We show that g ≤ c(Sym(ω)) where g is the groupwise density number and c(Sym(ω)) is the cofinality of the infinite symmetric group. This solves (the second half of) a problem addressed by Thomas.

We study the relationship between the cofinality $c(Sym(\omega))$ of the infinite symmetric group and the cardinal invariants $\frak{u}$ and $\frak{g}$ . In particular, we prove the following two results. Theorem 0.1 It is consistent with ZFC that there exists a simple $P_{\omega_{1}}$ -point and that $c(Sym(\omega)) = \omega_{2} = 2^{\omega}$ . Theorem 0.2 If there exist both a simple $P_{\omega_{1}}$ -point and a $P_{\omega_{2}}$ -point, then $c(Sym(\omega)) = \omega_{1}$.

Assuming CH, let be the saturated random graph of cardinality ω1. In this paper we prove that it is consistent that and can be any two prescribed regular cardinals subject only to the requirement.

We show that under Martin's Axiom, the cofinality cf(Aut(Γ)) of the automorphism group of the random graph Γ is 2 ω.