Order (group theory)

Revision as of 21:30, 14 May 2008 by Boy Soprano II (talk | contribs) (new page)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

In group theory, the term order has different meanings in different contexts.

The order of a group $G$, sometimes denoted $\ord(G)$ (Error compiling LaTeX. Unknown error_msg), is the cardinality of its underlying set.

The order of an element $x$ of $G$, $\text{ord}(x)$, is the order of the subset generated by $x$. If $\text{ord}(x)$ is finite, then it is also the least positive integer $n$ for which $x^n=e$.

In number theory, for $a$ relatively prime to $n$, the order of $a$ (mod $n$) usually means the order of $a$ in the multiplicative group of non-zero divisors in $\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z}$.

By Lagrange's Theorem, $\text{ord}(x) \mid \text{ord}(G)$, when $G$ is finite. In a number theoretic context, this proves Fermat's Little Theorem and Euler's generalization.

This article is a stub. Help us out by expanding it.

See also