Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2008 / ii / Paper 1 / 21F / i / Solution

The van Kampen theorem says: if $X=U\cup V$ with $U,V$ open and path connected, $U\cap V$ path connected, and a base point in the intersection, then ${\pi }_1(X)$ is the free product ${\pi }_1(U)\ast {\pi }_1(V)$ modulo the normal subgroup generated by identifying the two images of every element of ${\pi }_1(U\cap V)$. Equivalently it is the pushout of the two inclusion-induced fundamental-group maps.