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Let $G$ be a group of order $75=3 *5^2$. How many Sylow subgroups does G have?
$|Syl_5(G)|$ has to divide 3 $\Rightarrow$ $|Syl_5(G)|\in \{1,3\}$ BUT $3\not\equiv_51$ $\Rightarrow$ $|Syl_5(G)|=1$
$|Syl_3(G)|$ has to divide 25 $\Rightarrow$ $|Syl_3(G)|\in \{1,5,25\}$ BUT $5\not\equiv_31$ $\Rightarrow$ $|Syl_3(G)|=1$ or $|Syl_3(G)|=25$
Does that mean I can have 2 or 26 Sylow subgroups? But if I have 26, how can they be subgroups G? Wouldn't it mean that the total order of the subgroups exceed the order of the group?

Shaun
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maramath
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2 Answers2

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Note that Sylow theorems give you necessary conditions for the number of Sylow $p$-groups. Those conditions are not sufficient. In your case, you have proven that $|Syl_5(G)|=1$ and $|Syl_3(G)|\in\{1,25\}$. This means that $|Syl_3(G)|$ and $|Syl_5(G)|$ cannot take any other values than those you've noted - but it doesn't mean they must take all of them.

(The case where those numbers are all $1$ is a bit of an exception. There is always a group where all the numbers of Sylow $p$-groups are $1$. Indeed - take a direct sum of the group's Sylow $p$-groups!)

Which leaves us with the case $|Syl_5(G)|=1$ and $|Syl_3(G)|=25$, for which we still don't know whether it is possible or impossible. Suppose that it is possible, and let's try to either derive a contradiction or construct the group $G$ in which this is true. What we do know is that the Sylow $5$-group is unique (call it $H$, $|H|=25$) and is therefore normal in $G$. On the other hand, you can pick a Sylow $3$-subgroup $K$, $|K|=3$, which is most certainly not normal (Sylow's 2nd theorem - Sylow $3$-groups are all conjugates of each other, so $K$ has $25$ conjugates). We also know that:

Now, the map $\theta_a:h\mapsto a^{-1}ha$ is an automorphism of $H$ and its order must divide the order of $a$ - so its order is either $1$ or $3$. If its order is $1$, however, it means that $a^{-1}ha=h$, i.e. $ah=ha$ for all $h\in H$. This means that every element of $H$ commutes with every element of $K$, and so $G$ turns up a direct sum of $H$ and $K$ - and so $Syl_3(G)=1$.

Thus, the question here really boils down to: is there an automorphism of order $3$ of either $C_{25}$ or $C_5\times C_5$?

  • If there is such an automorphism $\theta$, then you can use it to construct a semidirect product $H\rtimes_\theta K$, with $75$ elements, in which $K$ will be most definitely not normal subgroup - therefore $|Syl_3(G)|$ will be $25$.
  • If there is no such automorphism, then $\theta_a$ must be trivial and we are back to the case $|Syl_3(G)|=1$

Let's check the two cases:

  • $H\cong C_{25}$: Let $b$ be a generator of $H$. An automorphism of $H$ sends $b$ into another generator $b^i$ (where $i$ is coprime to $25$). The order of this automorphism is the smallest number $n$ such that $i^n\equiv 1\pmod{25}$, for which Euler's theorem tells us $n\mid 20$ (as $\varphi(25)=20$). As $3\not\mid 20$, this automorphism cannot be of order $3$.
  • $H\cong C_5\times C_5$: One can see that $H$ is then a vector space over $\mathbb Z_5$ of dimension $2$ and every automorphism of it is given by an invertible matrix $A=\begin{bmatrix}p&q\\r&s\end{bmatrix}\in M_2(\mathbb Z_5)$. So we are looking for the $2\times 2$ matrix $A\in M_2(\mathbb Z_5)$ such that $A\ne I$ but $A^3=I$. As it happens, there is such a matrix: take, for example, $A=\begin{bmatrix}-1&1\\-1&0\end{bmatrix}$.

Let us just show how this automorphism acts on $C_5\times C_5$: if the elements of $C_5\times C_5$ are represented as $u^iv^j$ where $u$ and $v$ are the generators of the two $C_5$'s and $i,j\in\mathbb Z_5$, then $\theta_A(u^iv^j)=u^{-i+j}v^{-i}$, because $\begin{bmatrix}-1&1\\-1&0\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}i\\j\end{bmatrix}=\begin{bmatrix}-i+j\\-i\end{bmatrix}$.

With that automorphism, your group $G$ can be constructed, as shown above, as $(C_5\times C_5)\rtimes_{\theta_A}C_3$, and it will have $25$ Sylow $3$-groups.

  • This is just a hugely elaborated earlier answer by Angina Seng, by the way - the idea is exactly the same. –  Sep 05 '20 at 12:43
  • What should I do if I have a group of order $3^2 * 5^2$? In this I case the 3-Sylow can also have cardinality 1 or 25, but the 3-Sylow subgroup is $K\simeq C_9$ or $K\simeq C_3xC_3$. Should I look for an automorphism of H of order 9? But $C_3xC_3$ isn't a cyclic group of order 9...Thank you for your patience – maramath Sep 06 '20 at 09:51
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    You definitely have those two cases. For $K\cong C_9$ you need to check for an automorphism of $H$ of order $9$. (Which won't exist as $|M_2(\mathbb Z_5)|=480$ and $9\not\mid 480$.) For $K\cong C_3\times C_3$ you only need an automorphism of $H$ of order $3$ because, once you find such an automorphism $\theta$, you can map elements $u^iv^j\in C_3\times C_3, i,j\in\mathbb Z_3$ into $\theta^i$, for example. (In other words, $u\mapsto\theta, v\mapsto\text{Id}_H$.) –  Sep 06 '20 at 09:59
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$25$ Sylow $3$ subgroups would consist of the identity, and $2\times 25=50$ elements of order $3$, so overall $51$ elements, leaving $24$ remaining. So there is plenty of room for them.

Let $H=Z_5\times Z_5$ be an order $25$-group. If it has an automorphism of order $3$ one can form a semi-direct product with the group $Z_3$ to give a non-Abelian group $G$ of order $75$ with $25$ Sylow $3$-subgroups.

Is there such an automorphism?

Angina Seng
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