Dihedral Group D4/Matrix Representation

Matrix Representations of Dihedral Group $D_4$

Formulation 1

Let $\mathbf I, \mathbf A, \mathbf B, \mathbf C$ denote the following four elements of the matrix space $\map {\MM_\Z} 2$:

$\mathbf I = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}

\qquad \mathbf A = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & -1 \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf B = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & -1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf C = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

The set:

$D_4 = \set {\mathbf I, -\mathbf I, \mathbf A, -\mathbf A, \mathbf B, -\mathbf B, \mathbf C, -\mathbf C}$

under the operation of conventional matrix multiplication, forms the dihedral group $D_4$.

Formulation 2

Let $\mathbf I, \mathbf A, \mathbf B, \mathbf C, \mathbf D, \mathbf E, \mathbf F, \mathbf G$ denote the following $8$ elements of the matrix space $\map {\MM_\Z} 2$:

$\mathbf I = \begin{bmatrix} 1 & 0 \\ 0 & 1 \end{bmatrix}

\qquad \mathbf A = \begin{bmatrix} i & 0 \\ 0 & -i \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf B = \begin{bmatrix} -1 & 0 \\ 0 & -1 \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf C = \begin{bmatrix} -i & 0 \\ 0 & i \end{bmatrix}$

$\mathbf D = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{bmatrix}

\qquad \mathbf E = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & i \\ -i & 0 \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf F = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & -1 \\ -1 & 0 \end{bmatrix} \qquad \mathbf G = \begin{bmatrix} 0 & -i \\ i & 0 \end{bmatrix}$

The set:

$D_4 = \set {\mathbf I, \mathbf A, \mathbf B, \mathbf C, \mathbf D, \mathbf E, \mathbf F, \mathbf G}$

under the operation of conventional matrix multiplication, forms the dihedral group $D_4$.