Revision as of 16:17, 9 September 2008 by Robertsr (Talk)

Question: Show that if H is a subgroup of $ S_n $, then either every member of H is an even permutation or exactly half of the members are even.

Answer: Suppose H contains at least one odd permutation, say $ \sigma $. For each odd permutation $ \beta $, the permutation $ \sigma \beta $ is even.

Note:

$ \sigma $ = odd

$ \beta $ = odd

$ \sigma \beta $ = even

Different $ \beta $ give different $ \sigma \beta $. Thus there are as many even permutations as there are odd ones.

For each even permutation $ \beta $, the permutation $ \sigma \beta $ in H is odd.

Note:

$ \sigma $ = even

$ \beta $ = odd

$ \sigma \beta $ = odd

Also, when $ \sigma \beta $ $ \neq $ $ \beta \sigma $ when $ \sigma \neq \beta $

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