Prove that there are no more than $2$ groups of order $21$.

abstract-algebragroup-theory

Prove that there are no more than $2$ groups of order $21$. How many elements of order $3$ are there in nonabelian group of order $21$?

I have seen few answered questions like this, but none of them help me because I am not allowed to use Sylow's theorems. This is task from exam few years ago and I am not sure did my professor allow them at the time nor is this even possible to prove without Slyow's theorems.

Best Answer

Here is a sketch proof. Let $G$ be a group of order $21$. Then by Cauchy $G$ has an element $x$ of order $7$. Let $P = \langle x \rangle$. Then $P$ is the unique subgroup of $G$ of order $7$, becuase if there was another one $Q$ then we would have $|PQ|=49>|G|$. So $P \lhd G$.

By Cauchy again, $G$ has an element $y$ of order $3$. Then the elements of $S = \{ x^iy^j : 0 \le i \le 6, 0 \le j \le 2 \}$ are all distinct, so $|S|=21$ and hence $S=G$.

Since $P \lhd G$, we have $yxy^{-1} = x^i$ for some $i$ with $1 \le i \le 6$. So $yx = x^iy$, and this relation together with $x^7=y^3=1$ enable us to multiply any two elements of $S$ together. So the isomorphism type of $G$ is determined by $i$.

These three relations also imply that $i=1,2$ or $4$ (I'll leave that as an exercise). Note that $yxy^{-1} = x^4 \Rightarrow y^{-1}xy = x^2$, so by interchanging $y$ and $y^{-1}$, we see that the groups defined by $i=2$ or $4$ (assuming that they exist at all) are isomorphic.

So there are at most two isomorphism types of groups of order $21$, which was what you had to prove. In fact, when $i=1$, we get the abelian group $C_7 \times C_3$, and when $i=2$ or $4$, we get the nonabelian group.

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