Thread: A subgroup of symmetry groups

1. A subgroup of symmetry groups

What is the largest subgroup of $S_{5}$ that is also a primary group. (prime group) and how do you find it. What about for $S_{6}$.

2. Originally Posted by universalsandbox
What is the largest subgroup of $S_{5}$ that is also a primary group. (prime group) and how do you find it. What about for $S_{6}$.
I am not sure what you mean by "primary". If you mean a subgroup of prime order then that is easy to answer. Such as subgroup must be generated by an element of order 5 i.e. a 5-cycle. Thus, $(12345)$ is an element of order 5 and so $\left< (12345)\right>$ is a primary subgroup.

3. yes, I was looking for the Sylow p-subgroup of $S_{5}$
that is, a subgroup of $S_{5}$ being as large as it can be and a p-group.

4. Originally Posted by universalsandbox
yes, I was looking for the Sylow p-subgroup of $S_{5}$
.
Since $|S_5|=5! = 2^3\cdot 3\cdot 5$ so we can look for Sylow $2,3,5$ subgroups.
For the Sylow subgroups of $S_5$ it has order $5$ and so is cyclic. Therefore, the Sylow 5-subgroups are generated by a 5-cycle. The same with $p=3$. With $p=2$ its gets a lot more involved, you can get many dihedral subgroups for example.