Finitely-generated Abelian Group

Finitely-generated Abelian Group

In abstract algebra, an abelian group (G,+) is called finitely generated if there exist finitely many elements x₁,...,x_s in G such that every x in G can be written in the form

x = n₁x₁ + n₂x₂ + ... + n_sx_s

with integers n₁,...,n_s. In this case, we say that the set {x₁,...,x_s} is a generating set of G or that x₁,...,x_s generate G.

Clearly, every finite abelian group is finitely generated. The finitely generated abelian groups are of a rather simple structure and can be completely classified, as will be explained below.