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ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2016/iii/paper-104/5/f/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2016 iii Paper 104 5 f Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-06
Form the HNN extension which centralizes :This is the extension associated to the identity isomorphism ; relations on the displayed finite generating set imply for all . Since is finitely presented and are finite, this is a finite group presentation.
For any ,The forward implication follows from Britton's lemma: if , the word is reduced with two stable letters and cannot be the identity. The reverse implication is the defining centralization relation. Consequently the computable wordsatisfiesAn algorithm for the word problem for a group would therefore decide the nonrecursive set , a contradiction. Hence .
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