G.E. Collins – författare

this gap. In sixteen survey articles the most important theoretical results, algorithms and software methods of computer algebra are covered, together with systematic references to literature. In addition, some new results are presented. Thus the volume should be a valuable source for obtaining a first impression of computer algebra, as well as for preparing a computer algebra course or for complementary reading. The preparation of some papers contained in this volume has been supported by grants from the Austrian "Fonds zur Forderung der wissenschaftlichen For­ schung" (Project No. 3877), the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research (Department 12, Dr. S. Hollinger), the United States National Science Foundation (Grant MCS-8009357) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Lo-23 1-2). The work on the volume was greatly facilitated by the opportunity for the editors to stay as visitors at the Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, at the General Electric Company Research and Development Center, Schenectady, N. Y. , and at the Mathematical Sciences Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N. Y. , respectively. Our thanks go to all these institutions. The patient and experienced guidance and collaboration of the Springer-Verlag Wien during all the stages of production are warmly appreciated. The editors of the Cooperative editor of Supplementum Computing B. Buchberger R. Albrecht G. Collins R. Loos Contents Loos, R. : Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Buchberger, B. , Loos, R. : Algebraic Simplification . . . . . . . . . . 11 Neubiiser, J. : Computing with Groups and Their Character Tables. 45 Norman, A. C. : Integration in Finite Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The journal Computing has established a series of supplement volumes the fourth of which appears this year. Its purpose is to provide a coherent presentation of a new topic in a single volume. The previous subjects were Computer Arithmetic 1977, Fundamentals of Numerical Computation 1980, and Parallel Processes and Related Automata 1981; the topic of this 1982 Supplementum to Computing is Computer Algebra. This subject, which emerged in the early nineteen sixties, has also been referred to as "symbolic and algebraic computation" or "formula manipulation". Algebraic algorithms have been receiving increasing interest as a result of the recognition of the central role of algorithms in computer science. They can be easily specified in a formal and rigorous way and provide solutions to problems known and studied for a long time. Whereas traditional algebra is concerned with constructive methods, computer algebra is furthermore interested in efficiency, in implementation, and in hardware and software aspects of the algorithms. It develops that in deciding effectiveness and determining efficiency of algebraic methods many other tools - recursion theory, logic, analysis and combinatorics, for example - are necessary. In the beginning of the use of computers for symbolic algebra it soon became apparent that the straightforward textbook methods were often very inefficient. Instead of turning to numerical approximation methods, computer algebra studies systematically the sources of the inefficiency and searches for alternative algebraic methods to improve or even replace the algorithms.