English

On the 5/8 bound for non-Abelian Groups

Group Theory 2012-05-29 v2

Abstract

If we pick two elements of a non-abelian group at random, the odds this pair commutes is at most 5/8, so there is a "gap" between abelian and non-abelian groups \cite{G}. We prove a "topological" generalization estimating the odds a word presenting the fundamental group of an orientable surface <x,y:[x1,y1][x2,y2]...[xn,yn]=1><x,y: [x_1,y_1][x_2,y_2]...[x_n,y_n]=1> is satisfied. This resolves a conjecture by Langley, Levitt and Rower.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1205.4757,
  title  = {On the 5/8 bound for non-Abelian Groups},
  author = {John Mangual},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.4757},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

5 pages, 1 figure

R2 v1 2026-06-21T21:07:35.931Z