Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2019 / iii / Paper 102 / 1 / a

An Ideal of a Lie algebra is a vector subspace $I\subseteq \mathfrak{g}$ such that $[\mathfrak{g},I]\subseteq I$. The derived series of a Lie algebra is defined by ${\mathfrak{g}}^{(0)}=\mathfrak{g}$ and ${\mathfrak{g}}^{(r+1)}=[{\mathfrak{g}}^{(r)},{\mathfrak{g}}^{(r)}]$.

Suppose that $I$ is an ideal and $x\in \mathfrak{g}$, $u,v\in I$. The Jacobi identity givesBoth terms on the right lie in $[I,I]$, because $[x,u],[x,v]\in I$. Thus $[I,I]$ is again an ideal. Starting from the ideal $\mathfrak{g}$ and applying this observation inductively proves that every term ${\mathfrak{g}}^{(r)}$ of the derived series is an ideal of $\mathfrak{g}$.