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Show that every finite subgroup of the quotient group $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$ (under addition) is cyclic.

Note: there is a related problem which I just proved: "Let $G$ be a finite abelian group, then $G$ is non-cyclic iff $G$ has a subgroup isomorphic to $C_p \times C_p$ for some prime $p$."

Since $\mathbb{Q} /\mathbb{Z}$ is abelian, so based on the related problem it suffices to show it has no elementary abelian subgroup group. I tried to start prove by contradiction: Let $\mathbb{Z} such that

$A$/$\mathbb{Z} \simeq C_p \oplus C_p$ for some prime p, but I can't proceed further.

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    The method the OP used can be turned into a proof. Namely, let $\phi_n$ be the map that sends $g$ to $ng$. On $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$, the kernel of $\phi_n$ has $n$ elements for any $n$. But on $C_p \oplus C_p$ the kernel of $\phi_p$ has more than $p$ elements. Hence it can not be a subgroup of $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$. (the same argument also works for any finite abelian non-cyclic group $G$, by the classification theorem, there is always some $n$ for which ${\rm ker}(\phi_n)$ has >n elements in $G$, and hence $G$ can not be a subgroup of $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$.2018-09-07

3 Answers 3

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Not in the direction you wish but you can identify $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$ as a subgroup of the complex numbers: $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z} < \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z} \cong S^1 \subset \mathbb C^\times$, and then use that every finite multiplicative subgroup of a field is cyclic.

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    See also http://mathoverflow.net/questions/54735/collecting-proofs-that-finite-multiplicative-subgroups-of-fields-are-cyclic2012-06-20
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Following your characterisation of cyclic groups it suffices to show that $\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$ contains only $p-1$ elements of order $p$ for any given prime $p$. Those are easy to find and it is straightforward to show that there cannot be any more elements of this order.

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Consider the natural homomorphism $\mathbb{Q}\rightarrow\mathbb{Q}/\mathbb{Z}$ and lift a set $\overline{q}_1,\ldots ,\overline{q}_r$ of generators of the finite subgroup $\overline{G}$ under consideration to $\mathbb{Q}$. The group $\overline{G}$ then is the image of $G:=\mathbb{Z}q_1 +\ldots \mathbb{Z}q_r$, where $q_i$ is the preimage of $\overline{q}_i$. The $\mathbb{Z}$-module $G$ is free of rank $1$ - one only needs the existence of gcd's in $\mathbb{Z}$ to see this. Thus $G$ and hence $\overline{G}$ are cyclic.

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    This is pretty much the the solution in comments.2012-06-20