Powers of Commuting Elements of Monoid Commute
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Theorem
Let $\struct {S, \circ}$ be a monoid whose identity element is $e$.
For $a \in S$, let $\circ^n a = a^n$ denote the $n$th power of $a$.
Let $a, b \in S$ such that $a$ commutes with $b$:
- $a \circ b = b \circ a$
Then:
- $\forall m, n \in \N: \paren {\circ^m a} \circ \paren {\circ^n b} = \paren {\circ^n b} \circ \paren {\circ^m a}$
That is:
- $\forall m, n \in \N: a^m \circ b^n = b^n \circ a^m$
Proof
Because $\struct {S, \circ}$ is a monoid, it is a fortiori also a semigroup.
From Powers of Commuting Elements of Semigroup Commute:
- $\forall m, n \in \N_{>0}: \paren {\circ^m a} \circ \paren {\circ^n b} = \paren {\circ^n b} \circ \paren {\circ^m a}$
That is:
- $\forall m, n \in \N_{>0}: a^m \circ b^n = b^n \circ a^m$
It remains to be shown that the result holds for the cases where $m = 0$ and $n = 0$.
Let $n \in \N$:
\(\ds a^m \circ b^0\) | \(=\) | \(\ds a^m \circ e\) | Definition of $b^0$ | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds a^m\) | Definition of Identity Element | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds e \circ a^m\) | Definition of Identity Element | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds b^0 \circ a^m\) | Definition of $b^0$ |
Similarly, let $m \in \N$:
\(\ds a^0 \circ b^n\) | \(=\) | \(\ds e \circ b^n\) | Definition of $a^0$ | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds b^n\) | Definition of Identity Element | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds b^n \circ e\) | Definition of Identity Element | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds b^n \circ a^0\) | Definition of $a^0$ |
and:
\(\ds a^0 \circ b^0\) | \(=\) | \(\ds e \circ e\) | Definition of $a^0$ and $b^0$ | |||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds b^0 \circ a^0\) | Definition of $a^0$ and $b^0$ |
Thus:
- $a^m \circ b^n = b^n \circ a^m$
holds for $n = 0$ and $m = 0$.
Thus:
- $\forall m, n \in \N: a^m \circ b^n = b^n \circ a^m$
$\blacksquare$
Sources
- 1965: Seth Warner: Modern Algebra ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {III}$: The Natural Numbers: $\S 16$: The Natural Numbers: Theorem $16.8$