Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 104 4 e Solution 2026-09-28
Enumerate and . The universal property of a free group gives an endomorphismSince generates, is surjective. The finitely generated free group is residually finite and hence Hopfian by the preceding part, so is an automorphism. An automorphism sends a free basis to a free basis; therefore is a basis of .
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 iii Paper 104 4 f Solution 2026-09-28
For the free basis , defineThe universal property of a free group extends this assignment to an endomorphism of . It is surjective because every is the image of , but it is not injective because lies in its kernel. Thus is not Hopfian.
Past exam of the topology and groups course of the University of Oxford 2023 2 a i Solution 2026-10-25
A group presentation of consists of a set of symbols and a subset of relators, together with a group isomorphismHere is the free group on , and is the normal closure of . The images of form a generating set of a group; the relators prescribe which words become the identity element.
For the canonical presentation of a group, use one symbol for every group element . The universal property of a free group gives a surjective group homomorphismLet , namely all words whose evaluation in is the identity element. ThenIndeed is already a normal subgroup, so its normal closure is itself, and the first isomorphism theorem identifies the resulting quotient group with . This is the course's canonical presentation of a group.
An equivalent, smaller collection of relators is for all . These encode the multiplication table. They imply and , so every word reduces to the single symbol recording its product. This proves directly that they normally generate , although the canonical collection above consists of every word in that group homomorphism kernel.