Cauchy's Theorem (Finite Groups) - Imported Knowlpedia Content

Cauchy's Theorem (Finite Groups). Let $G$ be a finite group, and let $p$ be a prime number such that $p \mid |G|$ . Then there exists an element $g \in G$ with $g \ne e$ and $g^p = e$ ; equivalently, $G$ has a cyclic subgroup of order $p$ .

Remarks

Cauchy's theorem is a partial converse to Lagrange's theorem: instead of saying "subgroup orders divide $|G|$ ," it guarantees the existence of elements of certain prime orders when that prime divides $|G|$ . It is a key input for Sylow's first theorem.