# Question on group theory

• September 26th 2010, 12:41 PM
PeterMulder
Question on group theory
I would like to proof the following in the case of groups of finite order:

the number of elements of an arbitrary class of conjugated elements is a divider of the index (G:Z) of the centre of G.

Does anybody know how to proof this?

Peter Mulder
• September 26th 2010, 01:41 PM
tonio
Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterMulder
I would like to proof the following in the case of groups of finite order:

the number of elements of an arbitrary class of conjugated elements is a divider of the index (G:Z) of the centre of G.

Does anybody know how to proof this?

Peter Mulder

Let a group $G$ act on itself by conjugation: $G\times G\rightarrow G\,,\,g\cdot x\to gxg^{-1}$ , then $|Orb(x)|=[G:Stab(x)]$ ,

with $Stab(x):=\{g\in G/\,gxg^{-1}=x\}=C_G(x)=$ the centralizer of $x$ in $G$

Since $Orb(x)$ is the equivalence class of $x$ and since $Z(G)\leq C_G(x)$ , we're done by Lagrange's theorem

Tonio
• September 27th 2010, 09:14 AM
PeterMulder
Thank you Tonio!