Alternating group
Definition An alternating group is the group of even permutations of a finite set.
The alternating group on the set {1,...,n} is called
the alternating group of degree n,
or the alternating group on n letters and denoted by An or Alt(n).
Basic properties
For n > 1, the group An is the commutator subgroup of the symmetric group Sn
with index 2 and has therefore n!/2 elements.
It is the kernel of the signature group homomorphism sgn
: Sn → {1, −1}
(see explained under symmetric group Wikipedia.org)
The group An is abelian if and only if n ≤ 3 and
simple if and only if n = 3 or n ≥ 5.
A5 is the smallest non-abelian simple group, having order 60,
and the smallest non-solvable group.