Growth series for the group \(\langle x,y\mid x^{-1}yx=y^ l\rangle\) (Q1842010)

Let \(G\) be a group generated by a finite set \(X\), and, for each non- negative integer \(n\), let \(c_ n\) denote the number of distinct elements of \(G\) that can be expressed as a product of \(n\) elements of \(X^ \pm = \{x,x^{-1}: x \in X\}\) and no fewer. Then \(\gamma := \sum_{n \geq 0} c_ n t^ n\) is called the growth series of \(G\) with respect to \(X\). There has been interest in calculating \(\gamma\) for various groups and classes of groups. In this paper, using a mixture of algebraic and combinatoric techniques, the authors calculate \(\gamma\) for \(\langle x,y\mid x^{-1} yx = y^ l\rangle\) (\(l \geq 2\)) with respect to \(\{x, y\}\) and, in particular, verify that \(\gamma\) is a rational function.