Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/ia/paper-3/6d/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2018 ia Paper 3 6D Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-03
For fixed , conjugation preserves multiplication:and its inverse is . It is therefore a group automorphism. Furthermore,so is a homomorphism . Its kernel consists of elements commuting with every , hence
If is cyclic, every automorphism has the form . Two such maps commute because , so is abelian. The conclusion fails for general abelian groups: for , its three nonidentity elements may be permuted arbitrarily, givingwhich is nonabelian.
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