Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-oxford/2021/prelims/mathematics-i/7/c/i/solution

A conjugacy class is a singleton exactly when for every , equivalently when for every . Thus the singleton conjugacy classes correspond exactly to elements of the center of a group , and there are of them.
Every other conjugacy class has at least two elements. Since the conjugacy classes form a partition of a set , if is the number of these remaining classes then . Consequently
This conjugacy class count bound from the center needs no classification of the finite group.

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