Galois correspondence subgroups/subsystems
In this paper (1998) by M. Izumi, R. Longo, S. Popa, there is the following result (page 49) on compact groups:
Lemma 3.16. Let $G$ be a compact group and $Rep(G)$ the category of finite ...