An upper bound for the Davenport constant of finite groups (Q2448293)

The small Davenport constant \(\mathrm{d}(G)\) of a finite group \(G\) is defined as the maximal integer \(t\) such that there exists a \(t\)-element sequence \(S\) of elements of \(G\), not containing a non-empty subsequence of product \(1\). The authors provide an elementary combinatorial argument to show that if \(p=p(G)\) is the smallest prime divisor of \(|G|\), then \(\mathrm{d}(G)\leq\tfrac{|G|}{p}+9p^2-10p\). They conjecture that if \(G\) is non-cyclic, then one has \(\mathrm{d}(G)\leq\tfrac{|G|}{p}+p-2\), and show that this bound would be the best possible.