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The proposition I want to prove is this: If $H, K$ are normal subgroups of a finite group $G$ such that $G=HK$, and $P$ is a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $G$, then we have that $P = (P\cap H)(P\cap K)$.

Since $P$ is a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $G$, and $H, K$ are normal, we have that $(P\cap H)$ and $(P\cap K)$ are Sylow $p$-subgroups of $H$ and $K$ respectively.

Then we also know that $|(P\cap H)(P\cap K)|= \frac{(|P\cap H|)(|P\cap K|)}{|P\cap H\cap K|}$, so the cardinality of $(P\cap H)(P\cap K)$ is a power of the prime number $p$.

Edit: A not so immediate fact is that actually $(P\cap H)(P\cap K)$ is a group. To see that we could think of the normalizer of $P$ in $G$. Then $P\cap H$ is a normal subgroup of $N_G(P)$ and so is $P\cap K$, hence $(P\cap H)(P\cap K)$ is a group and actually it is a normal $p$-subgroup of $N_G(P) $.

I'm not sure how to continue from there. Thank you in advance for any help!

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    Hint: First show that it is true if $H\cap K=<1>$, using that $P\cap H$ is a Sylow subgroup of $H$ and $PH/H$ a Sylow subgroup of $G/H$. – ahulpke Dec 05 '20 at 18:20
  • Thanks a lot! I'm not sure how exactly you solved it but I'll write down some details based on your hint/idea: From the well-known isomorphism theorems, we have that $\frac{PH}{H} \approx \frac{P}{P\cap H}$ and that $\frac{G}{H} \approx \frac{K}{H\cap K}$. We also know that $P\cap K$ is a Sylow subgroup of K, and we can show that the Sylow subgroups of $\frac{K}{H\cap K}$ have order of $\frac{|P\cap K|}{|P\cap H \cap K|}$. Eventually we get that $|P| = \frac{|P\cap H||P\cap K|}{|P\cap H \cap K|}$ and from there we get the result. – Nothing just that Dec 05 '20 at 21:08

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