A permutation can be made up of more than one cycle. What is the order of the permutation (ABC)(DEFG)(HIJKLMN)? If we repeat this permutation a multiple of three times, the first cycle will leave its objects fixed; if it is repeated a multiple of four times, the second cycle will leave its objects fixed, and so on. Thus the order of such a permutation must be the least common multiple of the lengths of the cycles -in this case, 3 - 4 - 7 = 84. Note that for this to work, the cycles must be disjoint