15.35 (2002)

Solved

Let $F$ be the free group of finite rank $r$ with basis $\{x_1, \dots, x_r\}$. Is it true that there exists a number $C = C(r)$ such that any reduced word of length $n > 1$ in the $x_i$ lies outside some subgroup of $F$ of index at most $C \log n$?

Progress

No, it is not true (K. Bou-Rabee, D. B. McReynolds, Bull. London Math. Soc., 43, no. 6 (2011), 1059–1068).

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