Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2002/iii/paper-4/6/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2002 iii Paper 4 6 i Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-14
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 .
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