Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2014/iii/paper-4/4/ii/solution

We exhibit a nonidentity element killed by every finite quotient.
In any finite image, let be the order of the image of . The relation conjugating to gives
Thus . Since is invertible modulo , the relation implies that the image of is a power of the image of . Therefore every finite image kills the group commutator
using .
View as an HNN extension of , with associated subgroups and . A pinch in an HNN extension would be or . The word has none: its intervening exponents are , incompatible with the required divisibilities . By Britton's lemma, . Hence finite quotients fail to separate this nonidentity element, proving the conclusion.

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