Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 119 5 b Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Let and be the two quotient homomorphisms. On the underlying set , define the commuting group actionsThe inverse is essential for the right multiplication formula to define a left group action: . Left and right multiplication commute.
Because is onto and is nontrivial, there is no fixed point of a group action for : if every , cancellation would make every element of the identity. Thus . Because is onto, the -action is transitive and is a singleton. The induced -action on that singleton is trivial. Consequently the comparison iswhich is not an isomorphism. This proves the common quotient obstruction to commutation of fixed points and orbits, so limits of shape do not commute with colimits of shape in the Category of sets.