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Lemma 2: if B/AB/AB/A is finitely presented, AAA is the normal closure of finitely many elements

Proved
Milnor.exists_finset_normalClosure_eq_of_isFinitelyPresented_quotient

by dbenbenn · Sep 19, 2026 · Mathlib 0df444a (Lean v4.33.1)

group-growthgroup-theorypolycyclic-groupssolvable-groups

Let BBB be a finitely generated group and AAA an abelian normal subgroup such that B/AB/AB/A is finitely presented. Then there is a finite subset T⊆AT \subseteq AT⊆A whose normal closure in BBB (the subgroup generated by all conjugates of elements of TTT) is AAA.

Preamble
import Mathlib
Formal statement
namespace Milnor

/-- Milnor, Lemma 2 (p. 448), in the standing setting of a group extension `1 → A → B → C → 1`
with `A` abelian and `B` finitely generated: if the quotient group `C = B/A` has a finite
presentation, then there exist finitely many elements `α₁, …, α_t ∈ A` so that every element of
`A` can be expressed as a product of conjugates of the `α_j`; that is, `A` is the normal closure
in `B` of a finite subset of `A`. -/
theorem exists_finset_normalClosure_eq_of_isFinitelyPresented_quotient {B : Type*} [Group B]
    [Group.FG B] (A : Subgroup B) [A.Normal] [IsMulCommutative A]
    [Group.IsFinitelyPresented (B ⧸ A)] :
    ∃ T : Finset B, (T : Set B) ⊆ A ∧ Subgroup.normalClosure (T : Set B) = A := by
  sorry

end Milnor
Source
Milnor, J., Growth of finitely generated solvable groups, Journal of Differential Geometry 2 (1968) 447–449, https://doi.org/10.4310/jdg/1214428659, Lemma 2, p. 448
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What the Lean code literally says, in plain math · claude-opus-5

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The declaration

There is a single declaration in the artifact. Rendered in full:

Claim. Let BBB be a group (of arbitrary universe level), and suppose:

  1. BBB is finitely generated;
  2. AAA is a subgroup of BBB;
  3. AAA is normal in BBB;
  4. AAA is abelian;
  5. the quotient group B/AB/AB/A is finitely presented.

Then there exists a finite subset T⊆BT \subseteq BT⊆B such that

T⊆Aand⟨⟨T⟩⟩B  =  A,T \subseteq A \qquad\text{and}\qquad \langle\langle T \rangle\rangle_B \;=\; A,T⊆Aand⟨⟨T⟩⟩B​=A,

where ⟨⟨T⟩⟩B\langle\langle T \rangle\rangle_B⟨⟨T⟩⟩B​ denotes the normal closure of TTT in BBB.

Everything in that sentence is spelled out below, including what each of the five hypotheses unfolds to and what the conclusion's two conjuncts each assert.

The binders, one by one

The statement quantifies over the following, in this order.

  • BBB — a type, implicitly quantified, at an arbitrary universe level. Nothing constrains it beyond the structure imposed next.
  • A group structure on BBB — supplied as a typeclass assumption, so the statement is: for every group BBB.
  • Finite generation of BBB — a typeclass assumption asserting that the improper subgroup B≤BB \le BB≤B is finitely generated, which in turn means: there exists a finite subset S⊆BS \subseteq BS⊆B whose generated subgroup (the smallest subgroup of BBB containing SSS) is all of BBB. Note this is generation as a subgroup, so SSS generates using products and inverses, not merely products.
  • AAA — an explicitly quantified subgroup of BBB. A subgroup here is a subset of BBB containing 111 and closed under multiplication and inversion, packaged as an object whose underlying set is recovered by an implicit coercion; x∈Ax \in Ax∈A means membership in that underlying set.
  • Normality of AAA — a typeclass assumption. It unfolds to: for every nnn, if n∈An \in An∈A, then for every g∈Bg \in Bg∈B one has gng−1∈Ag n g^{-1} \in Agng−1∈A. (Only this one-sided containment gAg−1⊆Ag A g^{-1} \subseteq AgAg−1⊆A for all ggg is asserted; equality follows but is not what is written.)
  • Commutativity of AAA — a typeclass assumption on the type of elements of AAA, that is, on the subtype {x∈B:x∈A}\{x \in B : x \in A\}{x∈B:x∈A} equipped with the multiplication it inherits from BBB. It unfolds to: multiplication on that subtype is commutative, i.e.
∀ a,b∈A,ab=ba.\forall\, a, b \in A,\quad ab = ba .∀a,b∈A,ab=ba.

So: AAA is an abelian group. (This is a hypothesis about AAA alone; it says nothing about BBB, which need not be abelian.)

  • Finite presentation of B/AB/AB/A — a typeclass assumption about the quotient group B/AB/AB/A. The quotient is the usual one: the set of left cosets of AAA in BBB, with the group structure induced by the congruence generated by AAA — this group structure is available precisely because AAA was assumed normal. The finite-presentation hypothesis unfolds to:
∃ n∈N, ∃ φ:Fn→B/A a group homomorphism,\exists\, n \in \mathbb{N},\ \exists\, \varphi : F_n \to B/A \text{ a group homomorphism},∃n∈N, ∃φ:Fn​→B/A a group homomorphism,

where FnF_nFn​ is the free group on nnn generators (indexed by {0,1,…,n−1}\{0, 1, \dots, n-1\}{0,1,…,n−1}), such that

  1. φ\varphiφ is surjective, and
  2. ker⁡φ\ker \varphikerφ is the normal closure of a finite set: there exists a set R⊆FnR \subseteq F_nR⊆Fn​ with RRR finite and ⟨⟨R⟩⟩Fn=ker⁡φ\langle\langle R \rangle\rangle_{F_n} = \ker\varphi⟨⟨R⟩⟩Fn​​=kerφ, where ker⁡φ={w∈Fn:φ(w)=1}\ker\varphi = \{w \in F_n : \varphi(w) = 1\}kerφ={w∈Fn​:φ(w)=1}.

Two points of precision here. First, nnn is existentially quantified inside the hypothesis; the statement does not name or fix a presentation. Second, the relation set RRR is required only to be finite as a set, and the equality demanded is an equality of subgroups of FnF_nFn​, not merely an inclusion.

The conclusion

The conclusion asserts the existence of a finite subset of BBB, presented as a finite set TTT of elements of BBB (a list of elements of BBB without repetitions, considered up to reordering; in particular TTT may be empty), satisfying both of the following.

  1. T⊆AT \subseteq AT⊆A. Literally: the underlying set of TTT is contained in the underlying set of AAA, as subsets of BBB. Equivalently, every element of TTT lies in AAA.

  2. ⟨⟨T⟩⟩B=A\langle\langle T \rangle\rangle_B = A⟨⟨T⟩⟩B​=A. This is an equality of subgroups of BBB, not an inclusion in either direction. The normal closure on the left unfolds as follows:

    • For a∈Ba \in Ba∈B, the conjugates of aaa are the elements b∈Bb \in Bb∈B for which there is a c∈Bc \in Bc∈B with cac−1=bcac^{-1} = bcac−1=b. (Formally the conjugating element ranges over the units of the monoid BBB, which, BBB being a group, are exactly the elements of BBB.)
    • The set of conjugates of the elements of TTT is the union, over a∈Ta \in Ta∈T, of the set of conjugates of aaa.
    • ⟨⟨T⟩⟩B\langle\langle T \rangle\rangle_B⟨⟨T⟩⟩B​ is the subgroup of BBB generated by that set of conjugates, i.e. the intersection of all subgroups of BBB containing every conjugate of every element of TTT.

    So the second conjunct says: the smallest normal subgroup of BBB containing TTT is exactly AAA, i.e. AAA is generated, as a normal subgroup, by the finitely many elements of TTT.

Scope, edge cases and what is quantified how

  • Existence only. The conclusion is an ordinary existential, not a unique existential: no uniqueness, minimality, or bound on the size of TTT is asserted, and no cardinality of TTT is related to any data in the hypotheses (not to the generating set of BBB, nor to the nnn or the relation set of the presentation of B/AB/AB/A).
  • Normal generation, not generation. The second conjunct does not say that TTT generates AAA as a subgroup; conjugates of elements of TTT by arbitrary elements of BBB are allowed when forming the closure.
  • The empty case. TTT is permitted to be empty, in which case the set of conjugates is empty and its normal closure is the trivial subgroup. So the statement is satisfiable in the degenerate case A={1}A = \{1\}A={1} by taking T=∅T = \varnothingT=∅.
  • Hypotheses are satisfiable. The five hypotheses are not vacuous: taking BBB to be any finite group and AAA the trivial subgroup satisfies all of them (a finite group is finitely generated, the trivial subgroup is normal and abelian, and a finite group is finitely presented). The statement therefore has content and is not quantifying over an empty situation. No hypothesis is impossible to satisfy.
  • No finiteness or decidability assumption on BBB beyond finite generation: BBB may be infinite, and no decidable-equality assumption is imposed on BBB in order to speak of a finite subset of it.
  • AAA is explicit, the rest implicit. BBB is implicitly quantified, AAA is an explicit argument, and all five numbered hypotheses are typeclass assumptions; logically all of them are universally quantified hypotheses of the claim, in the order listed above.
Human review
  • Endorsed by Shuze Chen · Sep 19, 2026

  • Endorsed by dbenbenn · Sep 19, 2026

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

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