I am trying to determine what group this is a presentation of: $$\langle b,c \mid 2(b+c)=0, b+c=c+b \rangle.$$ I am pretty sure it is $\mathbb{Z} \oplus \mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z}$, but am stuck on how to show it.
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Shaun
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2$bc=cb$ means that $G$ is abelian. $G$ is one-relator so it's infinite. Then it's generated by $b$ of infinite order and $bc$, of order $2$. Furthermore, $\langle b\rangle$ and $\langle c\rangle$ intersect trivially. But you might want to make your presentation consistent: it's a mixture of additive and multiplicative notation. – David A. Craven Aug 05 '20 at 19:50
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3@DavidA.Craven Ah yes, I see now that 2(b+c)=0 just means that the element b+c has order 2. Then I could replace the generator c by b+c to get <b,b+c | 2(b+c)=0, b+c=c+b> and easily see that this is Z x Z/2Z. Thanks! – Squeeze my theorem Aug 05 '20 at 19:55
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Put multiplicatively, your presentation is
$$\langle b,c\mid (bc)^2, bc=cb\rangle.$$
By Tietze transformations, introduce $a=bc$, so that $c=b^{-1}a$, giving the presentation
$$\langle a,b\mid a^2, a=(b^{-1}a)b\rangle,$$
which simplifies to
$$\langle a,b\mid a^2, ba=ab\rangle;$$
and this presentation yields, multiplicatively, the group $\Bbb Z_2\times \Bbb Z$. This is isomorphic to $\Bbb Z\oplus \Bbb Z/2\Bbb Z$.

Shaun
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1This is a very helpful answer! I’ve never heard of Tietze transformations, though I was using some of them. Thanks! – Squeeze my theorem Aug 05 '20 at 22:01
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