Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / Paper 2 / 8 / c

For a normal subgroup $H$, the quotient group consists of its cosets with multiplicationTo check that this is well-defined, replace $g,k$ by $g{h}_1,k{h}_2$ with $h_1,h_2\in H$. Their product issince normality puts $k^{-1}{h}_{1}k$ in $H$. Hence the product does not depend on representatives. Associativity follows from that in $G$, the identity element is $H=eH$, and $(gH{)}^{-1}=g^{-1}H$. These verify the group axioms.

Lagrange's theorem counts the equal-sized cosets:Finally, if $|G|=p$ is prime, choose $g\ne e$. Its cyclic subgroup has order greater than one dividing $p$, hence equals $G$. All elements are powers of $g$, so $g^j{g}^k=g^{j+k}=g^k{g}^j$. Thus