Group bases for some solvable groups and semidirect products

Abstract

A set $B$ is a basis for a vector space $V$ if every element of $V$ can be uniquely written as a linear combination of the elements of $B$. There is a similar definition of a basis for a finite group. We show that certain semidirect products of finite groups---including all semidirect products of finite abelian groups---have bases; any group of order $m$ or $2m$ for odd, cube-free $m$ has a basis; and the quaternions do not have a basis.

2 pages