English

The involution width of finite simple groups

Group Theory 2016-11-22 v1

Abstract

For a finite group generated by involutions, the involution width is defined to be the minimal kNk\in\mathbb{N} such that any group element can be written as a product of at most kk involutions. We show that the involution width of every non-abelian finite simple group is at most 44. This result is sharp, as there are families with involution width precisely 4.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1611.06900,
  title  = {The involution width of finite simple groups},
  author = {Alexander J. Malcolm},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1611.06900},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

35 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-22T16:59:31.716Z