Finite quotients of cyclic squaring presentations

ID: finite-quotients-of-cyclic-squaring-presentations

A group presentation with a cyclic list of generators and relations has no nontrivial finite quotient of a group. In a finite image, all generator orders are odd. Choose the least prime dividing any nontrivial generator order and let be the predecessor of a generator whose order is divisible by . Conjugation by acts as squaring on , so the multiplicative order of modulo divides the order of . That multiplicative order is greater than one and divides , giving a prime divisor smaller than in the order of , a contradiction. This argument applies to any cycle length; it asserts absence of finite quotients, not infinitude of the presented group.

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