Suppose that is abelian, we want to prove that , we already know that is the smallest subgroup containing the set since we already know that is a subgroup of , then we just have to show it contains the set, and it would automatically become a superset as needed.
Let be in the set, to show that this element is also in we have to show that , we note that was abelian and a homomorphism, thus Note that pulling the power out of a homomorphism is justified on line 2
Now we're assuming that and we want to show that is abelian so let , so that there is some such that . Let's prove :
Firstly by definition contains the set therefore since is a superset of it also contains that set, in other words , that is , well is a homomorphism: , the by multiplying each side on the right we have , well that is as needed.