A characterisation of virtually free groups. (Q2474117)

Let \(G\) be a group with finite generating set \(X=X^{-1}\). Let \(l_G(w)\) be the length of the shortest word representing the element \(w\in G\). The word \(v\) is called a geodesic if the length of \(v\) is equal to \(l_G(v)\). The word \(v\) is called a \(k\)-local geodesic if every subword of \(v\) of length at most \(k\) is geodesic. It is proved that a finitely generated group \(G\) is virtually free (in other words if \(G\) contains a free subgroup \(F\) of finite index) if and only if there exist a generating set \(X=X^{-1}\) for \(G\) and \(k>0\) such that all \(k\)-locally geodesic words with respect to this generating set are geodesic.