The theorem classifies finite primitive permutation groups by their minimal normal subgroups and the action of their socle. The modern types are affine (HA), almost simple (AS), simple diagonal (SD), compound diagonal (CD), product action (PA), holomorph simple (HS), holomorph compound (HC), and twisted wreath (TW). A coarser version describes primitive maximal subgroups of symmetric groups by affine, almost-simple, diagonal and full product-action overgroups. Intransitive and imprimitive maxima are respectively unequal-part subset stabilizers and block-system stabilizers. Primitivity alone is not maximality in the symmetric group; parity can put an otherwise natural candidate entirely inside the alternating group.
For a nonabelian simple group , act on cosets of its full diagonal in . A suitable factor-permuting extension is primitive and has point stabilizer intersecting the socle in the diagonal. The full normalizer has order . For , it acts on the sixty elements of by left/right multiplication, automorphisms and inversion, and has order . Odd conjugation in induces an odd permutation of these sixty points, while inversion is even; the full group is a primitive maximal subgroup of .
An elementary abelian regular minimal normal subgroup acts as translations of a vector space. Its point stabilizer acts faithfully and irreducibly on that space; invariant subspaces would be blocks. The full affine normalizer is . In degree sixteen it lies inside : nonzero translations swap eight pairs, and elementary linear transvections swap four pairs. Thus it is not a maximal subgroup of .
The group of maps of a finite-dimensional vector space, with invertible. Identifying the underlying points with a regular elementary abelian group identifies its normalizer in the symmetric group with this semidirect product.
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The O'Nan–Scott theorem is a significant result in the field of group theory, particularly in the study of finite groups. It was formulated by John O'Nan and David Scott in the 1970s. The theorem provides a classification of the finite simple groups that can act as automorphism groups of certain types of groups, providing insight into the structure of finite groups and their representations.