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I want to prove what is stated from above. I feel like it should just follow from the definition of the fundamental group, but I'm not entirely sure where to go from there (sorry if I'm missing something obvious!).

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Let $f : A \to B$ be a continuous map. If $u : [0,1] \to A$ is a loop in $A$, then $f \circ u : [0,1] \to B$ is a loop in $B$. This descends to a map of homotopy groups $$f_* : \pi_1(A) \to \pi_1(B)$$ defined by $f_*([u]) = [f \circ u]$ for all homotopy classes $[u]$ of loops in $A$.

You should check that $f_*$ is a well-defined group homomorphism, and that when $f$ is a homeomorphism, the map $f_*$ is an isomorphism of groups.