An algorithm for determining defining relations of a subgroup

Abstract

Suppose that G is a finitely presented group, and that we are given a set of generators for a subgroup H of finite index in G. In this paper we describe an algorithm by which a set of defining relations may be found for H in these generators.The algorithm is suitable for programming on a digital computer. It appears to have significant computational advantages over the method of Mendelsohn [8] (which is based on the Schreier-Reidemeister results, see for example [4, pp. 91–95]) in those cases where the generators of H are given as other than the familiar Schreier-Reidemeister generators.