javier wrote:
> If that you want are the cosets you can get them simply using
> 
> cosets = Set([Set([h*g for h in H]) for g in G])
> 
> or if you want to get a representative of each coset you can then use
> 
> reps = [x[0] for x in cosets]
> 
> this should work even if H is not normal, the only issue being that
> the set of cosets is not a group. Not sure if it will help with your
> problem, though.
> 

Yes, I will use that, for now, although I was hoping to get a "nice"
representation of the set of cosets, in terms of generators.

Anyway, it looks like I wasn't expecting too much after all. On
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_action or S. Lang: Algebra (p. 28)
I find exactly what I want, supposing a group G acts transitively on a
set X:

"If G does not act faithfully on X, one can easily modify the group to
obtain a faithful action. If we define N = {g in G : g·x = x for all x
in X}, then N is a normal subgroup of G; indeed, it is the kernel of the
homomorphism G → Sym(X). The factor group G/N acts faithfully on X by
setting (gN)·x = g·x. The original action of G on X is faithful if and
only if N = {e}."

So what I need, computationally, is not a map from G -> G/N, but more
the other way round. More explicitly I want a (nice, simple, concise)
description of X (= orbit of G) in terms of elements of G. The cosets
will do that, but not really simpler than X itself. Provided I come up
with something sufficiently general, there will be a patch with a new
feature :-)

Thanks, again

-- 
Robert Schwarz <[email protected]>

Get my public key at http://rschwarz.net/key.asc

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