# How can I show the free abelian group of rank $r$ is isomorphic to an $r$-copy of $\mathbb{Z}_\infty$?

Today, this problem was given to me.

Let $F$ be a abelian free group of rank $r$. Show that it is isomorphic to an $r$-copy of $Z_{\infty}$.

I could do some messy job about it but so far I failed to solve it. The time for solving it in time is over, but please help me solve it. Thank you very much.

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What exactly is Z_\infty ? – Ittay Weiss Dec 27 '12 at 7:00
@IttayWeiss: I had the same problem. Anyway, I assumed it is $\mathbb Z$ – Basil R Dec 27 '12 at 7:07
then now the question is, what is your definition for a free group of rank r? – Ittay Weiss Dec 27 '12 at 7:09
That is: there is a set $X$ of dimension r and $X$ can generate $F$. – Basil R Dec 27 '12 at 7:12
You cannot expect to solve a problem if you do not know the definitions of the words in the problem. – Derek Holt Dec 27 '12 at 10:04

I believe that you mean to say a free abelian group of rank $r$. The definition of a free abelian group $\mathfrak{F}$ of rank $r$ is a group with a generating set $\mathfrak{S}$ of size $r$ for which the only relation is that $[s,t]=1$ for each $s,t\in \mathfrak{S}$. Note that free abelian groups are not free groups when $r\geq 2$.
Once we have this definition digested, the path to victory is quite clear. Let $\epsilon_i$ denote the generator of the $i^{\rm th}$ $\mathbb{Z}$ in $\mathbb{Z}^{r}$. Number the generators in $\mathfrak{S}$ as $s_1,\ldots,s_r$. Define $\Phi:\mathfrak{F}\rightarrow \mathbb{Z}^r$ by $\Phi:s_i\rightarrow \epsilon_i$. Now, can you prove that $\Phi$ is an isomorphism?
We have the relations that $[s_i,s_j]=1$ for each $i,j$. Given an arbitrary word $w=s_{i_1}^{e_1}s_{i_2}^{e_2}\cdots s_{i_s}^{e_s}$ (with $i_1,\ldots,i_s$ not necessarily distinct) can you rewrite $w$ in the form $s_1^{f_1}\cdots s_r^{f_r}$? Where does $\Phi$ send that in $\mathbb{Z}^r$? Finally, can you prove that $\Phi$ is bijective using the fact there are no other relations on $\mathfrak{F}$?
@HagenvonEitzen What's hand-wavy about it? The free abelian group of rank $r$ is the quotient of the free group on a set $\mathfrak{S}$ of $r$ generators by the normal subgroup generated by $\{[x,y]:x,y\in \mathfrak{S}\}$. – Alexander Gruber Mar 10 '13 at 10:55