In the mathematical subject of group theory, the Grushko theorem or the Grushko–Neumann theorem is a theorem stating that the rank (that is, the smallest cardinality of a generating set) of a free product of two groups is equal to the sum of the ranks of the two free factors. The theorem was first obtained in a 1940 article of Grushko and then, independently, in a 1943 article of Neumann.