ON THE NUMBER OF PRIME ORDER SUBGROUPS OF FINITE GROUPS.

Let G be a finite group and let δ(G) be the number of prime order subgroups of G. We determine the groups G with the property δ(G) > ∣G ∣/2 - 1, extending earlier work of C. T. C. Wall, and we use our classification to obtain new results on the generation of near-rings by units of prime order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]