Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/prelims/mathematics-i/6/c/i/solution

By Lagrange's theorem, every nonidentity group element has order , , or . If some element has order , its seventh and fifth powers have orders and , respectively, and we are done.
Otherwise every nonidentity element has order or . Distinct subgroups of a given prime number order intersect only in the identity: a shared nonidentity element generates both. If there were no element of order , the nonidentity elements would therefore partition into sets of six, the nonidentity elements of the cyclic subgroups of order seven. This would force , a contradiction. If there were no element of order , the analogous partition into sets of four would force , again a contradiction. Thus elements of both orders exist.

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