Arithmetic progressions in finite groups

In this paper, we describe the structure of finite groups whose element orders or proper (abelian) subgroup orders form an arithmetic progression of ratio [Formula: see text]. This extends the case [Formula: see text] studied in previous papers [R. Brandl and W. Shi, Finite groups whose element orders are consecutive integers, J. Algebra 143 (1991) 388–400; Y. Feng, Finite groups whose abelian subgroup orders are consecutive integers, J. Math. Res. Exp. 18 (1998) 503–506; W. Shi, Finite groups whose proper subgroup orders are consecutive integers, J. Math. Res. Exp. 14 (1994) 165–166].

Sums of element orders in groups of odd order

For a finite group [Formula: see text], let [Formula: see text] denote the sum of element orders of [Formula: see text]. If [Formula: see text] is a positive integer let [Formula: see text] be the cyclic group of order [Formula: see text]. It is known that [Formula: see text] is the maximum value of [Formula: see text] on the set of groups of order [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text] is cyclic of order [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we investigate the second largest value of [Formula: see text] on the set of groups of order [Formula: see text] and the structure of groups [Formula: see text] of order [Formula: see text] with this value of [Formula: see text] when [Formula: see text] is odd.

A generalization of a result on the sum of element orders of a finite group

Let G be a finite group and let ψ(G) denote the sum of element orders of G. It is well-known that the maximum value of ψ on the set of groups of order n, where n is a positive integer, will occur at the cyclic group Cn . For nilpotent groups, we prove a natural generalization of this result, obtained by replacing the element orders of G with the element orders relative to a certain subgroup H of G.