How Many Groups Exist with Order 24?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around estimating the number of non-isomorphic groups of order 24, exploring both upper bounds and specific group constructions. Participants engage in technical reasoning related to group theory, including Sylow subgroups and the classification of groups.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants estimate that there are 15 groups of order 24, but express uncertainty about the classification.
  • There is mention of 5 groups of order 8 and varying numbers of Sylow 3-groups (1, 4, or 7) as part of the reasoning process.
  • One participant suggests that there are easy non-Abelian groups of order 24, such as S3 \bigoplus Z4 and S3 \bigoplus Z2 \bigoplus Z2, and notes that S4 is also a non-Abelian group of this order.
  • Another participant provides an upper bound for the number of group operations, suggesting that there can be at most 2243 possible group operations, but acknowledges this is a weak upper bound.
  • There is a discussion about the existence of at least 3 non-Abelian groups of order 24, each containing a Sylow 2-subgroup from the non-Abelian groups of order 8.
  • One participant mentions the possibility of constructing non-Abelian groups through semidirect products and discusses conditions under which these constructions yield non-Abelian groups.
  • Clarifications are made regarding the number of abelian groups of order 24, with one participant asserting there are 3 abelian groups.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the existence of 15 groups of order 24, but there is no consensus on the precise classification or the methods to estimate the number of non-isomorphic groups. Multiple competing views and approaches remain present throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Some participants express uncertainty about the classification of groups of order 24 and the upper bounds provided are acknowledged as weak. The discussion includes various assumptions about the nature of Sylow subgroups and group actions, which are not fully resolved.

charlamov
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how would you estimate number of groups of order 24? i do not need exact number, it is 15.

I know that there are 5 groups of order 8 and there is 1 , 4 or maybe 7 sylow 3-groups. but i do not know what to do next
 
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charlamov said:
how would you estimate number of groups of order 24? i do not need exact number, it is 15.

I know that there are 5 groups of order 8 and there is 1 , 4 or maybe 7 sylow 3-groups. but i do not know what to do next

There are some easy non-Abelian groups of order 24. We know that S3 has order 6, so

S3 [itex]\bigoplus[/itex] Z4

and

S3 [itex]\bigoplus[/itex] Z2 [itex]\bigoplus[/itex] Z2

are non-Abelian groups of order 24. And of course so is S4.

You can do the same trick with the non-Abelian groups of order 8, summed with Z3
 
thanks, but i need some upper estimation of number of non-isomorphic groups of order 24 with some explanation.
 
charlamov said:
thanks, but i need some upper estimation of number of non-isomorphic groups of order 24 with some explanation.

There are 15 groups of order 24, up to isomorphism. I'm not aware of the precise classification; I just have the number in some old notes.
 
Number Nine said:
There are 15 groups of order 24, up to isomorphism. I'm not aware of the precise classification; I just have the number in some old notes.

"Proof by old notes!" One of the most effective proof techniques. Right up there with proof by vague recollection; proof by wild handwaving; proof by "It's obvious!" and proof by unsupported claim :-)
charlamov said:
thanks, but i need some upper estimation of number of non-isomorphic groups of order 24 with some explanation.

It's easy to get an upper bound. The group operation is a function from G x G to G; that is, it's a subset of G x G x G. So there can be at most 2243 possible group operations. That's a pretty weak upper bound, but it is an upper bound.

Depending on the level that the question's being asked, that might be the answer. Perhaps they just want to see if you can come up with SOME upper bound that you can justify. And one way to attack any problem is to find SOME solution first, even a bad one; then try to find a better solution.
 
Last edited:
SteveL27 said:
"Proof by old notes!" One of the most effective proof techniques. Right up there with proof by vague recollection; proof by wild handwaving; proof by "It's obvious!" and proof by unsupported claim :-)

Keep that up and I won't share my elementary proof of the Goldbach conjecture.
 
proof by intimidation, proof by popular vote, proof by zero attendance, proof by impossible to follow argument (similar to wild handwaving), anyone, anyone, bueller?
 
algebrat said:
proof by intimidation, proof by popular vote, proof by zero attendance, proof by impossible to follow argument (similar to wild handwaving), anyone, anyone, bueller?

That just cost you an elementary proof of the Reimann Hypothesis (no complex analysis at all!)

EDIT: Google reveals that Wiki happens to have a list...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finite_group#Number_of_groups_of_a_given_order
 
charlamov said:
how many groups of order 24 are there? i need upper estimate with explanation. i know there are 15 of them but i need upper estimate with explanation, explanation is most important. maybe there can be useful that there are 5 groups of order 8.


As there are [itex]\,p(3)=3\,[/itex] partitions of 3, and [itex]\,24=2^3\cdot 3\,[/itex] , there are 3 non-isomorphic groups of order [itex]\,24\,[/itex].

As there are [itex]\,3\,[/itex] non-isomorphic non-abelian groups of order 8 there are at least 3 nonabelian groups of order 24, each containing one the above

groups of order 8 as Sylow 2-subgroup.

Now, I guess you can pick up some of them on the air: [itex]S_3\times C_4\,\,,\,S_3\times C_2\times C_2\,\,,\,A_4\times C_2\,\,,\,Q_8\times C_3\,\,,...[/itex] .

Check all these are non-isomorphic.

Of course, one can continue with semidirect products...for example, suppose there's a unique Sylow 2-subgroup [itex]\,P\,[/itex] , which is then normal, so

that we can take one of the Sylow 3-sbgsp. [itex]\,Q\,[/itex] and make it act on [itex]\,\operatorname{Aut}(P)\,[/itex] by conjugation: [tex]q\cdot x=: x^q=q^{-1}xq\,\,,\,q\in Q\,\,,\,x\in P[/tex]

It's not specially hard to see that this is a non-trivial action iff the group is non-abelian (which we can assume as the abelian

groups are already sorted out) and this gives us a non-abelian group different from the ones listed above.

In case [itex]\,P\,[/itex] is abelian we can also assume [itex]\,Q\,[/itex] is non normal.

DonAntonio

Ps The above is not, of course, an exhaustive listing neither of all the possible groups of order 24 nor of all the different constructions to ge them.
 
  • #10
DonAntonio said:
As there are [itex]\,p(3)=3\,[/itex] partitions of 3, and [itex]\,24=2^3\cdot 3\,[/itex] , there are 3 non-isomorphic groups of order [itex]\,24\,[/itex]

Just to be clear (this was probably just a typo), it follows that there are 3 abelian groups of order 24.
 
  • #11
Number Nine said:
Just to be clear (this was probably just a typo), it follows that there are 3 abelian groups of order 24.


Of course, thanks...and it was the mother of all typos, in fact.

DonAntonio
 

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