Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2013/paper-2/8/iv/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge 2013 Paper 2 8 iv Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Let be prime and choose . Its order divides by part (iii), and cannot be one. Hence its order is , so its generated subgroup has the same number of elements as the whole group:This proves that a group of prime order is cyclic. In fact every nonidentity element is a generator. No commutativity assumption was needed; it follows from cyclicity.
New to topics? Read the docs here!