Maximal independent generating sets of the symmetric group (Q1588403)

The author defines a subset \(S\) of a group \(G\) to be ``independent'' if no element of \(S\) lies in the subgroup generated by the remaining elements in \(S\). Clearly \(S:=\left\{(1 2),(2 3),\ldots,(n-1 n)\right\}\) is an independent set of \(n-1\) elements which generates the symmetric group \(S_n\). On the other hand, let \(S\) be any independent set in \(S_n\). The author proves that \(|S|\leq n-1\), and that \(S\) generates \(S_n\) whenever \(|S|=n-1\). The proof is surprisingly difficult; it uses the O'Nan-Scott theorem and the classification of finite simple groups.