Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2001/ia/paper-3/8d/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 ia Paper 3 8D i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
Compose permutations from right to left. The indicated cycle lengths immediately give . Under conjugation, . Since sends to and fixes ,Direct composition also gives . Thus is a Klein four-group. Conjugation by cycles its three nonidentity elements, so normalizes .
The cosets have four elements each and are distinct. If two coincided, a nontrivial power of would belong to , impossible because it has order three whereas every nonidentity element of has order two. Hence the subgroup generated by contains at least twelve elements. These generators are even permutations, so the subgroup lies in the alternating group , whose order is ; multiplying by one fixed transposition pairs even and odd permutations to justify this count. ThereforeThe calculation also describes as the semidirect product , with the order-three factor permuting the three involutions.
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