Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/iii/paper-3/2/e/solution

Iwasawa's simplicity lemma states the following. Suppose acts faithfully and primitively on a set, and a stabilizer subgroup has an abelian normal subgroup whose -conjugates generate . Then every nontrivial normal subgroup contains . In particular, if is nontrivial and perfect, then is simple.
Indeed a nontrivial normal subgroup in a faithful primitive action is transitive, so . Since normalizes , all conjugates of have the same image in . Those images generate the quotient, which is therefore abelian. This gives and proves the stated conclusion.

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