On the girth of finitely generated groups. (Q1409748)

If \(G\) is a finitely generated group let \(X(G)\) be the set of finite non-empty subsets of \(G\) which generate \(G\). If \(X\in X(G)\) then the girth of \(X\), denoted by \(U(X,G)\) is the length of the shortest relation among the elements of \(X\) in \(G\). The girth of \(G\) is defined to be \(U(G)=\sup\{U(X,G)\mid X\in X(G)\}\). The girth of a finite group is finite whereas \(U(\mathbb{Z})\) is infinite. Further, if \(G\not\cong\mathbb{Z}\) satisfies a law then \(U(G)\) is finite. Thus finitely generated soluble groups have finite girth. These remarks prompt the author to ask the question of whether there are finitely generated amenable groups with infinite girth. This is solved quite nicely: if \(H\) is a finitely generated amenable group satisfying no law on two variables then \((H\wr\mathbb{Z})\wr\mathbb{Z}\) is a finitely generated amenable group with infinite girth. The author also shows that \(\text{SL}(n,\mathbb{Z})\) has infinite girth if \(n\geq 2\), and he gives an example of a group having finite girth which satisfies no law.