Given a group $G$, the commutators of $G$ are the elements $a^{-1}b^{-1}ab$ where $a,b\in G$.
The subgroup generated by all commutators of $G$ is the commutator subgroup or derived subgroup of $G$, and is denoted by $[G,G]$ or $G'$.
The commutator subgroup is always a normal subgroup, and the quotient group $G/G'$ is the largest abelian quotient of $G$ in the sense that any homomorphism $G\to A$ where $A$ is an abelian group factors as a composition of homomorphisms $G\to G/G'\to A$.
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- Review status: beta
- Last edited by John Jones on 2019-05-23 20:04:42
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