We find an upper bound for the number of groups of order n up to isomorphism in the variety ${\mathfrak {S}}={\mathfrak {A}_p}{\mathfrak {A}_q}{\mathfrak {A}_r}$, where p, q and r are distinct primes. We also find a bound on the orders and on the number of conjugacy classes of subgroups that are maximal amongst the subgroups of the general linear group that are also in the variety $\mathfrak {A}_q\mathfrak {A}_r$.

We prove that, given a finitely generated subgroup H of a free group F, the following questions are decidable: is H closed (dense) in F for the pro-(met)abelian topology? Is the closure of H in F for the pro-(met)abelian topology finitely generated? We show also that if the latter question has a positive answer, then we can effectively construct a basis for the closure, and the closure has decidable membership problem in any case. Moreover, it is decidable whether H is closed for the pro-$\mathbf {V}$ topology when $\mathbf {V}$ is an equational pseudovariety of finite groups, such as the pseudovariety $\mathbf {S}_k$ of all finite solvable groups with derived length $\leq k$. We also connect the pro-abelian topology with the topologies defined by abelian groups of bounded exponent.

It is shown that, for every prime number p, the complete lattice of all semidirectly closed pseudovarieties of finite monoids whose intersection with the pseudovariety G of all finite groups is equal to the pseudovariety Gp of all finite p-groups has the cardinality of the continuum. Furthermore, it is shown, in addition, that the complete lattice of all semidirectly closed pseudovarieties of finite monoids whose intersection with the pseudovariety G of all finite groups is equal to the pseudovariety Gsol of all finite solvable groups has also the cardinality of the continuum.

The class of all monolithic (that is, subdirectly irreducible) groups belonging to a variety generated by a finite nilpotent group can be axiomatised by a finite set of elementary sentences.

A class of abelian topological groups was previously defined to be a variety of topological groups with coproducts if it is closed under forming subgroups, quotients, products and coproducts in the category of all abelian topological groups and continuous homomorphisms. This extended research on varieties of topological groups initiated by the second author. The key to describing varieties of topological groups generated by various classes was proving that all topological groups in the variety are a quotient of a subgroup of a product of groups in the generating class. This paper analyses generating varieties of topological groups with coproducts. It focuses on the interplay between forming products and coproducts. It is proved that the variety of topological groups with coproducts generated by all discrete groups contains topological groups which cannot be expressed as a quotient of a subgroup of a product of a coproduct of discrete groups. It is proved that the variety of topological groups with coproducts generated by any infinite-dimensional Hilbert space contains all infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, answering an open question. This contrasts with the result that a variety of topological groups generated by a topological group does not contain any infinite-dimensional Hilbert space of greater cardinality.

A magma$\left( M,\star \right)$ is a nonempty set with a binary operation. A double magma$\left( M,\star ,\bullet \right)$ is a nonempty set with two binary operations satisfying the interchange law$\left( w\star x \right)\bullet \left( y\star z \right)=\left( w\bullet y \right)\star \left( x\bullet z \right)$. We call a double magma proper if the two operations are distinct, and commutative if the operations are commutative. A double semigroup, first introduced by Kock, is a double magma for which both operations are associative. Given a non-trivial group $G$ we define a system of two magma $\left( G,\star ,\bullet \right)$ using the commutator operations $x\star y=\left[ x,y \right]\left( ={{x}^{-1}}{{y}^{-1}}xy \right)$ and $x\bullet y=\left[ y,x \right]$. We show that $\left( G,\star ,\bullet \right)$ is a double magma if and only if $G$ satisfies the commutator laws $\left[ x,y;x,z \right]=1$ and ${{\left[ w,x;y,z \right]}^{2}}=1$. We note that the first law defines the class of 3-metabelian groups. If both these laws hold in $G$, the double magma is proper if and only if there exist ${{x}_{0}},{{y}_{0}}\in G$ for which ${{\left[ {{x}_{0}},{{y}_{0}} \right]}^{2}}\ne 1$. This double magma is a double semigroup if and only if $G$ is nilpotent of class two. We construct a specific example of a proper double semigroup based on the dihedral group of order 16. In addition, we comment on a similar construction for rings using Lie commutators.

We show that [z, y]−1[z, x]−1[y, x]−1[z, y][z, x][y, x] = 1 is another defining law for the variety of 3-metabelian groups.

Finite groups with abelian Sylow p-subgroups for certain primes p are characterized in terms of arithmetical properties of commutators.

The variety of topological groups generated by the class of all abelian kω-groups has been shown to equal the variety of topological groups generated by the free abelian topological group on [0, 1]. In this paper it is proved that the free abelian topological group on a compact Hausdorff space X generates the same variety if and only if X is not scattered.

A proof is given that a permutation group in which different finite sets have different stabilizers cannot satisfy any group law. For locally compact topological groups with this property, almost all finite subsets of the group are shown to generate free subgroups. Consequences of these theorems are derived for: Thompson's group $F$, weakly branch groups, automorphism groups of regular trees, and profinite groups with alternating composition factors of unbounded degree.

The first example of a non-finitely based variety of centre-by-abelian-by-nilpotent groups was found in 1995. This example has an infinite exponent but it can be seen that the method used to construct it also gives a variety that has an exponent of 128. Later it was proved that there exists a variety with similar properties but with an exponent of 32. The paper constructs a non-finitely based variety of centre-by-abelian-by-nilpotent groups which has an exponent of 8.

If ω ≡ 1 is a group law implying virtual nilpotence in every finitely generated metabelian group satisfying it, then it implies virtual nilpotence for the finitely generated groups of a large class of groups including all residually or locally soluble-or-finite groups. In fact the groups of satisfying such a law are all nilpotent-by-finite exponent where the nilpotency class and exponent in question are both bounded above in terms of the length of ω alone. This yields a dichotomy for words. Finally, if the law ω ≡ 1 satisfies a certain additional condition—obtaining in particular for any monoidal or Engel law—then the conclusion extends to the much larger class consisting of all ‘locally graded’ groups.

A challenge by R. Padmanabhan to prove by group theory the commutativity of cancellative semigroups satisfying a particular law has led to the proof of more general semigroup laws being equivalent to quite simple ones.

This paper is concerned with the question of whether n-Engel groups are locally nilpotent. Although this seems unlikely in general, it is shown here that it is the case for the groups in a large class C including all residually soluble and residually finite groups (in fact all groups considered in traditional textbooks on group theory). This follows from the main result that there exist integers c(n), e(n) depending only on n, such that every finitely generated n-Engel group in the class C is both finite-of-exponent-e(n)–by–nilpotent-of-class≤c(n) and nilpotent-of-class≤c(n)–by–finite-of-exponent-e(n). Crucial in the proof is the fact that a finitely generated Engel group has finitely generated commutator subgroup.

A group variety defined by one semigroup law in two variables is constructed and it is proved that its free group is not a periodic extension of a locally soluble group.

In this paper we show that any system of equations over a free nilpotent group of class c is either unitary or miliary. In fact, such a system either has a most general solution (akin to the most general solution of a system of linear dipohantine equations), or every solution has a proper generalization. In principle we provide an algorithm for determining whether or not a most general solution exists, and exhibiting it if it does.

In a variety generated by a finite non-Abelian group, the commutator subgroup is not definable by a first-order formula.

We describe the structure of the lower central factors of free centre-by-metabelian groups.