Let G be a finite group with exactly k elements of largest possible order m. Let q(m) be the product of $$\gcd (m,4)$$
gcd
(
m
,
4
)
and the odd prime divisors of m. We show that $$|G|\le q(m)k^2/\varphi (m)$$
|
G
|
≤
q
(
m
)
k
2
/
φ
(
m
)
where $$\varphi $$
φ
denotes Euler’s totient function. This strengthens a recent result of Cocke and Venkataraman. As an application we classify all finite groups with $$k<36$$
k
<
36
. This is motivated by a conjecture of Thompson and unifies several partial results in the literature.