Paper 3, Section II,
Part IA, 2017
(a) Let be a finite group acting on a finite set . State the Orbit-Stabiliser theorem. [Define the terms used.] Prove that
where is the number of distinct orbits of under the action of .
Let , and for , let .
Show that
and deduce that
(b) Let be the group of rotational symmetries of the cube. Show that has 24 elements. [If your proof involves calculating stabilisers, then you must carefully verify such calculations.]
Using , find the number of distinct ways of colouring the faces of the cube red, green and blue, where two colourings are distinct if one cannot be obtained from the other by a rotation of the cube. [A colouring need not use all three colours.]