A new algebra core for the `minimal form` problem
Mark Purtill, Joseph Oliveira, Grant O. Cook · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1991
The demands of large-scale algebraic computation have led to the development of many new algorithms for manipulating algebraic objects in computer algebra systems. For instance, parallel versions of many important algorithms have been discovered. Simultaneously, more effective symbolic representations of algebraic objects have been sought. Also, while some clever techniques have been found for improving the speed of the algebraic simplification process, little attention has been given to the issue of restructuring expressions, or transforming them into ``minimal forms.`` By ``minimal form,`` we mean that form of an expression that involves a minimum number of operations. In a companion paper, we introduce some new algorithms that are very effective at finding minimal forms of expressions. These algorithms require algebraic and combinatorial machinery that is not readily available in most algebra systems. In this paper we describe a new algebra core that begins to provide the necessary capabilities.