Simple groups and strong covers. (Q2382971)

For a finite group \(G\) let \(\text{cd}(G)\) denote the set of irreducible characters of \(G\). If \(n\) is a natural number let \(\pi(n)\) denote the set of all the prime divisors of \(n\). If \(G\) is a finite group then we set \(\pi(G)=\pi(|G|)\). Let \(S\) be a nonabelian simple group and let \(X\) be the set of all the prime divisors of \(|S|\). A subset \(C\) of \(\text{cd}(G)\) strongly covers \(X\) if some fixed prime divides every member of \(C\) and every prime in \(X\) divides at least one member of \(C\). When there is such a set, the strong covering number \(\text{scn}(S)\) is assigned to \(S\) which is the cardinality of a smallest set \(C\) which strongly covers \(X\). In the paper under review the author classifies all finite simple groups \(S\) for which there is a strong covering of \(S\). In case there is such a covering the author finds the strong covering number of the simple group in question.