Talk:Word problem for groups

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Mathematics rating:	B Class	Low Priority	Field: Algebra
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[edit] comments

This article needs work. I am reasonably mathematically literate but it conveyed nothing to me apart fom the fact that someone discovered that some problem was unsolvable. Unfortunately the unleavened use of unfamiliar technical terms in the description of the problem prevented me from understanding what the unsolvable problem actually was. I'm sure that I'm not alone. -- Derek Ross 05:37, 18 May 2004 (UTC)

Well, I've added a lot more. It just is an abstract question. Charles Matthews 12:08, 19 May 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, Charles. I won't pretend that the article is crystal clear yet but at least it's now giving me some idea of the nature of the problem whereas before it told me essentially nothing. -- Derek Ross 14:58, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

I agree this article needs some work. I have taught programming language theory and have had to deal with complteness and consistency. I should be able to understand this article, but I don't. --Juanco 22:45, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Word problem is a SET, not an "algorithmic problem". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.205.78.250 (talk) 14:22, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Word problems for other theories.

I think we need a more general page for "word problem" because word problems exist in frameworks other than groups. For example, there is a "word problem for free lattices".--Malcohol 11:48, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I've tried to start something like this at word problem (mathematics). Please improve it or let me know what you think! Best wishes, Cambyses 13:22, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] example for unsolvable word problem?

It would be nice to actually have an example of a group with a finite presentation which does have unsolvable word problem. Is it possible to give an understandable example or are these too hard for the article? - Saibot2 10:03, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

One pseudo-explicit example given, references to a few other pseudo explicit examples given, and one explicit example given. I think Turing, Markov, and Post had 2 or 3 examples that are both foundational and easy to explain *why* they are examples. This is not my field, so it is not easy for me, but perhaps someone can cover these important examples. JackSchmidt (talk) 18:55, 18 April 2008 (UTC)