Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-3/4/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 3 4 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
The relevant cycle types are , and . Conjugate the first entry to , fixing six. An entry of type pairs six with one of the five other letters. Powers of move that partner to one. With the pair fixed, only three matchings remain:Thus there is exactly one centralizer orbit of eligible second entries, consisting of five matchings before normalization. The third entry is forced to be , so there is at most one inner orbit of product-one tuples of these types.
For the actual displayed , direct multiplication giveswhich belongs to the class of the displayed . This is a product-one witness. The three displayed permutations themselves need not multiply to one; the problem concerns their conjugacy classes.
The group is transitive, because moves the first five points transitively and connects six to them. Its stabilizer of six contains the five-cycle and is transitive on the other points. Hence the group is two-transitive and therefore primitive. Moreover is a transposition. The primitive transposition lemma proves that the group is . Consequently all tuples in the sole inner orbit generate , andAs a count check, there are first entries and five eligible second entries for each, giving tuples. A generating tuple has simultaneous stabilizer equal to the trivial center of , so its inner orbit also has size .
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