Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2011/ii/paper-1/3g/solution

Each nonidentity element of the special orthogonal group is a rotation fixing exactly the two unit vectors along its axis. Since is a finite group, is finite. If is fixed by and , then is fixed by . Hence acts on by a group action.
Let , let be the number of orbits of a group action, and choose representatives with stabilizer subgroups of orders , each at least two. Count pairs with and . Counting by gives . Counting by group orbits and using the orbit-stabilizer theorem gives
Every summand is at least , so : there are at most three orbits. For the trivial group, is empty and the assertion also holds.
For the rotation group of a regular dodecahedron, . The three group orbits are the unit vectors towards the 12 face centres, 20 vertices and 30 edge midpoints, whose stabilizer subgroup orders are respectively . Rotations about these axes exhaust the nonidentity rotations. Consequently the orbit sizes are

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