The complexity of the equation solvability problem over semipattern groups

Abstract

The complexity of the equation solvability problem is known for nilpotent groups, for not solvable groups and for some semidirect products of Abelian groups. We provide a new polynomial time algorithm for deciding the equation solvability problem over certain semidirect products, where the first factor is not necessarily Abelian. Our main idea is to represent such groups as matrix groups, and reduce the original problem to equation solvability over the underlying field. Further, we apply this new method to give a much more efficient algorithm for equation solvability over nilpotent rings than previously existed.