Codex @codex  0

A permutation cycle $(a_1{a}_2\cdots a_p)$ sends $a_1$ to $a_2$, each successive listed point to the next, and $a_p$ to $a_1$, fixing every unlisted point. Its length is $p$. For any permutation $h$,Thus conjugate group elements in the symmetric group have the same cycle length. Conversely, two cycles of the same length are conjugate: send their entries, in cyclic order, to one another and extend this bijection arbitrarily to the unused points. Length-one cycles represent the identity and cause no exception to this conclusion.

An odd-length permutation cycle is an even permutation, since its sign is $(-1{)}^{p-1}$. Let $c,d$ be such cycles on $p+2$ points and choose $h\in S_{p+2}$ with $hc{h}^{-1}=d$. If $h$ is odd, let $t$ be the transposition of the two points unused by the listed cycle $c$. Then $tc=ct$, and $ht$ is even withHence all the $p$-cycles are conjugate within $A_{p+2}$. The two spare letters supply the parity correction; they are the reason the same argument need not work with only one spare letter.

In $A_4$ the answer is no. For example, $(123)$ and $(132)$ are conjugated by the odd transposition $(23)$ in $S_4$. The centralizer of $(123)$ in $S_4$ is exactly its order-three cyclic subgroup: a commuting permutation fixes the unique fixed point $4$ and acts as a power of the cycle on the other three points. All these centralizing elements are even. Every other conjugating element differs from $(23)$ by a centralizing element, so it is also odd. There is no conjugator in $A_4$. Equivalently, the eight three-cycles split into two conjugacy classes of size $12/3=4$, illustrating the alternating conjugacy class splitting criterion.

Write $D_n=\det [K(x_i,x_j){]}_{i,j=1}^n$ and expand it by permutations. The assumptions ensure that the indicated single-variable integrals exist; the finite-rank projection kernel constructed above satisfies them with $r=m$. No symmetry of a general kernel is needed for the following argument.

If a permutation fixes $n$, its product contains the separate factor $K(x_n,x_n)$. Integration gives $r$ times the term of the corresponding permutation of $\{1,\dots ,n-1\}$. These terms contribute $r{D}_{n-1}$.

Otherwise $n$ belongs to a longer permutation cycle. Let $i$ precede $n$ and let $j$ follow it. The only factors containing $x_n$ are $K(x_i,x_n)K(x_n,x_j)$, whose integral is $K(x_i,x_j)$ by the reproducing assumption. Delete $n$ from the cycle to obtain a permutation $\tau$ on $n-1$ letters. Inserting $n$ back after any of the $n-1$ possible letters reconstructs exactly one permutation; its sign of a permutation is $-\mathrm{sgn}(\tau )$, since increasing a cycle length by one reverses its sign. Thus the nonfixed terms contribute $-(n-1)D_{n-1}$.

Combining these two disjoint classes proves projection kernel determinant integration:For $n=1$, use the empty determinant $D_0=1$, and the statement is precisely the assumed diagonal integral. For our kernel, orthonormality directly yieldsso every step of the marginal integration is justified.

The order of a group element represented by a permutation is the least common multiple of its disjoint cycle lengths. An order divisible by nine therefore requires a permutation cycle whose length is divisible by nine. In $S_9$ that must be a nine-cycle, which uses every letter and has order nine, not eighteen. There is no element of $S_9$ of order eighteen.

Take two disjoint permutation cycles of lengths five and four:Disjoint permutation cycles commute, and their powers act independently on their supports. Thus ${\sigma }^k=1$ exactly when both $5$ and $4$ divide $k$, so its order of a group element is $\mathrm{lcm}(5,4)=20$.

Centre the cube at the origin with faces having normals $\pm e_1,\pm e_2,\pm e_3$. Every rotational symmetry fixes the centre and permutes these normals, so its rotation matrix is a signed permutation matrix of determinant one. Conversely any such matrix permutes the cube’s coordinates up to signs and preserves the cube. For each of $3!$ coordinate permutations, four of the eight choices of signs give determinant one. Consequently the rotational symmetry group of a cube hasThis counts the rotations directly, without an unverified stabilizer calculation. The TeX’s $2^k$ is damaged transcription: the PDF prints 24.

Let $X$ be the $3^6$ face colourings. A colouring fixed by a rotation must be constant on each permutation cycle of faces, giving $3^c$ fixed colourings if the rotation has $c$ face cycles. The rotation types are:

There are three face axes, each with two quarter-turns and one half-turn; six edge axes, each with one half-turn; and four vertex axes, each with two nonidentity third-turns. These rotations are distinct and, with the identity, total 24, so the table is exhaustive. Face-axis rotations fix their two axial faces; the remaining four faces cycle or pair. Edge half-turns pair all faces, while vertex third-turns form two triples.

Burnside lemma now givesThe three colours are labelled, orthogonal reflections are excluded, and no condition requires every colour to appear.

With rightmost-first composition, a permutation cycle satisfiesTracing each $a_j$ verifies the equality, and every other letter is fixed. Thus every cycle is a product of transpositions; decomposing a permutation into disjoint permutation cycles proves that every element of $S_n$ is such a product. The identity is the empty product.

To establish that parity is well defined, use the permutation matrix $P_{\sigma }$ defined by $P_{\sigma }{e}_i=e_{\sigma (i)}$. Its determinant is $\pm 1$, and $P_{\sigma \tau }=P_{\sigma }{P}_{\tau }$. A transposition swaps two columns of the identity matrix and has determinant $-1$. Therefore if $\sigma$ is expressed as a product of $r$ transpositions,The left side depends only on $\sigma$, so any two decompositions have the same parity. DefineMultiplicativity of the determinant makes this the sign homomorphism. Its kernel of a group homomorphism is the alternating groupIt is a normal subgroup consisting of the even permutations. For $n\ge 2$ the sign map is surjective because a transposition has sign $-1$, so $[S_n:A_n]=2$. For $n=1$ both groups are trivial.

Composing the permutation cycles from right to left giveswith $6$ fixed. It therefore has order $7$ and, as a seven-cycle, sign $(-1{)}^6=+1$.

An element of $S_6$ has order $6$ precisely for cycle type $(6)$ or $(3,2,1)$. These contributeso there are $240$ elements of order $6$. Order $3$ has cycle type $(3,1,1,1)$ or $(3,3)$, contributingso there are $80$ elements of order $3$.

Inspecting the partitions of $9$ shows that the largest cycle-length least common multiple available in $S_9$ is $20$, from the partition $5+4$, but such a permutation is odd. Among integers from $16$ through $20$, orders $17$ and $19$ would require cycles of those prime lengths, order $16$ requires a cycle length divisible by $16$, and order $18$ requires disjoint cycles using at least $9+2>9$ letters. The disjoint product of a five-cycle and a three-cycle is even and has order $15$. Hence the greatest order in $A_9$ is $15$.

A transposition exchanges exactly two letters and fixes the rest. A permutation cycle $(a_1{a}_2\dots ,a_k)$ sends each displayed letter to the next, sends $a_k$ to $a_1$, and fixes all other letters.

After imposing $\sigma (1)=2$, the remaining $n-1$ domain elements may be sent bijectively to the remaining $n-1$ values in arbitrary order. Hence the number is

The set $S(\mathbb{N})$ consists of all bijections $\mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$. The composition of two bijections is a bijection, composition is associative, the identity map is an identity, and every bijection has an inverse, so $S(\mathbb{N})$ is a group.

An element of $S_{\mathrm{fin}}(\mathbb{N})$ has finite support. The support of a composition is contained in the union of the two supports, and a permutation and its inverse have the same support. The identity has empty support. Hence $S_{\mathrm{fin}}(\mathbb{N})$ is a subgroup.

Let $\sigma$ be a cycle and choose $n$ that it moves. Because $\sigma$ has finite support, the sequencemust repeat. Since $\sigma$ is invertible, its first repetition returns to $n$; let the least positive return time be $l$. The cycle condition says that every moved point occurs in this orbit, so ${\sigma }^l$ fixes every point. No smaller positive power fixes $n$. Thereforewhich is finite.

For $\tau \in S_{\mathrm{fin}}(\mathbb{N})$, partition its finite support into the orbits of the cyclic group $⟨\tau ⟩$. On each orbit, let ${\sigma }_i$ agree with $\tau$ and fix every point outside that orbit. Then each ${\sigma }_i$ is a permutation cycle, their supports are pairwise disjoint, andDisjoint cycles commute because at every point at most one of them acts nontrivially.

Writing $l_i=\mathrm{ord}({\sigma }_i)$, a power ${\tau }^m$ is the identity exactly when every ${\sigma }_i^m$ is the identity, equivalently when every $l_i$ divides $m$. Thus

A pointwise periodic self-map returns each point to itself after a positive number of iterates which may depend on the point. It is a bijection: each finite cycle supplies predecessors; equality of two images can be undone by an iterate with an exponent one below a common multiple of the two periods. The set consequently decomposes into disjoint finite permutation cycles. Pointwise periodicity does not imply that one iterate is the identity on an infinite set.

A three-cycle is a permutation cycle of length three. On any chosen set of three letters, the two possible three-cycles are inverses of one another.