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Abelian Groups - László Fuchs [Springer]

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106 3 Direct Sums of Cyclic <strong>Groups</strong><br />

Theorem 7.1 (Pontryagin [1]). A countable torsion-free group is free if and only if<br />

each of its finite rank subgroups is free. Equivalently, for every n 2 N, the subgroups<br />

of rank n satisfy the maximum condition.<br />

Proof. Because of Theorem 1.6, necessity is evident. For sufficiency, let A D<br />

ha 0 ;:::;a n ;:::i be a countable torsion-free group all of whose subgroups of finite<br />

rank are free. Define A 0 D 0; A n Dha 0 ;:::;a n 1 i .n 2 N/ (the purification of<br />

ha 0 ;:::;a n 1 i in A). Then rk A n n and rk A nC1 rk A n C 1. Therefore, either A<br />

is of finite rank—in which case there is nothing to prove—or there is a subsequence<br />

B n of the A n , such that rk B n D n, andA is the union of the strictly ascending chain<br />

0 D B 0 < B 1 < < B n

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