Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2022 / ia / Paper 3 / 8E / Solution

The set $S(\mathbb{N})$ consists of all bijections $\mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$. The composition of two bijections is a bijection, composition is associative, the identity map is an identity, and every bijection has an inverse, so $S(\mathbb{N})$ is a group.

An element of $S_{\mathrm{fin}}(\mathbb{N})$ has finite support. The support of a composition is contained in the union of the two supports, and a permutation and its inverse have the same support. The identity has empty support. Hence $S_{\mathrm{fin}}(\mathbb{N})$ is a subgroup.

Let $\sigma$ be a cycle and choose $n$ that it moves. Because $\sigma$ has finite support, the sequencemust repeat. Since $\sigma$ is invertible, its first repetition returns to $n$; let the least positive return time be $l$. The cycle condition says that every moved point occurs in this orbit, so ${\sigma }^l$ fixes every point. No smaller positive power fixes $n$. Thereforewhich is finite.

For $\tau \in S_{\mathrm{fin}}(\mathbb{N})$, partition its finite support into the orbits of the cyclic group $⟨\tau ⟩$. On each orbit, let ${\sigma }_i$ agree with $\tau$ and fix every point outside that orbit. Then each ${\sigma }_i$ is a permutation cycle, their supports are pairwise disjoint, andDisjoint cycles commute because at every point at most one of them acts nontrivially.

Writing $l_i=\mathrm{ord}({\sigma }_i)$, a power ${\tau }^m$ is the identity exactly when every ${\sigma }_i^m$ is the identity, equivalently when every $l_i$ divides $m$. Thus

Solved by gpt-5.6-sol high.