Name: Anonymous 2009-02-22 17:51
I just proved for homework that if A and B are two normal subgroups of a group G such that the intersection of A and B is only the identity element, than ab = ba for any a in A and any b in B.
If you have a group all of whose subgroups are normal, doesn't that group have to be abelian? Because for any two elements a and b in this group, each generates a cyclic subgroup, which is normal by assumption, and therefore by the result in the previous paragraph, ab=ba and the group is abelian.
However, I googled this and apparently there can exist a nonabelian group whose subgroups are all normal, called a Dedekind group. I don't see how this is possible, could some kind anon point me in the right direction to see the distinction here?
Thank in advance.
If you have a group all of whose subgroups are normal, doesn't that group have to be abelian? Because for any two elements a and b in this group, each generates a cyclic subgroup, which is normal by assumption, and therefore by the result in the previous paragraph, ab=ba and the group is abelian.
However, I googled this and apparently there can exist a nonabelian group whose subgroups are all normal, called a Dedekind group. I don't see how this is possible, could some kind anon point me in the right direction to see the distinction here?
Thank in advance.