Non-group ranks in finite full transformation semigroups (Q1393037)

An element of a semigroup \(S\) is a group element of \(S\) if it belongs to a subgroup of \(S\). Otherwise, it is a non-group element of \(S\). Let \(T_n\) denote the full transformation semigroup on the set \(X_n=\{1,2,\dots,n\}\) and for \(2\leq r\leq n\), let \(K(n,r)=\{\alpha\in T_n:| X_n\alpha|\leq r\}\). In the main result, the author shows that the non-group rank of \(K(n,r)\), that is, the minimal number of non-group elements of \(K(n,r)\) which will generate \(K(n,r)\), is \(S(n,r)\), the Stirling number of the second kind. There are some minor errors in the paper but they shouldn't cause any problems. For example, the author states that \(K(n,r)=T_n\) when he means \(K(n,n)=T_n\). Elsewhere, he writes \(\text{Ngrank }S\) which denotes the non-group rank of a semigroup \(S\) when he should write something which denotes the nilpotent rank of a nilpotent generated semigroup \(S\). This error results in the assertion that \(\text{Ngrank }S\leq\text{Ngrank }S\), which while true, is not terribly surprising.