Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/iii/paper-133/1/a/solution
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 iii Paper 133 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-05
The Milnor–Švarc lemma applies to an isometric properly discontinuous group action that is also a cocompact group action on a nonempty proper metric space that is a geodesic metric space. It concludes that the group is finitely generated and, for a basepoint and any finite generating set of a group , the orbit mapHere is the word metric, and a quasi-isometry means a map satisfying two-sided coarse distance bounds with a uniformly coarsely dense image. A free action is not required: finite stabilizers are compatible with proper discontinuity. The properness and cocompactness hypotheses ensure that only finitely many group elements move a chosen basepoint by the bounded amount used to generate the group. Replacing a finite generating set by another does not change the conclusion, by equivalence of finite word metrics.
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