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Lemma·L36

Raising to the group order gives the identity

In a finite group, every element raised to the number of group elements is the identity.

Let be a group with finite. Then with powers from D043 and from D035.
In words
In a finite group, for every g, if g is an element of the group then applying g to itself as many times as there are elements in the group brings you back to the identity.
Never needed: F10 · A03 · A04 · A05 · A07 (computed from the citation graph, not asserted).

Proof

  1. 1
    Fix and let (D044). By T15, , so for some (D030).
  2. 2
    Then using L32 (ii) (so ), (D044), and L32 (iii) ( ).

Remarks

Specialised to the multiplicative group of nonzero residues modulo a prime, this is Fermat's little theorem ; modulo a general it is Euler's theorem. Both statements await modular arithmetic, which needs the integers and quotient rings, not yet constructed in this library. The proof uses only that the order of divides (T15).