The subgroup theorem of P. Hoyer -- 25 years before O. Schreier (Q759739)

The author shows that the Subgroup Theorem (any subgroup U of index n in a free group G on m generators is itself a free group on \(nm-n+1\) generators) published by \textit{O. Schreier} [''Die Untergruppen der freien Gruppen'', Abhandlungen Hamburg 5, 161-183 (1927)] had been anticipated in the work of \textit{A. Hoyer} among results he published in [J. Reine Angew. Math. 124, 102-114 (1902)]. The purpose, of course, is not to detract from Schreier, but to give credit to Hoyer, an interesting person who taught in the Gymnasia rather than in a university, but ''whose passion for mathematics far beyond the domain of the schools produced results that deserved and still deserve great consideration'', yet who has, in fact, received very little attention. The author takes us through the relevant portions of Hoyer's 1902 paper showing how to recast the (now) strange terminology in modern terms, clarifying many matters by reformulating in terms of edge-colorings in graphs.