Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2014 ia Paper 3 7D i Solution Created 2026-09-24 Updated 2026-10-06
Identify the projective line with one-dimensional subspaces of : use for finite , and . This convention turns the matrix action into the stipulated Möbius transformation.
Since and are distinct projective points, are a basis. Write . Both and are nonzero, because is different from . The matrix with columns and is invertible and sends the lines of to those of , respectively. This constructs the requested map without separate exceptional formulas at infinity.
A matrix fixing and is diagonal, say with . To fix it must also satisfy , so the stabilizer subgroup of is precisely . Any two solutions differ on the right by one of these matrices. ThusEquivalently, after dividing out scalar matrices the projective general linear group action on the projective line is sharply three-transitive on a projective line.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2023 ib Paper 3 1E Solution Created 2026-09-23 Updated 2026-09-25
Fordefine its action on the projective line by the Möbius transformationwith the usual conventions when the denominator vanishes or . Matrix multiplication agrees with composition, so this is a group action. If fixes every projective point, then it fixes and , forcing , and fixing then gives . Thus the kernel consists exactly of the nonzero scalar matrices . The induced group homomorphismis therefore injective. This is the projective general linear group action on the projective line.
For ,The scalar subgroup has order , soThe four classes represented byform a subgroup of order four, hence a Sylow subgroup for the prime two. Its action is translation on and fixes . For , characteristic two makes this permutation a product of two disjoint transpositions on the four finite points. It is therefore even, andThis realizes the Sylow 2-subgroup of PGL2 over F4.