Herstein: Topics in Algebra - Definition, Examples and

Preliminary Lemmas of Groups

by Bret Sherfinski

April 22, 2015

11. If G is a group of even order, prove it has an element a 6= e satisfying a2 = e.

Proof: First note that a2 = e if and only if a = a−1 , so a is its own inverse.
Considering all non-identity elements of G, suppose the contrary, that a 6= a−1 for all a ∈ G
where a 6= e. Inverses both exist and are unique. Furthermore, since (a−1 )−1 = a we can
group the non-identity elements into pairs as (a, a−1 ). Therefore the non-identity elements
under this assumption would be even numbered and when including the identity element,
e , in the count for all of G we would have an odd number contrary to our assumption that
G is of even order.
Hence, there must exist an a 6= e such that a = a−1 or a2 = e.
(This is Cauchy’s Theorem for the prime 2 which we will state later.)