Is every group of order 36 solvable?

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All groups of order 36 are solvable, as demonstrated through the analysis of Sylow subgroups. The Sylow 3-subgroup can either be normal or consist of four subgroups, leading to different cases. If normal, the quotient group is abelian and thus solvable. In the case of four Sylow 3-subgroups, their intersections must also be normal, allowing for the construction of solvable groups through their respective orders. The conclusion is that all scenarios confirm the solvability of groups of this order.
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Here's this week's problem!

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Problem
: Show that all groups of order 36 are solvable.

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Remember to read the http://www.mathhelpboards.com/showthread.php?772-Problem-of-the-Week-%28POTW%29-Procedure-and-Guidelines to find out how to http://www.mathhelpboards.com/forms.php?do=form&fid=2!
 
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This week's problem was correctly answered by Deveno. You can find his solution below.

[sp]I shall use certain results without proof.

Firstly, if $N$ is a normal subgroup of $G$, then $G$ is solvable if and only if $N$ and $G/N$ are both solvable.

First, we look at the Sylow 3-subgroup(s) of $G$. By the Sylow theorems, there can only be 1 or 4 such subgroups (since only 1 and 4 are congruent to 1 mod 3 and divide 12).

Case 1: the Sylow 3-subgroup is normal. In this case, we take $N$ to be this subgroup, and since $G/N$ has order 4, it is abelian, thus solvable. Since $N$ has order 9 = 3*3, it is a group of order $p^2$ for $p = 3$, and thus likewise abelian (this can be shown by showing if $N$ is not cyclic, then $Z(N)$ being non-trivial (every $p$-group has a non-trivial center) must have order $p$ or $p^2$...the first possibility leads to $N/Z(N)$ cyclic, which implies $N$ abelian, the second says $N$ is already abelian).

Case 2: we have 4 Sylow 3-subgroups. Suppose that 2 of them are $H$ and $K$. Now $|H \cap K|$ must be 3, since if $|H \cap K| = 1$ we have:

$|HK| = 81 > 36$, which is impossible, since $HK \subseteq G$.

Now $|H|,|K| = 9$ so we know that $H$ and $K$ (see above) are abelian, thus $H \cap K$ is normal in $H$ and $K$. This implies that $N(H \cap K)$ contains both $H$ and $K$ so $|N(H \cap K)| =$ 18 or 36.

Case 2a: $|N(H \cap K)| = 36$. Here, we see that $H \cap K$ is normal in $G$, so we may take $N = H \cap K$, and thus $N$ is clearly solvable, being cyclic. Thus we are left with showing that $G/N$ of order 12 is solvable. We proceed as before, since $G/N$ has either 1 or 4 Sylow 3-subgroups. If it has just one, then we have a normal subgroup of order 3, and the factor group is of order 4, and these are both abelian. So, without loss of generality, we may assume $G/N$ has 4 Sylow 3-subgroups. These subgroups must have trivial intersection, giving us 8 elements of order 3. This leaves room for just one Sylow 2-subgroup (of order 4), which is consequently normal. Thus, we have a normal subgroup of order 4, which is abelian, and thus solvable, while the factor group has order 3, which is then also solvable (it is cyclic).

Case 2b: $|N(H \cap K)| = 18$. In this case, we may take $N = N(H\cap K)$ since it is of index 2 in $G$. Now, $G/N$ is cyclic of order 2 (thus solvable), so we must show in this case that a group of order 18 is solvable. In this case, we see that the order of a Sylow 3-subgroup is 9, and there can only be 1 such subgroup, since no positive integer of the form 1+3k divides 6 except 1. As this subgroup is normal with index 2, we see both it and the factor group are both abelian, which concludes our argument.

(Note: it should be possible to generalize this somewhat to show that any group of order $p^2q^2$ is solvable).[/sp]
 

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