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I know the order of the group is the number of elements in the set. For example the group of $U_{10}$ (units of congruence class of 20) has order 4.

Major Edit, kinda changed the question. Lets say my element $a$ has a finite order $n$. Then what is the order of $a, a^2, a^3...a^{11}$?

Bill Dubuque
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Tyler Hilton
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_%28group_theory%29 – Rasmus Mar 28 '11 at 22:20
  • See the OP's earlier question for context http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/27129/what-is-the-difference-between-the-order-of-a-group-and-the-order-of-the-elements – Jack Schmidt Mar 28 '11 at 22:27
  • Edited my question as Rasmus was right. I just read Wikipedia, but I am still very confused. – Tyler Hilton Mar 28 '11 at 22:50
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    based on this question and some of your previous related questions, I am concerned that you may be having difficulties beyond those which a math Q&A site can help you with. If you are taking a course, I strongly recommend that you talk to your instructor. If not, then I recommend that you find an actual "analog" person who can give you one-on-one assistance. – Pete L. Clark Mar 29 '11 at 00:15

3 Answers3

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Suppose that $\:a\:$ has order $\:n\:.\:$ To compute the order of $\:a^j\:$ we may proceed efficiently as follows

$$ a^{jk}\! = 1\iff n\mid jk \iff n\mid jk,nk\iff n\mid (jk,nk) = (j,n)k \iff n/(j,n)\mid k$$

Therefore $\:a^j\:$ has order $\:n/(j,n)\:.\:$

Note especially how this method efficiently simultaneously proves both directions by exploiting the universal bidirectional $(\!\!\iff\!\!)$ definition of the $ gcd,$ namely $\ a\ |\ b,c\ \iff\ a\ |\ (b,c),\:$ vs, some proofs which prove each direction separately.

Bill Dubuque
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The order of an element in a group is the order of the subgroup it generates. Equivalently, it is the least integer n such that $a^n$ is the identity. If the order of the group is n, then the order of any element in the group actually divides n (this is Lagranges theorem).

Fredrik Meyer
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Answer to the edited question: That depends on n. Generally the order of $a^i$ is $\frac{n}{\text{gcd}(n,i)}$. If you want to prove this, you have to check two things:

Firstly that $(a^i)^{\frac{n}{\text{gcd}(n,i)}}=a^{\frac{in}{\text{gcd}(n,i)}}=1$. This holds because we have a multiple of n in the exponent and $a^{kn}=(a^n)^k=1^k=1$.

Secondly that this is in fact the smallest exponent k with $(a^i)^k=a^{ik}=1$. Since n is the smallest number with $a^n=1$, we are looking for the smallest number k so that $ik$ is a multiple of n. This is $k=\frac{n}{\text{gcd}(n,i)}$.

MichalisN
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  • Your final sentence requires proof. In fact it is the nontrivial direction of the theorem to be proved. To simply state that is true is begging the question. – Bill Dubuque Mar 28 '11 at 23:49
  • you are right. One may show the last sentence by looking at the prime factorisation of i and n. – MichalisN Mar 29 '11 at 09:10