Loops and the Lagrange property. (Q1412969)

A finite loop \(L\) is said to have the weak Lagrange property (briefly w.L.p.) if, for each subloop \(K\) of \(L\), \(| K|\) divides \(| L|\). It has the strong Lagrange property (briefly s.L.p.) if every subloop \(K\) has the weak Lagrange property. It is known that if \(L\) is a loop with a normal subloop \(N\) such that \(N\) has the w.L.p. (resp. s.L.p.) and \(L/N\) has the w.L.p. (resp. s.L.p.) then \(L\) enjoys the same property. Such result implies, for instance, that if \(L\) is a Moufang loop with an associative normal subloop \(K\) such that \(L/K\) satisfies either the s.L.p. or that \(| L/K|\) is odd then \(L\) has the s.L.p.. As a consequence, it turns out that every commutative Moufang loop has the s.L.p.. In this note the authors state the following main theorem: Let \({\mathcal F}\) be a non-empty family of finite loops such that: (i) if \(L\in{\mathcal F}\) and \(N\triangleleft L\), then \(N\in{\mathcal F}\); (ii) if \(L\in{\mathcal F}\) and \(N\triangleleft L\) then \(L/N\in{\mathcal F}\); (iii) every simple loop in \({\mathcal F}\) has the w.L.p.; then every loop in \({\mathcal F}\) has the w.L.p. An interesting consequence of this result is that if \({\mathcal V}\) is a variety of loops such that every simple loop in \({\mathcal V}\) has the w.L.p. then every loop in \({\mathcal V}\) has the s.L.p. Such a corollary can be applied to those classes of loops for which there exists a classification of all simple loops of this class. For instance, for the variety of Moufang loops, it is known that every simple nonassociative Moufang loop is isomorphic to a Paige loop. Since the w.L.p. is valid for the smallest 120-element Paige loop and the next smallest Paige loop has order 1080 the authors conclude that every Moufang loop of oder less than 1080 has the s.L.p. The results contained in this note could be useful also for takling the problem of the existence of finite simple non-Moufang Bol loops.