Lagrange theorem on subgroup size

https://arbital.com/p/lagrange_theorem_on_subgroup_size

by Patrick Stevens Jun 17 2016 updated Jun 17 2016

Lagrange's Theorem is an important restriction on the sizes of subgroups of a finite group.


Lagrange's Theorem states that if is a finite Group and a subgroup, then the order of divides the order of . It generalises to infinite groups: the statement then becomes that the left cosets form a [set_partition partition], and for any pair of cosets, there is a bijection between them.

Proof

In full generality, the cosets form a partition and are all in bijection.

To specialise this to the finite case, we have divided the elements of into buckets of size (namely, the cosets), so must in particular be an integer.