Let
F be a field and let
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si1.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=3d18b4bb1400b8804c2576c0a65323de" title="Click to view the MathML source">F〈X〉class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> be
the free unital associative algebra over
F freely generated by an infinite countable set
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si2.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=8cd5bb5b9b5da02245a4a101237efcb7" title="Click to view the MathML source">X={x1,x2,…}class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">. Define a left-normed commutator
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si3.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=70906eb7779bb87b17f1d2362ff22cdf" title="Click to view the MathML source">[a1,a2,…,an]class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> recursively by
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si14.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=b6004f600c93bafa650283e688a19ca5" title="Click to view the MathML source">[a1,a2]=a1a2−a2a1class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">,
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si15.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=734fb323f0acf8948db1f01290cb7f97" title="Click to view the MathML source">[a1,…,an−1,an]=[[a1,…,an−1],an]class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> (
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si6.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=3ea9ee74d64ee0f921b3c0832fe2f49c" title="Click to view the MathML source">n≥3class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">). For
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si7.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=7358e0e1c6b5bd1b4715c9b15070baf0" title="Click to view the MathML source">n≥2class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">, let
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si8.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=5868b09368b699d4c4a7f09fbd1f874a" title="Click to view the MathML source">T(n)class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> be
the two-sided ideal in
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si1.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=3d18b4bb1400b8804c2576c0a65323de" title="Click to view the MathML source">F〈X〉class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> generated by all commutators
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si3.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=70906eb7779bb87b17f1d2362ff22cdf" title="Click to view the MathML source">[a1,a2,…,an]class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> (
class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si16.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=1df980dd448862d0519211a0439eb9be" title="Click to view the MathML source">ai∈F〈X〉class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">).
Let F be a field of characteristic 0. In 2008 Etingof, Kim and Ma conjectured that class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si10.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=3f1a15f4d58c4b303432b2c40fc7b17c" title="Click to view the MathML source">T(m)T(n)⊂T(m+n−1)class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> if and only if m or n is odd. In 2010 Bapat and Jordan confirmed the “if” direction of the conjecture: if at least one of the numbers m, n is odd then class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si10.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=3f1a15f4d58c4b303432b2c40fc7b17c" title="Click to view the MathML source">T(m)T(n)⊂T(m+n−1)class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">. The aim of the present note is to confirm the “only if” direction of the conjecture. We prove that if class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si11.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=ac8041e9de28bb7935aae41b032c154e" title="Click to view the MathML source">m=2m′class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> and class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si12.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=5ec8264dae7d10791413a383d493235d" title="Click to view the MathML source">n=2n′class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode"> are even then class="mathmlsrc">class="formulatext stixSupport mathImg" data-mathURL="/science?_ob=MathURL&_method=retrieve&_eid=1-s2.0-S0021869316302897&_mathId=si13.gif&_user=111111111&_pii=S0021869316302897&_rdoc=1&_issn=00218693&md5=0d91d7de216b211b6ae713fdd9f3f456" title="Click to view the MathML source">T(m)T(n)⊈T(m+n−1)class="mathContainer hidden">class="mathCode">. Our result is valid over any field F.