Character Theory of Finite Groups

1. (i) Suppose K is a conjugacy class of Sn contained in An; then K is called split if K is a union of two conjugacy classes of An. Show that the number of split conjugacy classes contained in An is equal to the number of characters χ ∈ Irr(Sn) such that χAn is not irreducible. (Hint. Consider the vector space of class functions on An which are invariant under conjugation by the transposition (12).)