Systematic way to figure out all permutations (composed of disjoint cycles) of a set

abstract-algebragroup-theorypermutations

I am trying to solve the following problem:

For the symmetric group $S_7$, determine all possible $n \in N$, such that $n$ is the order of a permutation $p \in S_7$. For each possible value of $n$, provide an example of a permutation using that order, composed as a product of disjoint cycles.

I guess the way to solve this problem is to systematically list all possible compositions of disjoint cycles of $S_7$'s permutations and then determining that composition's order. However, I don't know of any systematic way to list these compositions of disjoint cycles. Is there a standard way of accomplishing this?

Best Answer

You will have to break it up by the partitions of n

In your case with $S_{7}$ you can break it up by, where (n) denotes a cycle of length n,

(7)
(6)(1)
(5)(2)
(5)(1)(1)
...

For a general approach to generating partitions of n, see this geeksforgeeks post: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/generate-unique-partitions-of-an-integer/.

It can be proven that the order of each permutation that is a product of disjoint cycles is the least common multiple of all the orders of the disjoint cycles.