Skip to main content

Constructing Groups of ‘Small’ Order: Recent Results and Open Problems

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Abstract

We investigate the state of the art in the computational determination and enumeration of the groups of small order. This includes a survey of the available algorithms and a discussion of their recent improvements. We then show how these algorithms can be used to determine or enumerate the groups of order at most 20, 000 with few exceptions and we discuss the orders in this range which remain as challenging open problems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   89.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. C. Archer, The extension problem and classification of nonsolvable groups. PhD Thesis, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1998

    Google Scholar 

  2. H.U. Besche, B. Eick, Construction of finite groups. J. Symb. Comput. 27, 387–404 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. H.U. Besche, B. Eick, GrpConst - Construction of finite groups (1999). A refereed GAP 4 package, see [29]

    Google Scholar 

  4. H.U. Besche, B. Eick, The groups of order q n ⋅ p. Commun. Algebra 29(4), 1759–1772 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  5. H.U. Besche, B. Eick, E.A. O’Brien, The groups of order at most 2000. Electron. Res. Announc. Am. Math. Soc. 7, 1–4 (2001)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. H.U. Besche, B. Eick, E.A. O’Brien, A millennium project: constructing small groups. Int. J. Algebra Comput. 12, 623–644 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  7. H.U. Besche, B. Eick, E. O’Brien, SmallGroups - a library of groups of small order (2005). A GAP 4 package; Webpage available at www.icm.tu-bs.de/ag_algebra/software/small/small.html

  8. S. Blackburn, P. Neumann, G. Venkataraman, Enumeration of Finite Groups (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. J.J. Cannon, D.F. Holt, Automorphism group computation and isomorphism testing in finite groups. J. Symb. Comput. 35, 241–267 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. A. Cayley, On the theory of groups, as depending on the symbolic equation θ n = 1. Philos. Mag. 4(7), 40–47 (1854)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. J. Conway, H. Dietrich, E. O’Brien, Counting groups: Gnus, Moas and other exotica. Math. Intell. 30, 6–15 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. B. Eick, M. Horn, The construction of finite solvable groups revisited. J. Algebra 408, 166–182 (2014)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  13. B. Eick, E.A. O’Brien, Enumerating p-groups. J. Aust. Math. Soc. 67, 191–205 (1999)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  14. B. Eick, E. O’Brien, AutPGrp - computing the automorphism group of a p -group, Version 1.8 (2016). A refereed GAP 4 package, see [29]

    Google Scholar 

  15. B. Eick, C.R. Leedham-Green, E.A. O’Brien, Constructing automorphism groups of p-groups. Commun. Algebra 30, 2271–2295 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. D. Holt, W. Plesken, Perfect Groups (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. M. Horn, B. Eick, GroupExt - Constructing finite groups (2013). A GAP 4 package, see [29]

    Google Scholar 

  18. M.F. Newman, E.A. O’Brien, M.R. Vaughan-Lee, Groups and nilpotent Lie rings whose order is the sixth power of a prime. J. Algebra 278, 383–401 (2003)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. E.A. O’Brien, The groups of order dividing 256. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, 1988

    Google Scholar 

  20. E. O’Brien, ANUPQ - the ANU p-Quotient algorithm (1990). Also available in Magma and as GAP package

    Google Scholar 

  21. E.A. O’Brien, The p-group generation algorithm. J. Symb. Comput. 9, 677–698 (1990)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  22. E.A. O’Brien, M.R. Vaughan-Lee, The groups with order p 7 for odd prime p. J. Algebra 292(1), 243–258 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  23. L. Pyber, Group enumeration and where it leads us, in European Congress of Mathematics, Volume II (Budapest, 1996), Progress in Mathematics, vol. 169 (Birkhäuser, Basel, 1998), pp. 187–199

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. R. Schwingel, Two matrix group algorithms with applications to computing the automorphism group of a finite p-group. PhD Thesis, QMW, University of London, 2000

    Google Scholar 

  25. J.K. Senior, A.C. Lunn, Determination of the groups of orders 101–161, omitting order 128. Am. J. Math. 56(1–4), 328–338 (1934)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  26. J.K. Senior, A.C. Lunn, Determination of the groups of orders 162–215 omitting order 192. Am. J. Math. 57(2), 254–260 (1935)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  27. M.J. Smith, Computing automorphisms of finite soluble groups. PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, 1995

    Google Scholar 

  28. D. Taunt, Remarks on the isomorphism problem in theories of construction of finite groups. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 51, 16–24 (1955)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  29. The GAP Group, GAP – groups, algorithms and programming, Version 4.4. Available from http://www.gap-system.org (2005)

  30. M. Vaughan-Lee, B. Eick, SglPPow – Database of certain p-groups (2016). A GAP 4 package, see [29]

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank Eamonn O’Brien for comments on drafts of this work. The second author was supported by the DFG Schwerpunkt SPP 1489. The third author was supported by Simons Foundation Collaboration Grant 244502.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bettina Eick .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Eick, B., Horn, M., Hulpke, A. (2017). Constructing Groups of ‘Small’ Order: Recent Results and Open Problems. In: Böckle, G., Decker, W., Malle, G. (eds) Algorithmic and Experimental Methods in Algebra, Geometry, and Number Theory. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70566-8_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics