Principal congruence subgroups of the Hecke groups and related results

In this paper, first, we determine the quotient groups of the Hecke groups H(λ _q ), where q ≥ 7 is prime, by their principal congruence subgroups H _p (λ _q ) oflevel p, where p is also prime. We deal with the case of q = 7 separately, because of its close relation with the Hurwitz groups. Then, using the obtained results, we find the principal congruence subgroups of the extended Hecke groups $ overline H $ overline H (λ _q ) for q ≥ 5 prime. Finally, we show that some of the quotient groups of the Hecke group H(λ _q ) and the extended Hecke group $ overline H $ overline H (λ _q ), q ≥ 5 prime, by their principal congruence subgroups H _p (λ _q ) are M*-groups.