Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-algebra-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2007/b/6/solution
Past exam of the algebra course of the University of Oxford 2007 B 6 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-31
A composition series is a chain with simple nontrivial factors. Every finite group has one, by recursively choosing a maximal proper normal subgroup. The Jordan–Hölder theorem states that any two such series have the same length and the same multiset of simple factors up to isomorphism.
For a proof induct on . Let be the penultimate terms in two series. If , apply induction there. Otherwise their maximal normality gives . Set . The second isomorphism theorem givesso these quotients are simple. Choose a composition series of and extend it once to and once to . Induction in the smaller groups compares these with the respective original prefixes. Appending or gives in both cases the factors of together with . This completes the proof, including the case .
Exactly one: take . Its only nontrivial proper normal subgroup is . Indeed a normal has either or by the supplied simplicity. In the first case injects into , so a nontrivial would be a normal subgroup of order two and hence central. But has trivial center: conjugating every transposition trivially forces preservation of each unordered pair, and therefore of every point. Thus the unique series is .
Exactly two: take . A normal subgroup containing is that subgroup or the whole product. For a normal subgroup meeting trivially, commutators of its elements with vanish; its first coordinates therefore lie in . Hence . The two nontrivial proper normal subgroups are exactly the two factors, each simple, so the two series pass respectively through and .
More than two: take . A cyclic group has exactly one subgroup of each divisor order, and composition steps have prime indices. The orders of those indices are the distinct permutations of , givingAll three example groups have order .
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