Commutators of n-cycles in the symmetric group

Abstract

We show that for $n \ge 6$ every even permutation on $n$ symbols is the commutator of two $n$-cycles. More precisely, let $S_n$ be the symmetric group and $A_n$ the alternating group. Let $C(n) \subset S_n$ denote the conjugacy class of $n$-cycles and $[\cdot, \cdot]$ be the commutator of two permutations. We prove: The map $C(n) \times C(n) \to A_n, \ (\tau, \pi) \mapsto [\tau, \pi]$ is surjective for all $n \ge 6$.