Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/iii/paper-141/3/c/solution

Keep all four relators and all five generators, in the orders and . Under abelianization, these generators become . The Fox calculus rules are
For example, gives the nonzero Fox derivative entries , , , in columns , respectively. After abelianization these are . The full Alexander matrix is
The Fox calculus identity supplies a useful check:
Deleting the column, adjacent to the unbounded region across the marked meridian of a knot, gives
Thus is a representative of the Alexander polynomial of a knot of the figure-eight knot, with its customary ambiguity of multiplication by .

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