The algorithmic solution of problems has always been one of the major concerns of mathematics. For a long time such solutions were based on an intuitive notion of algorithm. It is only in this century that metamathematical problems have led to the intensive search for a precise and sufficiently general formalization of the notions of computability and algorithm. In the 1930s, a number of quite different concepts for this purpose were pro posed, such as Turing machines, WHILE-programs, recursive functions, Markov algorithms, and Thue systems. All these concepts turned out to be equivalent, a...

This volume contains the proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applicable Algebra, Error-Correcting Codes, Combinatorics and Computer Algebra (AAECC-4), held in Karlsruhe, 23-26 September, 1986. Selected papers which were given at the conference have been reviewed a second time and are presented here.

The algorithmic solution of problems has always been one of the major concerns of mathematics. For a long time such solutions were based on an intuitive notion of algorithm. It is only in this century that metamathematical problems have led to the intensive search for a precise and sufficiently general formalization of the notions of computability and algorithm. In the 1930s, a number of quite different concepts for this purpose were pro posed, such as Turing machines, WHILE-programs, recursive functions, Markov algorithms, and Thue systems. All these concepts turned out to be equivalent, a...