Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2010/ia/paper-3/8d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2010 ia Paper 3 8D Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-14
For each , conjugation sends a subgroup to , a subgroup of the same order and hence still proper. Identity conjugation fixes every subgroup, andThese verify the group action laws.
The stabilizer subgroup of for this conjugation action is its normalizer . Since , the orbit-stabilizer theorem gives the number of distinct conjugates asAll these conjugate subgroups contain the identity, so counting that element only once givesThe last inequality uses the properness of , so . There is therefore an element outside this union, which is not conjugate to any element of . This proves that conjugates of a proper subgroup do not cover a finite group, including the case .
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