Frobenius reciprocity is the adjointness of character induction and restriction: for class functions on and on ,
For characters this says that the multiplicity of an irreducible -character in an induced character equals the corresponding multiplicity after restriction. To prove the identity directly, insert the induced class function formula and interchange the two finite sums. For each , substitute with . Since is constant on conjugacy classes,
This proves the theorem for all class functions, not just irreducible characters.
For the group-theoretic conclusion, suppose that divides . A central element of order lies in every Sylow p-subgroup: adjoining it to a Sylow subgroup gives a p-subgroup, so maximality forces it into that subgroup. Hence there is a subgroup of order . Choose a nontrivial linear character of .
Since is abelian, extends to a linear character of . One direct justification is to extend from an abelian subgroup to one generator at a time: if is the least positive exponent with , choose a complex th root of as the value at . The formula on is then well defined and multiplicative. Iteration yields the claimed extension to .
The induced character has degree , which is prime to . In its decomposition into irreducible characters, at least one constituent must have degree prime to ; otherwise the total degree would be divisible by . Frobenius reciprocity also gives for this constituent. Restriction to the central subgroup forces
Indeed, the induced representation itself restricts to as copies of , because conjugation by every coset representative is trivial on ; alternatively this follows from Schur's lemma and the positive multiplicity after restriction.
Each consequently acts in the representation affording as the scalar . Taking its determinant character gives
The left side is trivial since and every linear character kills . The right side is nontrivial since has order and . This contradiction proves
The argument is the central commutator has no torsion from an abelian Sylow subgroup determinant obstruction.