Quotient Group

🅟 Mar 17, 2026

  🅤 Jun 11, 2026

Definition 1.

Let $G$ be a group and $N$ be a normal subgroup. The binary operation $*$ on $G / N$

\[aN * bN = (ab)N\]

is well-defined and $(G / N, *)$ is a group, called the quotient group of $G$ by $N$.


Proposition 1.

If $G$ is a group and $N$ is a normal subgroup,

\[G / N = N \backslash G.\]

Proposition 2.

Let $G$ be a group and $H$ be a subgroup. If we define two equivalence relations on $G$:

\[\begin{align*} a \sim_H b \enspace&\lrimp\enspace ab^{-1} \in H; \\ a \prerel{H}{\sim} b \enspace&\lrimp\enspace a^{-1}b \in H, \end{align*}\]

then for every $a \in G$:

  1. \[[a]_{\sim_H} = aH.\]
  2. \[[a]_\prerel{H}{\sim} = Ha.\]

If $H$ is normal:

  1. \[{\sim_H} = {\prerel{H}{\sim}}.\]
  2. \[G / H = G / {\sim_H}.\]