Date of Award

6-2010

Document Type

Union College Only

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Mathematics

First Advisor

Paul Friedman

Language

English

Keywords

group, subgroup, qoutient groups, properties, math

Abstract

This paper looks at groups which can be written as unions of their proper subgroups in various ways. We will show that a group can be written as a union of three proper subgroups if and only if it has a quotient isomorphic to C2 ´ C2. We will then investigate groups which can be written as n proper subgroups for n ³ 3. This investigation will lead to several questions: When can a group be written as a union n proper normal subgroups? When can a group be written as the union of the conjugates of n proper subgroups? If a group can be written as a union of its proper subgroups, when is the choice of subgroups unique? These questions will be addressed in the paper.

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