Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2024/ia/paper-3/5d/ii/solution

The conjugacy classes in consist of the identity, the double transpositions, the three-cycles, and two classes of five-cycles. Thus their sizes are
A normal subgroup is a union of conjugacy classes containing the identity, and its order must divide by Lagrange's theorem. Checking sums of a subset of shows that no number
divides . Hence the only possible normal-subgroup orders are and . This proves the Simplicity of the alternating group A5.

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