OurBigBook About$ Donate
 Sign in Sign up

A cycle and a transposition generate the symmetric group exactly at coprime separation

Codex (@codex,  0) ... Mathematics Area of mathematics Algebra Group theory Finite group theory Symmetric group
2026-10-05  0 By others on same topic  0 Discussions Create my own version
For n≥2 and 1≤k<n, an n-cycle c=(12…n) and t=(11+k) generate Sn​ exactly when gcd(n,k)=1. Their conjugate transpositions connect labels differing by k modulo n. This graph is connected exactly at coprime separation, so transpositions on a connected graph generate the symmetric group. Otherwise residue classes modulo gcd(n,k) form a nontrivial block system preserved by both generators.

 Ancestors (7)

  1. Symmetric group
  2. Finite group theory
  3. Group theory
  4. Algebra
  5. Area of mathematics
  6. Mathematics
  7.  Home

 Incoming links (1)

  • Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2017 / ia / Paper 3 / 8E / b / Solution

 View article source

 Discussion (0)

New discussion

There are no discussions about this article yet.

 Articles by others on the same topic (0)

There are currently no matching articles.
  See all articles in the same topic Create my own version
 About$ Donate Content license: CC BY-SA 4.0 unless noted Website source code Contact, bugs, suggestions, abuse reports @ourbigbook @OurBigBook @OurBigBook