Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / Paper 2 / 8 / Solution

Lagrange's theorem states that the group order of a finite group divides the group order; more precisely $|G|=[G:H]|H|$.

If every element squares to the identity element, every element is its own inverse element, and $ab=(ab{)}^{-1}=b^{-1}{a}^{-1}=ba$. Thus a group of exponent two is abelian. For distinct nonidentity $a,b$, the four elements $1,a,b,ab$ are distinct: for example $ab=1$ would imply $a=b$, and $ab=a$ would imply $b=1$. Products remain in this set because $a,b$ commute and square to one. Thus they form a Klein four-group subgroup of order four.

Now let $|G|=2p$ with odd prime number $p$. By Lagrange's theorem, every element order is one of $1,2,p,2p$. If an element has order $2p$, its square has order $p$. If no element had order $p$, all nonidentity elements would therefore have order two. There are at least two distinct such elements, producing a subgroup of order four. This contradicts $4\nmid 2p$. Hence there is an element of order $p$.