True or false: every element of $S_{60}$ is a composition of disjoint cyclic permutations of lengths 3 and 4.

77 Views Asked by At

please explain I am trying to learn abstract algebra. I would appreciate any abstract algebra recourses you have to offer in general. Links to books, videos etc.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

8
On

Every element of $S_n$ has a unique decomposition into the composition of disjoint cycles. Consider $(1,2,3,\dots,60)\in S_{60}$. This is already a composition of disjoint cycles, so it is unique. But it does not have length $3$ or $4$! What can you conclude?