AbstractThe problem of interacting electrons moving under the influence of a strong magnetic field in two dimensions on a finite disk is reconsidered. First, the results of exact diagonalizations for up toN= 9 electrons for Coulomb as well as for a short‐range interaction are used in the search for a peculiar ground state corresponding to filling factor 1/3. Not for the Coulomb, but only for the short‐range interaction, can the 1/3‐state be safely identified amongst the spectra of various filling factors close to 1/3. Second, the propositions of the concept of quasiparticles, as used in the hierarchical theory, are examined in view of the exact results for the disk geometry. Whereas the theory for the quasiholes is in complete accordance with the spectra, for the quasielectrons, finite size corrections make an analysis difficult. For the quasielectron energy, an extrapolation toN→ ∞ is given and compared with the corresponding extrapolations of three different proposals for trial wave functions. While the limiting value for the best trial wave function is very close to the limit of the exact results, the behavior of the finite size corrections of the exact energies and of the trial wave functions, respectively, is qualitatively rather