What does “transitive” mean in group action

abstract-algebra

By definition, the action of G on A is transitive if there is only one orbit, i.e., given any two numbers a, b ∈ A there is some g ∈ G such that a = g · b.

I want to know why "given any two numbers a, b ∈ A there is some g ∈ G such that a = g · b" is equivalent to "there is only one orbit". Based on what I have learned, the number of the orbits of a is

|O(a)| = |G|/|Ga|

, where Ga is the stabilizer of a.

If there is only one orbit, does it mean that the orbits of all elements of A are the same?

If there is only one orbit, then |O(a)| = 1, so |Ga| = |G|?

I'm so confused with the definition of transitive.

Best Answer

That definition of transitive basically says "given $a,b\in A$, $a$ is in the orbit of $b$". Meaning that any two elements of $A$ are always in the same orbit. But since all elements have exactly one orbit, there can only be one orbit in total.

And the other way around: if there is only one orbit, then all elements have the same orbit. So any given element $a$ is in the orbit of any further given element $b$. Which is your definition of transitive.