Definition:Independent Subgroups

Definition
Let $G$ be a group whose identity is $e$.

Let $\left \langle {H_n} \right \rangle$ be a sequence of subgroups of $G$.

Let $h_k \in H_k$ for all $k \in \left[{1 .. n}\right]$.

The subgroups $H_1, H_2, \ldots, H_n$ are described as independent iff:


 * $\displaystyle \prod_{k=1}^n h_k = e \iff \forall k \in \left[{1 . . n}\right]: h_k = e$

That is, the product of any elements from different $H_k$ instances forms the identity only if all of those elements are the identity.

Also see
From Condition for Subgroups to be Independent we have that $H_1, H_2, \ldots, H_n$ are independent iff:
 * $\displaystyle \forall k \in \left[{2 .. n}\right]: \left({\prod_{j=1}^{k-1} H_j}\right) \cap H_k = \left\{{e}\right\}$