A permutation group is a subgroup of some symmetric group
. Sage has a Python class PermutationGroup, so you
can work with such groups directly:
sage: G = PermutationGroup(['(1,2,3)(4,5)'])
sage: G
Permutation Group with generators [(1,2,3)(4,5)]
sage: g = G.gens()[0]; g
(1,2,3)(4,5)
sage: g*g
(1,3,2)
sage: G = PermutationGroup(['(1,2,3)'])
sage: g = G.gens()[0]; g
(1,2,3)
sage: g.order()
3
For the example of the Rubik’s cube group (a permutation subgroup
of 
, where the non-center facets of the Rubik’s
cube are labeled 
in some fixed way), you can
use the GAP-Sage interface as follows.
sage: cube = "cubegp := Group(
( 1, 3, 8, 6)( 2, 5, 7, 4)( 9,33,25,17)(10,34,26,18)(11,35,27,19),
( 9,11,16,14)(10,13,15,12)( 1,17,41,40)( 4,20,44,37)( 6,22,46,35),
(17,19,24,22)(18,21,23,20)( 6,25,43,16)( 7,28,42,13)( 8,30,41,11),
(25,27,32,30)(26,29,31,28)( 3,38,43,19)( 5,36,45,21)( 8,33,48,24),
(33,35,40,38)(34,37,39,36)( 3, 9,46,32)( 2,12,47,29)( 1,14,48,27),
(41,43,48,46)(42,45,47,44)(14,22,30,38)(15,23,31,39)(16,24,32,40) )"
sage: gap(cube)
'permutation group with 6 generators'
sage: gap("Size(cubegp)")
43252003274489856000'
Another way you can choose to do this:
Create a file cubegroup.py containing the lines
cube = "cubegp := Group(
( 1, 3, 8, 6)( 2, 5, 7, 4)( 9,33,25,17)(10,34,26,18)(11,35,27,19),
( 9,11,16,14)(10,13,15,12)( 1,17,41,40)( 4,20,44,37)( 6,22,46,35),
(17,19,24,22)(18,21,23,20)( 6,25,43,16)( 7,28,42,13)( 8,30,41,11),
(25,27,32,30)(26,29,31,28)( 3,38,43,19)( 5,36,45,21)( 8,33,48,24),
(33,35,40,38)(34,37,39,36)( 3, 9,46,32)( 2,12,47,29)( 1,14,48,27),
(41,43,48,46)(42,45,47,44)(14,22,30,38)(15,23,31,39)(16,24,32,40) )"
Place the file in the subdirectory $SAGE_ROOT/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sage of your Sage home directory.
Read (i.e.,``{import``) it into Sage:
sage: import sage.cubegroup
sage: sage.cubegroup.cube
'cubegp := Group(( 1, 3, 8, 6)( 2, 5, 7, 4)( 9,33,25,17)(10,34,26,18)
(11,35,27,19),( 9,11,16,14)(10,13,15,12)( 1,17,41,40)( 4,20,44,37)
( 6,22,46,35),(17,19,24,22)(18,21,23,20)( 6,25,43,16)( 7,28,42,13)
( 8,30,41,11),(25,27,32,30)(26,29,31,28)( 3,38,43,19)( 5,36,45,21)
( 8,33,48,24),(33,35,40,38)(34,37,39,36)( 3, 9,46,32)( 2,12,47,29)
( 1,14,48,27),(41,43,48,46)(42,45,47,44)(14,22,30,38)(15,23,31,39)
(16,24,32,40) )'
sage: gap(sage.cubegroup.cube)
'permutation group with 6 generators'
sage: gap("Size(cubegp)")
'43252003274489856000'
(You will have line wrap instead of the above carriage returns in
your Sage output.)
Use the CubeGroup class
sage: rubik = CubeGroup()
sage: rubik
The PermutationGroup of all legal moves of the Rubik's cube.
sage: print rubik
The Rubik's cube group with generators R,L,F,B,U,D in SymmetricGroup(48).
sage: G = rubik.group()
sage: G.order()
43252003274489856000
(1) has implemented classical groups (such as
:math:`GU(3,GF(5))`) and matrix groups over a finite field with
user-defined generators.
(2) also has implemented finite and infinite (but finitely
generated) abelian groups.
You can compute conjugacy classes of a finite group using “natively”:
sage: G = PermutationGroup(['(1,2,3)', '(1,2)(3,4)', '(1,7)'])
sage: CG = G.conjugacy_classes_representatives()
sage: gamma = CG[2]
sage: CG; gamma
[(), (1,2), (1,2)(3,4), (1,2,3), (1,2,3)(4,7), (1,2,3,4), (1,2,3,4,7)]
(1,2)(3,4)
You can use the Sage-GAP interface.
sage: gap.eval("G := Group((1,2)(3,4),(1,2,3))")
'Group([ (1,2)(3,4), (1,2,3) ])'
sage: gap.eval("CG := ConjugacyClasses(G)")
'[ ()^G, (1,2)(3,4)^G, (1,2,3)^G, (1,2,4)^G ]'
sage: gap.eval("gamma := CG[3]")
'(1,2,3)^G'
sage: gap.eval("g := Representative(gamma)")
'(1,2,3)'
Or, here’s another (more “pythonic”) way to do this type of computation:
sage: G = gap.Group('[(1,2,3), (1,2)(3,4), (1,7)]')
sage: CG = G.ConjugacyClasses()
sage: gamma = CG[2]
sage: g = gamma.Representative()
sage: CG; gamma; g
[ ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), () ),
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2) ),
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2)(3,4) ),
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2,3) ),
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2,3)(4,7) ),
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2,3,4) ),
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2,3,4,7) ) ]
ConjugacyClass( SymmetricGroup( [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 ] ), (1,2) )
(1,2)
If you want to find all the normal subgroups of a permutation group
(up to conjugacy), you can use ‘s interface to GAP:
sage: G = AlternatingGroup( 5 )
sage: gap(G).NormalSubgroups()
[ Group( () ), AlternatingGroup( [ 1 .. 5 ] ) ]
or
sage: G = gap("AlternatingGroup( 5 )")
sage: G.NormalSubgroups()
[ Group( () ), AlternatingGroup( [ 1 .. 5 ] ) ]
Here’s another way, working more directly with GAP:
sage: print gap.eval("G := AlternatingGroup( 5 )")
Alt( [ 1 .. 5 ] )
sage: print gap.eval("normal := NormalSubgroups( G )")
[ Group(()), Alt( [ 1 .. 5 ] ) ]
sage: G = gap.new("DihedralGroup( 10 )")
sage: G.NormalSubgroups()
[ Group( <identity> of ... ), Group( [ f2 ] ), Group( [ f1, f2 ] ) ]
sage: print gap.eval("G := SymmetricGroup( 4 )")
Sym( [ 1 .. 4 ] )
sage: print gap.eval("normal := NormalSubgroups( G );")
[ Group(()), Group([ (1,4)(2,3), (1,3)(2,4) ]),
Group([ (2,4,3), (1,4)(2,3), (1,3)(2,4) ]), Sym( [ 1 .. 4 ] ) ]
How do you compute the center of a group in Sage?
Although Sage calls GAP to do the computation of the group center, center is “wrapped” (i.e., Sage has a class PermutationGroup with associated class method “center”), so the user does not need to use the gap command. Here’s an example:
sage: G = PermutationGroup(['(1,2,3)(4,5)', '(3,4)'])
sage: G.center()
Permutation Group with generators [()]
A similar syntax for matrix groups also works:
sage: G = SL(2, GF(5) )
sage: G.center()
Matrix group over Finite Field of size 5 with 1 generators:
[[[4, 0], [0, 4]]]
sage: G = PSL(2, 5 )
sage: G.center()
Permutation Group with generators [()]
Note: center can be spelled either way in GAP, not so in Sage.
The function group_id requires that the Small Groups Library of E. A. O’Brien, B. Eick, and H. U. Besche be installed (you can do this by typing ./sage -i database_gap-4.4.9 in the Sage home directory).
sage: G = PermutationGroup(['(1,2,3)(4,5)', '(3,4)'])
sage: G.order()
120
sage: G.group_id() # requires optional GAP database package
[120, 34]
Another example of using the small groups database: group_id
sage: gap_console()
GAP4, Version: 4.4.6 of 02-Sep-2005, x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu-gcc
gap> G:=Group((4,6,5)(7,8,9),(1,7,2,4,6,9,5,3));
Group([ (4,6,5)(7,8,9), (1,7,2,4,6,9,5,3) ])
gap> StructureDescription(G);
"(((C3 x C3) : Q8) : C3) : C2"