Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2004/iii/paper-2/6/a/solution

Let have dimension over the finite field , with a nondegenerate alternating bilinear form . The symplectic group over a finite field is
It acts simply transitively on ordered symplectic bases: a linear map between two such bases is uniquely specified and preserves all pairings, hence the whole bilinear form.
Count a first hyperbolic pair . There are choices for . Nondegeneracy makes a nonzero linear functional, so there are choices of with . Their span is nondegenerate, and its symplectic orthogonal complement is a symplectic vector space of dimension . Recursing, with , yields
The construction also proves the existence of the required symplectic bases, in characteristic two as well as odd characteristic.

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