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In the context of abstract algebra, following from Dummit's textbook. The action of $G$ on $A$ is called transitive if there is only one orbit. $i.e$, given any two elements $a,b \in A$, there is some $g \in G$ such that $a=g.b$.

I want to know why we called this as transitive.

From some basic set theory knowledge,

In equivalence relation, transitivity, $a \sim b$, $b\sim c$ then $a\sim c$.

Does the same thing happens in the group action?

phy_math
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  • Given any action, you can define a relation as $a$ relation $b$ iff $\exists g\in G$ such that $a = g.b$. and if your action is transitive, the relation will be transitive. But you could have actions which are not transitive but such that the relation defined would be transitive (anyway I think so) – user405156 Apr 29 '17 at 11:23
  • Are you asking for an explanation of the concept or asking for an explanation why it is called that way? – abcdef Apr 29 '17 at 11:34

2 Answers2

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To answer the title of your question, you can think of a transitive group action on a set $A$ as an action for which you can go from any point to another by the action of the group.

In general, this doesn't happen. If $G$ is a group acting on a set $A$, and $a \in A$, let $Ga$ denote all the points of $a$ you can get to by applying elements of $G$. Literally, $Ga = \{ g.a : g \in G \}$. Then in general, you will have elements $a, a', a''$ etc. (possibly uncountably many) such that $A$ is the disjoint union of the sets $Ga, Ga', Ga''$ etc. These sets are called the orbits of $A$ under the action of $G$. If there is just one set in this disjoint union, that's transitive.

If $a \in A$, then you can always restrict the action of $G$ to the set $Ga$. Then $G$ does act transitively on $Ga$.

Example:

1 . $G = \textrm{GL}_2(\mathbb R)$, the group of $2$ by $2$ real matrices with nonzero determinant. $G$ acts on $\mathbb{R}^2 - \{(0,0)\}$ by $\begin{pmatrix} a & b \\ c & d \end{pmatrix} . (x,y) = (ax + by, cx + dy)$. Since you can get from any given nonzero vector to another by applying some invertible matrix, the action here is transitive.

2 . $G = \textrm{SO}_2(\mathbb R)$, the group of $2$ by $2$ real matrices $g$ such that the determinant of $g$ is $1$ and such that $gg^t = I$, where $g^t$ is the transpose of $g$ and $I$ is the identity matrix. $G$ acts on $\mathbb{R}^2 - \{(0,0) \}$ by the same formula. You can show every $g \in G$ takes the form $$g = \begin{pmatrix} \cos \theta & \sin \theta \\ -\sin \theta & \cos \theta \end{pmatrix}$$

for some $\theta \in \mathbb{R}$, and if $v \in \mathbb{R}^2$ is a nonzero, then $g.v$ is the vector obtained by rotating $v$ counterclockwise by $\theta$ radians. In this case, you definitely cannot get from one given element to another by applying something in $G$, since you can only use $G$ to rotate points around. So the action is not transitive. It follows that the orbits of $\mathbb{R}^2 - \{(0,0\}$ under the action of $G$ are the circles with center $(0,0)$, and $\mathbb{R}^2 - \{(0,0)\}$ is the disjoint union of the orbits $$\mathbb{R}^2 - \{(0,0)\} = \bigcup\limits_{r \in (0,\infty)} \{ (x,y) \in \mathbb{R}^2 : x^2 + y^2 = r^2 \}$$

D_S
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Mathematicians like to copy names from different topics although their relation is ever so subtle. You should be aware of that because it can get confusing, especially when there is a generalization of a concept.

Ofek Gillon
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    Even if the group action isn't transitive, the relation $R$ is transitive. It partitions $A$ into it's orbits. If the action is transitive, then the relation $R$ is trivial: $R = A^2$. Seems odd that the name could have come from this. – Henrique Augusto Souza Apr 29 '17 at 11:25
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    You're right, my bad! – Ofek Gillon Apr 29 '17 at 11:26
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    I think that the name transitive may have come from something to do with Isotropy groups, but I'm not sure yet. If the action is transitive, then there is a relation between $A$ and the quotient $G/G_x$. Couldn't figure it out explicitly, though. See: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/TransitiveGroupAction.html – Henrique Augusto Souza Apr 29 '17 at 11:28