One of my favorite results from Math 412 is the following:
Claim. The symmetry group of a regular tetrahedron is isomorphic to the
alternating group A4.
Proof sketch. Given a group action of G on X, we can fix
g∈G and denote x↦g⋅x by ad(g):X→X. Using
basic properties of group actions, we can show that ad is a
homomorphism from G to the group of bijections on X, denoted
Bij(X).
Importantly, we can show ad is injective iff the action is
faithful. This follows because
ker(ad)={e}⇔only e∈G induces the identity g⋅x=x⇔ faithful.
Now we consider the canonical action of the symmetries of a tetrahedron
Sym(T) on the faces of a tetrahedron X={f1,f2,f3,f4}.
Clearly the action is faithful, so we know immediately that
ad:Sym(T)→Bij(X)≅S4 is
injective. This implies im ad≅Sym(T).
But im ad contains the set of 3-cycles (corresponding to a cycle
of any three faces about their shared vertex), which is a generating set for
A4. So A4⊆im ad, implying that there exists a surjection
from Sym(T) to A4.
Finally, since ∣Sym(T)∣=12=∣A4∣, we conclude
Sym(T)≅A4.