Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2007/ia/paper-3/6d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2007 ia Paper 3 6D Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-14
A subgroup is a normal subgroup of if for every , equivalently if for every . In the symmetric group , the subgroup is normal: conjugation relabels a three-cycle as a three-cycle, so preserves this set. By contrast, is not normal because conjugating by gives outside the subgroup.
If is normal, define a product on its left cosets by . To check that this quotient group operation is well-defined, take different representatives and , with . Their product isNormality puts the last two factors in , so its coset is exactly . Associativity follows from that in , the identity coset is , and the inverse of is . Thus all the group axioms hold, and the projection is a group homomorphism.
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