From: orourke@grendel.csc.smith.edu (Joseph O'Rourke) Subject: Re: compact two manifolds Date: 22 Jan 2001 21:37:21 -0500 Newsgroups: sci.math Summary: Algorithmic solution to the word problem for surface groups In article , Kevin Foltinek wrote: >In article <94cf9f$nua$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Will Self > writes: > >> Can anyone direct me to an algorithm that will determine when two words >> represent the same manifold? I may be misreading the original post, but perhaps he wanted more of a computer algorithm, in which case this paper, which presents "an algorithmic solution to the word problem for surface groups," may be of interest: @inproceedings{s-dcc-92 , author = "H. Schipper" , title = "Determining contractibility of curves" , booktitle = "Proc. 8th Annu. ACM Sympos. Comput. Geom." , year = 1992 , pages = "358--367" }