In algebra, a finitely generated group is a group G that has some finite generating set S so that every element of G can be written as the combination (under the group operation) of finitely many elements of S and of inverses of such elements. [1]
By definition, every finite group is finitely generated, since S can be taken to be G itself. Every infinite finitely generated group must be countable but countable groups need not be finitely generated. The additive group of rational numbers Q is an example of a countable group that is not finitely generated.
Every abelian group can be seen as a module over the ring of integers Z, and in a finitely generated abelian group with generators x1, ..., xn, every group element x can be written as a linear combination of these generators,
with integers α1, ..., αn.
Subgroups of a finitely generated abelian group are themselves finitely generated.
The fundamental theorem of finitely generated abelian groups states that a finitely generated abelian group is the direct sum of a free abelian group of finite rank and a finite abelian group, each of which are unique up to isomorphism.
A subgroup of a finitely generated group need not be finitely generated. The commutator subgroup of the free group on two generators is an example of a subgroup of a finitely generated group that is not finitely generated.
On the other hand, all subgroups of a finitely generated abelian group are finitely generated.
A subgroup of finite index in a finitely generated group is always finitely generated, and the Schreier index formula gives a bound on the number of generators required. [2]
In 1954, Albert G. Howson showed that the intersection of two finitely generated subgroups of a free group is again finitely generated. Furthermore, if and are the numbers of generators of the two finitely generated subgroups then their intersection is generated by at most generators. [3] This upper bound was then significantly improved by Hanna Neumann to ; see Hanna Neumann conjecture.
The lattice of subgroups of a group satisfies the ascending chain condition if and only if all subgroups of the group are finitely generated. A group such that all its subgroups are finitely generated is called Noetherian.
A group such that every finitely generated subgroup is finite is called locally finite. Every locally finite group is periodic, i.e., every element has finite order. Conversely, every periodic abelian group is locally finite. [4]
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Finitely generated groups arise in diverse mathematical and scientific contexts. A frequent way they do so is by the Švarc-Milnor lemma, or more generally thanks to an action through which a group inherits some finiteness property of a space. Geometric group theory studies the connections between algebraic properties of finitely generated groups and topological and geometric properties of spaces on which these groups act.
The word problem for a finitely generated group is the decision problem of whether two words in the generators of the group represent the same element. The word problem for a given finitely generated group is solvable if and only if the group can be embedded in every algebraically closed group.
The rank of a group is often defined to be the smallest cardinality of a generating set for the group. By definition, the rank of a finitely generated group is finite.
In mathematics, an abelian group, also called a commutative group, is a group in which the result of applying the group operation to two group elements does not depend on the order in which they are written. That is, the group operation is commutative. With addition as an operation, the integers and the real numbers form abelian groups, and the concept of an abelian group may be viewed as a generalization of these examples. Abelian groups are named after Niels Henrik Abel.
In mathematics, specifically group theory, given a prime number p, a p-group is a group in which the order of every element is a power of p. That is, for each element g of a p-group G, there exists a nonnegative integer n such that the product of pn copies of g, and not fewer, is equal to the identity element. The orders of different elements may be different powers of p.
In abstract algebra, a cyclic group or monogenous group is a group, denoted Cn, that is generated by a single element. That is, it is a set of invertible elements with a single associative binary operation, and it contains an element g such that every other element of the group may be obtained by repeatedly applying the group operation to g or its inverse. Each element can be written as an integer power of g in multiplicative notation, or as an integer multiple of g in additive notation. This element g is called a generator of the group.
In abstract algebra, an abelian group is called finitely generated if there exist finitely many elements in such that every in can be written in the form for some integers . In this case, we say that the set is a generating set of or that generate. So, finitely generated abelian groups can be thought of as a generalization of cyclic groups.
In mathematics, the free groupFS over a given set S consists of all words that can be built from members of S, considering two words to be different unless their equality follows from the group axioms. The members of S are called generators of FS, and the number of generators is the rank of the free group. An arbitrary group G is called free if it is isomorphic to FS for some subset S of G, that is, if there is a subset S of G such that every element of G can be written in exactly one way as a product of finitely many elements of S and their inverses.
In abstract algebra, a generating set of a group is a subset of the group set such that every element of the group can be expressed as a combination of finitely many elements of the subset and their inverses.
In mathematics, a free abelian group is an abelian group with a basis. Being an abelian group means that it is a set with an addition operation that is associative, commutative, and invertible. A basis, also called an integral basis, is a subset such that every element of the group can be uniquely expressed as an integer combination of finitely many basis elements. For instance the two-dimensional integer lattice forms a free abelian group, with coordinatewise addition as its operation, and with the two points (1,0) and (0,1) as its basis. Free abelian groups have properties which make them similar to vector spaces, and may equivalently be called free-modules, the free modules over the integers. Lattice theory studies free abelian subgroups of real vector spaces. In algebraic topology, free abelian groups are used to define chain groups, and in algebraic geometry they are used to define divisors.
A group is a set together with an associative operation that admits an identity element and such that there exists an inverse for every element.
In mathematics, a Cayley graph, also known as a Cayley color graph, Cayley diagram, group diagram, or color group, is a graph that encodes the abstract structure of a group. Its definition is suggested by Cayley's theorem, and uses a specified set of generators for the group. It is a central tool in combinatorial and geometric group theory. The structure and symmetry of Cayley graphs makes them particularly good candidates for constructing expander graphs.
In mathematics, specifically group theory, the free product is an operation that takes two groups G and H and constructs a new group G ∗ H. The result contains both G and H as subgroups, is generated by the elements of these subgroups, and is the “universal” group having these properties, in the sense that any two homomorphisms from G and H into a group K factor uniquely through a homomorphism from G ∗ H to K. Unless one of the groups G and H is trivial, the free product is always infinite. The construction of a free product is similar in spirit to the construction of a free group.
In mathematics, an amenable group is a locally compact topological group G carrying a kind of averaging operation on bounded functions that is invariant under translation by group elements. The original definition, in terms of a finitely additive measure on subsets of G, was introduced by John von Neumann in 1929 under the German name "messbar" in response to the Banach–Tarski paradox. In 1949 Mahlon M. Day introduced the English translation "amenable", apparently as a pun on "mean".
In mathematics, specifically in group theory, the Prüfer p-group or the p-quasicyclic group or p∞-group, Z(p∞), for a prime number p is the unique p-group in which every element has p different p-th roots.
In mathematics, in the field of group theory, a locally finite group is a type of group that can be studied in ways analogous to a finite group. Sylow subgroups, Carter subgroups, and abelian subgroups of locally finite groups have been studied. The concept is credited to work in the 1930s by Russian mathematician Sergei Chernikov.
In mathematics, in the realm of group theory, a countable group is said to be SQ-universal if every countable group can be embedded in one of its quotient groups. SQ-universality can be thought of as a measure of largeness or complexity of a group.
In abstract algebra, every subgroup of a cyclic group is cyclic. Moreover, for a finite cyclic group of order n, every subgroup's order is a divisor of n, and there is exactly one subgroup for each divisor. This result has been called the fundamental theorem of cyclic groups.
In mathematics, a group is called boundedly generated if it can be expressed as a finite product of cyclic subgroups. The property of bounded generation is also closely related with the congruence subgroup problem.
In group theory, a branch of mathematics, the Nielsen–Schreier theorem states that every subgroup of a free group is itself free. It is named after Jakob Nielsen and Otto Schreier.
In the mathematical subject of group theory, the Stallings theorem about ends of groups states that a finitely generated group has more than one end if and only if the group admits a nontrivial decomposition as an amalgamated free product or an HNN extension over a finite subgroup. In the modern language of Bass–Serre theory the theorem says that a finitely generated group has more than one end if and only if admits a nontrivial action on a simplicial tree with finite edge-stabilizers and without edge-inversions.
In mathematics, the concept of a relatively hyperbolic group is an important generalization of the geometric group theory concept of a hyperbolic group. The motivating examples of relatively hyperbolic groups are the fundamental groups of complete noncompact hyperbolic manifolds of finite volume.
In the mathematical subject of group theory, the Howson property, also known as the finitely generated intersection property (FGIP), is the property of a group saying that the intersection of any two finitely generated subgroups of this group is again finitely generated. The property is named after Albert G. Howson who in a 1954 paper established that free groups have this property.