salahaddin university

college of science
mathematics department
stage two

APPLICATIONS OF CYCLIC IN BELL RINGING

supervised by : prepared by:

dr.abdulla shara sherwan
 Contents

1. Introduction 2

2. Abstract 3

4. Applications of Cyclic Groups 4

5. Cyclic Groups are Isomorphic to Zn or Z 6

6. Applications of Cyclic Groups 8

7.References 12
Introduction
A group G is called cyclic if there is an element than generates the entire
set by repeatedly applying an operation [8]. The universe and mathematics
are made up of many cyclic groups. One can think of cyclic groups as
patterns that repeat until returning to the beginning The rotation of a circle
is not cyclic. It is not like the infinite cyclic group because it is not
countable. A circle has an infinite number of sides. We cannot map every
side to the integers therefore a circle’s rotations are not countable.
Rotations are one of the common applications of cyclic groups. Cyclic
groups can be used in fun puzzles such as the Rubik cube or in protecting
sensitive information such as through cryptography. Number theory has
many applications in cyclic groups. This paper will explore applications
of cyclic groups in the division algorithm and Chinese remainder theorem,
bell ringing, octaves in music, and Chaos theory.

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Abstract
Cyclic groups are common in our everyday life. A cyclic group is a group
with an element that has an operation applied that produces the whole set.
A cyclic group is the simplest group. A cyclic group could be a pattern
found in nature, for example in a snowflake, or in a geometric pattern we
draw ourselves. Cyclic groups can also be thought of as rotations, if we
rotate an object enough times we will eventually return to the original
position. Cyclic groups are used in topics such as cryptology and number
theory. In this paper we explore further applications of cyclic groups in
number theory and other applications including music and chaos theory.
If someone can recognize a cyclic group they could use the generator to
find the fastest simple circuit for use in other real world applications and
in pure mathematics.

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Background Materials
Definition: A group hG, ∗i is a set G, closed under a binary operation *,
such that the following axioms are satisfied: For all a, b, c, ∈ G we have
associativity (a ∗ b) ∗ c = a ∗ (b ∗ c).There is an identity element for all x
∈ G. e ∗ x = x ∗ e = x. The inverse of every element exists in the set. a ∗
a0 = a0 ∗ a = e.

Definition: Let G be a group, and let H be a subset of G. Then H is called

a subgroup of G if H is itself a group, under the operation induced by G.

Definition: Commutative is changing of the operations does not change

the result.

Example 1. An example of an the commutative property is

2+3=3+2
Definition: The U(n) is a group under multiplication modulo n.
Definition: An abelian group is also called a commutative group.

Definition: A group G is called cyclic if there is an element a ∈ G, G =

{a n |n ∈ Z} Such an element a is called the generator of G, denoted as
hai = G.
Definition: Cyclic subgroups are written as H = {a nn ∈ Z}. Subgroups
of cyclic groups are also cyclic.
Definition:The number of elements in G is called the order of G and is
denoted as |G|.

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 Example 3.5. B = {2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9} |B| = 6 Theorem 3.6 (La Grange).
Let G be a finite group, H a subgroup of G. Then the order of H divides
the order of G.
Theorem 3.7. Division Algorithm for integers: If m is a positive integer
and n is any integer, then there exist unique integers q and r such that

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 Cyclic Groups are Isomorphic to Zn or Z

Cyclic Groups are Isomorphic to Zn or Z. If any two cyclic groups of

order n are iso morphic to each other, then every cyclic group G of order
n is isomorphic to Zn. All cyclic groups are isomorphisms.

Theorem: Gn × Gm is a cyclic group iff (m, n) = 1.

Proof. Gm = hai, Gn = hbi.We want to produce a generator for the
product. Claim: A = (a, b) is a generator of Gm × Gn.An = (a n , e), but a
n is a generator of Gm by the corollary since (m, n) = 1. Hence all
powers of An produce all the elements (g1, e) where g1 ∈ Gm.
Likewise, Am = (e, bm), bm is a generator of Gn and all the powers of
Bm produce all elements (e, g2) where g2 ∈ Gn. Taking their products,
we get all elements Gm × Gn since (g1, e) ∗ (e ∗ g2) = (g1 ∗ g2). Thus
we conclude that the powers of A produce all the elements of Gm ×Gn,
that is, that A generates this group and so it is cyclic. All numbers
relatively prime to n generate the group. If the greatest common divider
of two integers is equal to one then we can say that they are relatively
prime

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Example 3.10. Z8 is generated by 1, 3, 5, 7.
Z8 = <1>Z8 =0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Z8 = <3>Z8 =0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Z8 = <5>Z8 =0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7
Z8 = <7>Z8 =0,1,2,3,4,5,6,

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Applications of Cyclic Groups

Cyclic Groups in Bell Ringing. Method ringing, known as scientific ringing, is

the practice of ringing the series of bells as a series of permutations. A permutation
f : 1, 2, . . . , n → 1, 2, . . . , n, where the domain numbers represent positions and
the range numbers represent bells. f(1) would ring the bell first and bell f(n) last
[6]. The number of bells n has n! possible changes [4].

Figure 8. Plain Bob Minimus permutation

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The bell ringer cannot choose to ring permutations in any order because some of
the bells continue to ring up to 2 seconds. Therefore no bell must be rung twice in
a row. These permutations can all be played until it eventually returns to the
original pattern of bells.

A common permutation pattern for four bells is the Plain Bob Minimus permutation
(Figure 8). The Plain Bob pattern switches the first two bells then the second set of
bells. They would start the bell ringing with 1234. The first bell would go to the
second position and third would go to the fourth; therefore the next bell combination
would be 2143. The next bell switch would be the two middle bells. Therefore the
bell 2143 would turn to 2413. The bell ringers would repeat this pattern of switching
the first two and second two, followed by switching the middle until about 1/3 of the
way through the permutations. At the pattern 1324, we cannot switch the middle
two. If we switched the middle two, we would get back to 1234. Therefore, the bell
ringers figured out to switch the last two bells every 8 combinations. Then after 24
moves (4!) we get back to the bell combination of 1234. Since we made rotations of
the bells and generated every combination of the set and are now back at the
beginning, we can say that the bell ringing pattern is cyclic.

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Figure 9. Permutation of 4 bells

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Bob Minimus method is used because it is easy for bell ringers to accomplish
because they do not have sheet music. Another common permutation method is
following the last bell and moving it over one space to the left each ring then after it
is on the left moving it back over to the right (Figure 10)

Bob Minimus method is used because it is easy for bell ringers to accomplish
because they do not have sheet music. Another common permutation method is
following the last bell and moving it over one space to the left each ring then after it
is on the left moving it back over to the right (Figure 10)

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References

1.Fraleigh, J. 2003. A first course in abstract algeabra. Pearson

Education.

2.Fraleigh, J. 1994. A first course in abstract algeabra. Addison Wesley.

3. Guichard,D.R. 1999. When is U(n) cyclic? An Algebraic Approach.

Mathematics Magazine. 72(2):139-142.

4. Polster,B.Ross,M.2009.Ringing the changes.Plus

Magazine.http://plus.maths.org/content/ringing-changes

5. White,A.T.1988. Ringing the cosets 2. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 105:53-

65.

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