For some reasons, homomorphism is a very hard area for me to make improvements. I've been hitting the brick wall for almost 2 hours.
Prove that no homomorphism exists from $Z_{16}\oplus Z_2$ onto $Z_4\oplus Z_4$.
Assume a homomorphism $\phi$ exists from $Z_{16}\oplus Z_2$ onto $Z_4\oplus Z_4$. Then $\phi$ is an isomorphism.
Note that the $\left | \ker \phi \right |=2$ The $\ker \phi$ is also a normal subgroup for $Z_{16}\oplus Z_{2}$. We want possible normal subgroup of order 2. I.e., 2 elements in each normal subgroups.
By Lagrange's theorem, the order of each element in a group divides the order of a group so the possible order of the elements are 1 or 2. If the elements has order 1, then the Ker \phi cannot have 2 elements.
Hence, $\ker\phi$ = $\left \{ (0,0),(8,0) \right \}$ ,$\left \{ (0,0),(0,8) \right \}$,$\left \{ (0,0),(8,1) \right \}$, possibly.
By the First isomorphism theorem:
$\phi: Z_{16}\oplus Z_2 \rightarrow Z_2\oplus Z_2$
$\Psi: G/\ker \phi \rightarrow \phi\left ( Z_16\oplus Z_2 \right )=Z_2\oplus Z_2$
$g\ker \phi \mapsto \phi(g)=\Psi(g\ker \phi)$
Any help is appreciated.
Edit: I know that $(2,0)$ has order $8$ in $Z_{16}\oplus Z_{2}$ but any elements in $Z_{4}\oplus Z_{4}$ does not have order $8$ which would have solved the question at the outset. But I would like a different route.