Open Access
2005 Heuristics for the Whitehead Minimization Problem
R. M. Haralick, A. D. Miasnikov, A. G. Myasnikov
Experiment. Math. 14(1): 7-14 (2005).

Abstract

In this paper we discuss several heuristic strategies which allow one to solve the Whitehead minimization problem much faster (on most inputs) than the classical Whitehead algorithm. The mere fact that these strategies work in practice leads to several interesting mathematical conjectures. In particular, we conjecture that the length of most nonminimal elements in a free group can be reduced by a Nielsen automorphism which can be identified by inspecting the structure of the corresponding Whitehead graph.

Citation

Download Citation

R. M. Haralick. A. D. Miasnikov. A. G. Myasnikov. "Heuristics for the Whitehead Minimization Problem." Experiment. Math. 14 (1) 7 - 14, 2005.

Information

Published: 2005
First available in Project Euclid: 30 June 2005

zbMATH: 1109.20021
MathSciNet: MR2146515

Subjects:
Primary: 20F28
Secondary: 68T05

Keywords: automorphisms of a free group , clustering , search heuristics , statistical group theory , Whitehead method

Rights: Copyright © 2005 A K Peters, Ltd.

Vol.14 • No. 1 • 2005
Back to Top