Abstract
Let 𝐺 be a nonabelian group. We say that 𝐺 has an abelian partition if there exists a partition of 𝐺 into commuting subsets A1,A2,…,An of 𝐺 such that |Ai|⩾2 for each i = 1, 2, …, n. This paper investigates problems relating to groups with abelian partitions. Among other results, we show that every finite group is isomorphic to a subgroup of a group with an abelian partition and also isomorphic to a subgroup of a group with no abelian partition. We also find bounds for the minimum number of partitions for several families of groups which admit abelian partitions – with exact calculations in some cases. Finally, we examine how the size of a partition with the minimum number of parts behaves with respect to the direct product.