For a finite group, the conjugacy classes partition the group, and a class is a singleton exactly when its element belongs to the centre of a group. Since the centre is trivial, the class equation becomes
where the are all the nonidentity conjugacy classes. If the prime number divided every , reduction modulo would give , because . Therefore at least one of these class sizes is not divisible by . Primality now gives
Its size is greater than one because the centre is trivial. This proves the prime-to-p conjugacy class lemma.
The conclusion requires to be prime. The printed question does not explicitly impose this hypothesis. If arbitrary composite divisors are allowed, take the symmetric group and : its centre is trivial, its two nonidentity conjugacy classes have sizes and , and neither is coprime to . Thus the argument proves the intended prime case and also identifies why the unrestricted literal reading is false.