The expected number of elements to generate a finite group with $d$-generated Sylow subgroups

Abstract

Given a finite group $G,$ let $e(G)$ be the expected number of elements of $G$ which have to be drawn at random, with replacement, before a set of generators is found. If all of the Sylow subgroups of $G$ can be generated by $d$ elements, then $e(G)\leq d+\kappa $, where $\kappa $ is an absolute constant that is explicitly described in terms of the Riemann zeta function and is the best possible in this context. Approximately, $\kappa $ equals 2.752394. If $G$ is a permutation group of degree $n,$ then either $G={Sym} (3)$ and $e(G)=2.9$ or $e(G)\leq \lfloor n/2\rfloor +\kappa ^*$ with $\kappa ^* \sim 1.606695.$ These results improve weaker bounds recently obtained by Lucchini.