Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2005/ib/paper-3/1c/solution

The conjugate group elements relation is when for some . It is reflexive by taking the identity, symmetric because , and transitive because and imply . Hence it is an equivalence relation.
For a finite group, the centralizer is a subgroup. The map has equal values at exactly when . Its fibers are therefore the left cosets of , giving
By Lagrange's theorem, this index divides . This is also the orbit-stabilizer theorem for the conjugation action, with the centralizer as stabilizer.

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