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The abelianization of FFF is Z⊕Z\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}Z⊕Z

Proved
CannonFloydParry.nonempty_abelianization_mulEquiv_zsq

by dbenbenn · Sep 15, 2026 · Mathlib 0df444a (Lean v4.33.1)

dynamical-systemsgroup-theorypiecewise-linearthompsons-group

The quotient of Thompson's group FFF by its commutator subgroup is isomorphic to Z⊕Z\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}Z⊕Z.

In the source the isomorphism is induced by the homomorphism sending f∈Ff \in Ff∈F to the pair (a,b)(a,b)(a,b) of integers for which the right derivative of fff at 000 is 2a2^{a}2a and the left derivative of fff at 111 is 2b2^{b}2b. The assertion here is that some isomorphism exists, not that it is this particular one.

Formal statement
import Definitions.Def_CannonFloydParry
import Mathlib

namespace CannonFloydParry

theorem nonempty_abelianization_mulEquiv_zsq :
    Nonempty (Abelianization F ≃* Multiplicative (ℤ × ℤ)) := by
  sorry

end CannonFloydParry
Source
Cannon, J. W., Floyd, W. J., Parry, W. R., Introductory notes on Richard Thompson's groups, L'Enseignement Mathematique (2) 42 (1996) 215-256, https://doi.org/10.5169/seals-87877, Theorem 4.1, p. 228, second sentence
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What the Lean code literally says, in plain math · claude-opus-5

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The declaration is a single closed statement. It has no variables, no hypotheses and no typeclass assumptions of its own: nothing is quantified over, and there is nothing to satisfy before it applies. Everything it speaks about is fixed by the definitions it names. Its content is one existence claim, which the rest of this note unpacks in full.

What the statement asserts, in one sentence

Writing FFF for the group defined below and FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab for its abelianization, the statement asserts:

there exists at least one multiplication-preserving bijection φ:Fab⟶Z×Z,\text{there exists at least one multiplication-preserving bijection } \varphi : F^{\mathrm{ab}} \longrightarrow \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z},there exists at least one multiplication-preserving bijection φ:Fab⟶Z×Z,

where Z×Z\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}Z×Z is the set of ordered pairs of integers with the group operation (a,b)⋅(c,d)=(a+c, b+d)(a,b) \cdot (c,d) = (a+c,\ b+d)(a,b)⋅(c,d)=(a+c, b+d), that operation being written multiplicatively. Equivalently: FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab is isomorphic, as a group, to the free abelian group of rank 222.

The claim is purely existential. It exhibits no particular isomorphism, says nothing about where any specific element of FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab is sent, and asserts no naturality, canonicity or uniqueness: it says only that the collection of such isomorphisms is not empty.

The ambient group

Let

I  =  { x∈R  :  0≤x≤1 },I \;=\; \{\, x \in \mathbb{R} \;:\; 0 \le x \le 1 \,\},I={x∈R:0≤x≤1},

regarded as a set in its own right and ordered by the order it inherits from R\mathbb{R}R (so u≤vu \le vu≤v in III means exactly u≤vu \le vu≤v in R\mathbb{R}R).

Let GGG be the set of order isomorphisms of III. An element of GGG is a package consisting of

  • a map f:I→If : I \to If:I→I,
  • a map f−1:I→If^{-1} : I \to If−1:I→I,
  • the two round-trip identities f−1(f(u))=uf^{-1}(f(u)) = uf−1(f(u))=u and f(f−1(v))=vf(f^{-1}(v)) = vf(f−1(v))=v for all u,v∈Iu, v \in Iu,v∈I, and
  • the equivalence f(u)≤f(v)  ⟺  u≤vf(u) \le f(v) \iff u \le vf(u)≤f(v)⟺u≤v, for all u,v∈Iu,v \in Iu,v∈I.

No continuity, differentiability or measurability is required: an order isomorphism here is an order-theoretic object, not a topological one. (Since III is a linearly ordered interval, the order condition does of course constrain fff strongly; the point is only that no topological hypothesis is written down.)

GGG is a group under composition, with

(f⋅g)(x)  =  f(g(x)),(f \cdot g)(x) \;=\; f\bigl(g(x)\bigr),(f⋅g)(x)=f(g(x)),

with the identity map as neutral element and with f−1f^{-1}f−1 as the inverse of fff. The order of composition is worth recording: in a product, the right factor is applied first.

Dyadic rationals

A real number xxx is called dyadic when there are an integer mmm and a natural number kkk (with k=0k = 0k=0 allowed) such that

x  =  m2k.x \;=\; \frac{m}{2^{k}}.x=2km​.

So the dyadic numbers include all integers, and include negative numbers; they are not restricted to [0,1][0,1][0,1].

The generating condition

Call an element f∈Gf \in Gf∈G piecewise dyadic-linear when the following holds:

There exists a finite set B⊆RB \subseteq \mathbb{R}B⊆R such that

  1. every element of BBB is dyadic, and
  2. for all x,y∈Ix, y \in Ix,y∈I with x<yx < yx<y and
(x,y)∩B  =  ∅(x,y) \cap B \;=\; \varnothing(x,y)∩B=∅

(the open interval from xxx to yyy meets BBB in no point), there exist an integer n∈Zn \in \mathbb{Z}n∈Z and a real number c∈Rc \in \mathbb{R}c∈R such that

f(z)  =  2nz+cfor every z∈I with x≤z≤y.f(z) \;=\; 2^{n} z + c \qquad \text{for every } z \in I \text{ with } x \le z \le y.f(z)=2nz+cfor every z∈I with x≤z≤y.

Several features of this condition affect what it says, and are recorded here rather than smoothed over.

  • The set BBB is existentially quantified, finite, and required only to consist of dyadic numbers. It is not required to be contained in [0,1][0,1][0,1], nor to be the exact set of points where fff fails to be linear; any finite dyadic set with the stated property will do. The empty set is permitted, in which case the condition demands a single formula 2nz+c2^n z + c2nz+c valid on all of III at once.
  • The exponent nnn and the intercept ccc are quantified inside the "for all x,yx,yx,y", so they may differ from one interval to the next. That is what makes the condition a piecewise one.
  • The slope is 2n2^{n}2n with nnn an integer, not a natural number: it is a positive power of two and may be less than 111 (e.g. 1/21/21/2, 1/41/41/4), but it is always strictly positive. Slope 000 and negative slopes are excluded.
  • The intercept ccc is an arbitrary real number. Nothing in this condition requires ccc to be dyadic, or rational.
  • The affine identity is imposed on the closed interval x≤z≤yx \le z \le yx≤z≤y, endpoints included, and only for those zzz that also lie in III.

The group FFF

Let

S  =  { f∈G  :  f is piecewise dyadic-linear }S \;=\; \{\, f \in G \;:\; f \text{ is piecewise dyadic-linear} \,\}S={f∈G:f is piecewise dyadic-linear}

and let

F  =  ⟨S⟩F \;=\; \langle S \rangleF=⟨S⟩

be the subgroup of GGG generated by SSS: the smallest subgroup of GGG containing SSS, equivalently the intersection of all subgroups of GGG that contain SSS, equivalently the set of all finite products of elements of SSS and of their inverses (together with the empty product, the identity).

FFF is the generated subgroup, not the set SSS itself. Nothing in the definitions used by this statement asserts that SSS is already closed under composition and inversion, so F⊇SF \supseteq SF⊇S is all that is available; whether the inclusion is an equality is not part of what is being said here.

Throughout the statement, FFF is treated as a group in its own right: its elements are the elements of GGG that lie in FFF, and its multiplication, identity and inversion are those of GGG restricted to FFF.

The abelianization FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab

Let [F,F][F,F][F,F] denote the commutator subgroup of FFF: the subgroup of FFF generated by all commutators

ghg−1h−1,g,h∈F,g h g^{-1} h^{-1}, \qquad g, h \in F,ghg−1h−1,g,h∈F,

that is, the smallest subgroup of FFF containing every such element. (Commutators are formed inside FFF, with both entries ranging over all of FFF.)

Then

Fab  =  F/[F,F],F^{\mathrm{ab}} \;=\; F \big/ [F,F],Fab=F/[F,F],

the quotient of FFF by that subgroup, taken as the set of equivalence classes under

g∼h  ⟺  g−1h∈[F,F],g \sim h \iff g^{-1}h \in [F,F],g∼h⟺g−1h∈[F,F],

carrying the multiplication induced from FFF. This is a group, and an abelian one. In the statement it is this quotient group that appears on the left-hand side.

The target group

The right-hand side is the set Z×Z\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}Z×Z of ordered pairs of integers, carrying the operation

(a,b)⋅(c,d)  =  (a+c, b+d),(a,b) \cdot (c,d) \;=\; (a + c,\ b + d),(a,b)⋅(c,d)=(a+c, b+d),

i.e. componentwise integer addition, written multiplicatively. The underlying set is literally the set of integer pairs; only the name and symbol of the operation change. This is the free abelian group of rank two, with its two additive coordinates.

Two readings that are not intended, and are excluded by what is written: the target is not a direct product of two copies of some separate multiplicative group, and the operation is not componentwise multiplication of integers. It is componentwise addition, relabelled.

The isomorphism that is claimed to exist

The objects whose existence is asserted are multiplication-preserving equivalences. Such an object consists of exactly the following data and properties:

  • a map φ:Fab→Z×Z\varphi : F^{\mathrm{ab}} \to \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}φ:Fab→Z×Z;
  • a map ψ:Z×Z→Fab\psi : \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z} \to F^{\mathrm{ab}}ψ:Z×Z→Fab;
  • the identity ψ(φ(u))=u\psi(\varphi(u)) = uψ(φ(u))=u for every u∈Fabu \in F^{\mathrm{ab}}u∈Fab;
  • the identity φ(ψ(v))=v\varphi(\psi(v)) = vφ(ψ(v))=v for every v∈Z×Zv \in \mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}v∈Z×Z;
  • multiplicativity: φ(u1u2)=φ(u1) φ(u2)\varphi(u_1 u_2) = \varphi(u_1)\,\varphi(u_2)φ(u1​u2​)=φ(u1​)φ(u2​) for all u1,u2∈Fabu_1, u_2 \in F^{\mathrm{ab}}u1​,u2​∈Fab — spelled out with the operations above, this says
φ(u1u2)  =  φ(u1)+φ(u2)\varphi(u_1 u_2) \;=\; \varphi(u_1) + \varphi(u_2)φ(u1​u2​)=φ(u1​)+φ(u2​)

in Z×Z\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}Z×Z, coordinatewise.

The two round-trip identities make φ\varphiφ a bijection with ψ\psiψ as its inverse. Note that preservation of the identity element and of inverses is not among the demands: the required data is a bijection together with multiplicativity, nothing more. (For groups these further properties follow, but they are not what is being asserted.)

Finally, the statement asserts the nonemptiness of the collection of such objects, as a proposition. It does not name, construct or characterise one; it does not claim that any two of them agree; and it carries no information about which isomorphism, among possibly many, one might obtain.

Degenerate and edge cases

  • There are no hypotheses in this statement, hence none that could be vacuous or impossible to satisfy. Nothing needs to be supplied to instantiate it.
  • k=0k = 0k=0 is allowed in the definition of dyadic, so every integer is dyadic.
  • B=∅B = \varnothingB=∅ is allowed in the generating condition, as noted above.
  • The generating condition places no requirement on fff at a single point in isolation: its hypothesis requires x<yx < yx<y strictly, so degenerate intervals impose nothing directly.
  • Because the target is Z×Z\mathbb{Z} \times \mathbb{Z}Z×Z and not merely "some abelian group", the statement carries quantitative content about FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab: it says FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab is infinite, torsion-free, and generated by exactly two independent elements. It is strictly stronger than saying that FabF^{\mathrm{ab}}Fab is abelian, or finitely generated, or free abelian of some unspecified rank.
Human review
  • Endorsed by Shuze Chen · Sep 15, 2026

  • Endorsed by dbenbenn · Sep 15, 2026

    Confirmed by the mission captain (proposal self-audit).

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