Indian Institute of Science Education and Research

Proof of Sylow’s Theorem (MTH 311)

Anupam Singh

There are many proofs of Sylow’s Theorem available. I find the proof using Group
actions more conceptual hence I present that here.
Let p be a prime. A group of order pr , for some r, is called a p-group. We list some
of the properties of these groups.

Theorem 1 (p-Groups). Let G be a p group of order pr . Then,

(1) The center of G is nontrivial.
(2) G has a subgroup of order ps for all 0 ≤ s ≤ r.
(3) Moreover if G is acting on a finite set X. Then,
|X| ≡ |X G | (mod p)
where X G = {x ∈ X | gx = x∀g ∈ G}.
(4) In particular, |Z(G)| ≡ 0 (mod p).

Proof. Look at X − X G which is a union of nontrivial orbits. (We can also use class
equation here). 
We now prove Sylow’s Theorem one by one making use of group actions and the above
result.

Theorem 2 (Sylow (1)). Let G be a group with |G| = pn m. Then Sylow p-subgroups
exist.

Proof. We use induction on |G|. We may assume n ≥ 1. Let us denote C for the center
of G.
(1) (p | |C|) In this case C is Abelian and it has a subgroup of order p, say D.
Consider the group G/D. It has order pn−1 m. Using induction we have a sylow
subgroup P/D of G/D. Hence the subgroup P is a sylow subgroup of G.
(2) (p - |C|) Consider X = G − C. The group G acts on X by conjugation. Say X
is the union of conjugacy classes Cl1 , Cl2 , . . . , Clr . Since p - |X| (else it would
1
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divide |C|) there exists i such that p - |Cli |. Say, Cli is the conjugacy class of
g ∈ G. Consider H = CG (g). Then H is a proper subgroup of G (because g is
|G|
not central) such that pn | |H|. Since |H| = |Cl i|
along with p - |Cli | we get the
required result. Now we use induction hypothesis on H. Moreover any Sylow
p-subgroup of H will be Sylow p-subgroup of G.


Theorem 3 (Sylow (2)). With the notation as above, let P be a Sylow p-subgroup. Let
Q be any p-subgroup of G. There exists g ∈ G such that Q ⊂ gP g −1 . In particular,
Sylow p-subgroups are conjugate.

Proof. Consider the set X = G/P = {aP | a ∈ G}. The group Q acts on X by left
translations as follows:
q.aP = (qa)P.
We use the statement from p-group action to deduce that |X| ≡ |X Q | (mod p). Since
|X| = |G|
|P |
6≡ 0 (mod p) hence so is |X G |. Hence there exists g ∈ G such that Q.gP = gP ,
i.e., Q ⊂ gP g −1 . 

Theorem 4 (Sylow (3)). The number of Sylow p-subgroup, np ≡ 1 (mod p).

Proof. Let P be a Sylow p-subgroup. Let X = {P1 , P2 , . . . , Pnp } be the collection of all
Sylow p-subgroups. The group P acts on X by conjugation. Hence 1 = |X P | ≡ |X| = np
(mod p).