Problem Set 9 Solutions

Math 109
March 10, 2010

Exercise 20.2 Write down all Sylow subgroups of A5 . Are any of these subgroups normal
subgroups?
Solution. A5 has 60 = 5 3 22 elements, so we will need to identify all groups of order
3, 4, and 5.
The number of Sylow 5-subgroups must be congruent to 1 mod 5 and must divide 12, so
it must be 1 or 6. We can identify the following 6 subgroups of order 5:
!(12345)" , !(12354)" , !(12435)"
!(12453)" , !(12534)" , !(12543)"
These subgroups are all distinct, because if a 5-cycle sends 1 to 2, then none of its other
powers 0 , 2 , 3 or 4 send 1 to 2. Therefore weve listed all Sylow 5-subgroups because
there cant be more than 6 of them.
The number of Sylow 3-subgroups is congruent to 1 mod 3 and divides 20, so it is either
1, 4, or 10. We identify the following 10 subgroups of order 3:
!(123)" , !(124)" , !(125)" , !(134)" , !(135)"
!(145)" , !(234)" , !(235)" , !(245)" , !(345)"
Since these are clearly distinct, this is a list of all Sylow 3-subgroups.
There are 5 distinct subgroups of order 4:

H5 = {e, (12)(34), (13)(24), (14)(23)}

H4 = {e, (12)(35), (13)(25), (15)(23)}
H3 = {e, (12)(45), (14)(25), (15)(24)}

H2 = {e, (13)(45), (14)(35), (15)(34)}

H1 = {e, (23)(45), (24)(35), (25)(34)}

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Notice that the first subgroup is generated by order two elements of A5 which fix 5; the
second is generated by order two elements which fix 4, and so on.
We can see that these are the only subgroups of order 4 as follows. If we count all the
unique nonidentity elements in the Sylow 5-subgroups, the Sylow 3-subgroups, and the
subgroups of order 4 above, we get 46+210+35 = 59 elements, so we have accounted
for every element of A5 . Thus the order-two elements above are the only elements of A5
whose order is a positive power of 2.
This means that any subgroup H of size 4 must contain some order-2 element among
the ones listed above; we may as well assume that it contains (12)(34) since we could
just relabel the elements of {1, 2, 3, 4}, which gives an isomorphism of A5 . However, the
product of (12)(34) with any of the order-2 elements not in H1 is either a 3-cycle or a
5-cycle, which cannot belong to H, and so we must have H = H1 . This shows that the
list above gives all of the Sylow 2-subgroups of A5 .

Exercise 20.3 If every Sylow subgroup of G is a normal subgroup, show that G is isomorphic to the product of its Sylow subgroups.
Solution. Suppose |G| = pa11 pa22 pann , and that the corresponding normal Sylow subgroups are P1 , P2 , . . . Pn . Define a function f : P1 P2 Pn G by f (x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) =
x1 x2 xn . We hope to prove that f is an isomorphism.
To see that it is a homomorphism, we first show that elements of Pi commute with elements
of Pj for any i, j {1, 2, . . . , n}, i &= j. Indeed, if xi Pi , xj Pj , then since Pi is
1
1 1
normal, xi (xj x1
i xj ) Pi , and since Pj is normal, we also have (xi xj xi )xj Pj , so
1
xi xj x1
i xj Pi Pj . However, since these two subgroups have relatively prime order,
Lagranges theorem tells us that their intersection is just {e}, so in fact xi xj = xj xi . Now
we can write
f (x1 , . . . , xn )f (y1 , . . . , yn ) = x1 xn y1 yn
= x1 y1 xn yn

= f ((x1 , . . . , xn )(y1 , . . . , yn )),

which shows that f is a homomorphism.

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Next we show that f is an injection. Suppose that (x1 , . . . , xn ) ker f , i.e. x1 xn =

e G. Then
1
1
1
x1 = (x2 xn )1 = x1
n x2 = x2 xn .

For each i = 1, 2, . . . , n, the order of xi must be pbi i for some nonnegative integer bi . Using
the equation above, and again the fact that elements in different Pi s commute with each
other, we see that raising x1 to the power pb22 pbnn gives e, so the order of x1 divides
pb22 pbnn . However it is also equal to pb11 , so in fact the order of x1 is one, and hence
x1 = e. Similar arguments show xi = e for each i {2, cdots, n}. This shows that
ker f = (e, . . . , e), so f is an injection.
Finally, since P1 Pn and G both have size pa11 pa22 pann , any injective function
between them is also surjective, so we have shown that f is an isomorphism.

Exercise 20.6 If p is not congruent to 1 mod q, show that every group of order pq is cyclic.
Solution. The number of Sylow p subgroups must divide q and be congruent to 1 mod
p. Since q < p, this number can only be one, and so there is only one Sylow p subgroup
P and it must be normal. Similarly, since the number of Sylow q subgroups divides p and
is congruent to 1 mod q, and p is not congruent to 1 mod q, the Sylow q subgroup Q is
also normal.
Since all the Sylow subgroups are normal, Exercise 20.3 tells us that G
= P Q
=
Zp Zq
= Zpq is cyclic.

Exercise 20.11 Let H be a subgroup of G and write X for the set of left cosets of H in
G. Show that the formula
g(xH) = gxH
defines an action of G on X. Prove that H is a normal subgroup of G if and only if every
orbit of the induced action of H on X contains just one point.
Solution.
For every g in G, the function from X to X given by the formula is
a bijection. Indeed, for any yH X, g(g 1 yH) = yH, so it is a surjection, and if
gxH = gyH, multiplying on the left by g 1 gives xH = yH. Furthermore, for g1 , g2 G,

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g1 g2 (xH) = g1 (g2 xH), so the given formula defines an action of G on X.

We can restrict this action to an action of the subgroup H on X. Every orbit of this
induced action of H on X contains exactly one point if and only if hxH = xH for all
h H and x G, which is true if and only if x1 hx H for all x G and h H, i.e. if
and only if H is normal in G.

Exercise 20.13 If J is a subgroup of G whose order is a power of a prime p, verify that

J must be contained in a Sylow p-subgroup of G.
Solution. Following the hint, we choose P to be a Sylow p-subgroup of G and consider
the action of J on the set X of left cosets of P by left translation. Since |J| is a power of p,
the orbits of this action must have size a power of p. We also know that |X| = |G|/|P | = m
for some integer m not divisible by p, and since the orbits partition X this tells us there
must be at least one orbit of size 1.
Thus there is some g G such that for all j J, jgP = gP . This means that g 1 jgP = P ,
and hence that g 1 jg P so j gP g 1 for all j J. Since conjugates of Sylow subgroups
are Sylow subgroups, we have shown that J is contained in the Sylow p-subgroup gP g 1 .