The Hall theorem for soluble groups says that for every prime set , a finite soluble group has Hall -subgroups; they are all conjugate, and every -subgroup is contained in one. A Hall -subgroup has only primes in in its order and no primes in in its index.
For a proof outline, induct on the group order and choose a minimal normal subgroup . In a finite soluble group this is elementary abelian of some characteristic : its derived subgroup is characteristic and solvability forces it to be trivial; primary components and the subgroup of elements of order dividing are then characteristic, so minimality gives an elementary abelian p-group. Choose a Hall -subgroup of and let be its preimage. If , is itself a Hall -subgroup. If , has order prime to and coprime splitting over an elementary abelian normal subgroup supplies a complement to in , of the required Hall order.
Here the complement fact has a short averaging proof. Choose a section of and write its multiplication defect as , in additive notation. Associativity gives
Since is invertible on , averaging over expresses the defect as ; adjusting the section by gives a homomorphic section. Two such complements differ by . Averaging this identity gives , so they are conjugate by . Inductive conjugacy in the quotient followed by this complement conjugacy proves Hall conjugacy. To embed an arbitrary -subgroup , first put its quotient inside the chosen quotient Hall subgroup. In the coprime case and the corresponding subgroup of a complement are both complements to inside , hence are -conjugate. In the other case directly. This proves Hall conjugacy and embedding in finite soluble groups as well as existence.
Now prove the assertion about maximal subgroups by induction on . Suppose a nontrivial normal subgroup is contained in . If , maximality gives , and since this gives . If , both and are maximal in ; induction yields either their product equal to or their conjugacy, lifting respectively to or to conjugacy of . The same applies with their roles reversed.
It remains to suppose that no nontrivial normal subgroup of lies in either maximum. Let be minimal normal, an elementary abelian p-group. Since lies in neither maximum, . The intersection is normalized by and by the abelian group , hence by ; it is therefore trivial. Likewise . Thus both and complement . Their action on is irreducible, since an invariant subspace would be a proper nontrivial normal subgroup of . It is also faithful: is normalized by and centralized by , so is a normal subgroup of contained in and must be trivial.
If , these assumptions force and to have prime order. Otherwise choose normal in with minimal normal in . It is an elementary abelian r-group. Under , its copy is a nontrivial normal subgroup of . The prime differs from : a p-group acting on the characteristic-p vector space has nonzero fixed points, by counting its orbits on modulo . Its fixed subspace would be -invariant, hence all of by irreducibility, contrary to faithfulness of .
Therefore and are Sylow r-subgroups of . They are conjugate in . Conjugate so that these intersections coincide as . Since , . It cannot equal , since would then be a nontrivial normal subgroup contained in . Maximality gives , and the same argument gives . The conjugated maxima are equal. Hence
This is the factorization-or-conjugacy property of maximal subgroups of a finite soluble group.