Definition:Normal Subgroup/Definition 1

Definition

Let $G$ be a group.

Let $N$ be a subgroup of $G$.

$N$ is a normal subgroup of $G$ if and only if:

$\forall g \in G: g \circ N = N \circ g$

where $g \circ N$ denotes the subset product of $g$ with $N$.

The statement that $N$ is a normal subgroup of $G$ is represented symbolically as $N \lhd G$.

A normal subgroup is often represented by the letter $N$, as opposed to $H$ (which is used for a general subgroup which may or may not be normal).

To use the notation introduced in the definition of the conjugate:

$N \lhd G \iff \forall g \in G: N^g = N$

It is usual to describe a normal subgroup of $G$ as normal in $G$.

Some sources refer to a normal subgroup as an invariant subgroup or a self-conjugate subgroup.

This arises from Definition 6:

$\forall g \in G: \paren {n \in N \iff g \circ n \circ g^{-1} \in N}$

$\forall g \in G: \paren {n \in N \iff g^{-1} \circ n \circ g \in N}$

which is another way of stating that $N$ is normal if and only if $N$ stays the same under all inner automorphisms of $G$.

Some sources use distinguished subgroup.