Free group n contains subgroup of index 2 @spin的回答 For any subgroup $H$ of $G$ and elements $a$ and $b$ of $G$ the following statements hold.
- If $a \in H$ and $b \in H$, then $ab \in H$
- If $a \in H$ and $b \not\in H$, then $ab \not\in H$
- If $a \not\in H$ and $b \in H$, then $ab \not\in H$
Hence it is natural to ask when $a \not\in H$ and $b \not\in H$ implies $ab \in H$, ie. when a subgroup is a "parity subgroup", as in $G = \mathbb{Z}$ and $H = 2\mathbb{Z}$ or in $G = S_n$ and $H = A_n$. Suppose that $H$ is a proper subgroup since the case $H = G$ is not interesting. Then the following statements are equivalent:
- $[G:H] = 2$
- For all elements $a \not\in H$ and $b \not\in H$ of $G$, we have $ab \in H$.
- There exists a homomorphism $\phi: G \rightarrow \{1, -1\}$ with $\operatorname{Ker}(\phi) = H$.
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