Solvable groups as iterated semidirect products of supersolvable groups

finite-groupssemidirect-productsolvable-groups

All my groups are assumed to be finite. My question is the following:

Is every solvable group an iterated semidirect product of
supersolvable groups?

A group $G$ is said to be supersolvable if there exists a composition series $\{e\}=G_n\leq G_{n-1}\dots\leq G_1\leq G_0=G$ such that for all $i$ one has $G_i\unlhd G$ and $G_{i-1}/G_i$ is cyclic.

By an iterated semi-direct product of supersolvable groups, I mean a group $H$ such that there exist supersolvable groups $H_1,\dots,H_r$ coming with an isomorphism $H\simeq H_1\rtimes (H_2\rtimes\dots \rtimes(H_{r-1}\rtimes H_r))$.

Best Answer

If I've understood the question correctly, then no. There are soluble but non-supersoluble groups that cannot be expressed as a semi-direct product. I think the smallest example is the binary octahedral group of order $48$. It has $3$ proper non-trivial normal subgroups, and one can check (via computer) that none of them is complemented.