Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2018
In this paper finite groups with the property M, that every maximal subgroup has prime or prime square index, are investigated. A short but ingenious argument was given by P. Hall which showed that such groups are solvable.
B. Huppert showed that a finite group with the property M, that every maximal subgroup has prime index, is supersolvable, i.e. the chief factors are of prime order. We prove here, as a corollary of a more precise result, that if G has property M and is of odd order, then the chief factors of G are of prime or prime square order. The even-order case is different. For every odd prime p and positive integer m we shall construct a group of order 2apb with property M which has a chief factor of order larger than m.