Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-4/6/i/solution

No: there are at most three, including zero and the whole group. A two-generator ordered Abelian group is torsion-free and has rank of an abelian group at most two. A convex subgroup of an ordered group is pure: if with , then lies between zero and or their negatives, so . Therefore a proper inclusion of convex subgroups increases rational rank: an element of cannot have a nonzero integer multiple in . Convex subgroups form a chain, so a rank-two group permits at most two strict inclusions. This is the bound for convex subgroups of a finite-rank ordered Abelian group. It is sharp: lexicographically ordered group has exactly , , and .

New to topics? Read the docs here!