Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2008/iii/paper-2/4/i/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2008 iii Paper 2 4 i Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
Take a recursively enumerable set that is not recursive, for example the diagonal halting set from Question 2 shifted by one. To obtain a finitely generated group with recursive presentation but undecidable word problem for a group, first define the countable Right-angled Artin groupTranslation of the indices gives an automorphism . The semidirect product with its infinite cyclic shift is generated by and has presentationTo verify this presentation, the semidirect product satisfies its relators, while the reverse map sends to ; all translated commutation relations follow by conjugation. These maps are inverse on their generators. Thus embeds in .
For , the word is trivial. For , map to the free generators of and every other to one. Every defining commutator of maps to one, since the only possible relation involving both surviving generators would have separation , which is absent. The resulting group homomorphism sends to the nontrivial reduced word . HenceThis proves the shift-invariant graph groups encode arbitrary sets construction rather than supposing that a missing relator automatically means a nontrivial word. A word algorithm for would decide , so none exists. Since is enumerable, the displayed two-generator presentation is a recursive presentation of a group. By the Higman embedding theorem, embeds in a finitely presented group . A word algorithm for , composed with substitution of the two fixed generator-image words, would solve the word problem for . Therefore .
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