Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2004/iii/paper-2/1/c/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2004 iii Paper 2 1 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Write , and . Both and are normal in . Suppose . Choose a minimal normal subgroup of contained in . In a finite soluble group, such a minimal normal subgroup is elementary abelian: the last nontrivial term of its derived series is an abelian characteristic subgroup, so minimality makes the whole subgroup abelian; its primary components and subgroup of elements killed by then force one prime and exponent .
It follows that . Moreover centralizes , so . Therefore is a nilpotent group of class at most two. Since is normal in , the definition of the Fitting subgroup gives . But then , a contradiction. This proves the Fitting subgroup is self-centralizing in soluble groups:
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