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Groups and FieldsHardA Gallery of Groups

A Gallery of Groups · Hard problem

Realize the symmetries of a square as 2×22\times2 matrices: R=(0−110)R=\begin{pmatrix}0&-1\\1&0\end{pmatrix} (a 90∘90^\circ rotation) and F=(100−1)F=\begin{pmatrix}1&0\\0&-1\end{pmatrix} (a reflection), satisfying R4=F2=IR^4=F^2=I. The 88 elements of this group are I,R,R2,R3,F,FR,FR2,FR3I,R,R^2,R^3,F,FR,FR^2,FR^3 (indexed 00 through 77 in that order). Compute the matrix product FR3FR2FR^3FR^2 and give the index (00 to 77) of the element it equals.