Abstract
The Ore conjecture, proved by the authors, states that every element of every finite non-abelian simple group is a commutator. In this paper we use similar methods to prove that every element of every finite simple group is a product of two squares. This can be viewed as a non-commutative analogue of Lagrange's four squares theorem. Results for higher powers are also obtained.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 21-33 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society |
| Volume | 140 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2012 |