proof of the Burnside basis theorem
Let be a -group and its Frattini subgroup.
Every maximal subgroup of is of index in and is thereforenormal in . Thus . So given, which proves . Likewise, is abelian so. As is any maximal subgroup, it follows and lie in .
Now both and are characteristic subgroups of so in particular is normal in . If we pass to we find that is abelian and every element has order – that is, is a vector space over . So the maximal subgroups of are in a 1-1 correspondence with the hyperplanes
of . As the intersection
of all hyperplanes of a vector space is the origin, it follows the intersection of all maximal subgroups of is . That is, .