Paper 2, Section II, G

Representation Theory
Part II, 2013

Recall that a regular icosahedron has 20 faces, 30 edges and 12 vertices. Let GG be the group of rotational symmetries of a regular icosahedron.

Compute the conjugacy classes of GG. Hence, or otherwise, construct the character table of GG. Using the character table explain why GG must be a simple group.

[You may use any general theorems provided that you state them clearly.]