TERM REWRITE RULES FOR FINITE FIELDS

Abstract

Let F1, …, Fk be finite fields with distinct characteristics. We give a finite set of equations which axiomatize the equational theory of F1, …, Fk and then use these axioms to find a finite set of AC-term rewrite rules which is complete for this theory. This gives finite sets of complete AC-term rewrite rules for most instances of xm ≈ x rings by adding new rules to the usual AC-term rewrite rules for commutative rings. The first case for which we do not find a complete set of AC-term rewrite rules is x22 ≈ x, and we doubt that such rules can be found. If R is a set of AC-term rewrite rules from which one can derive x(y + z) → xy + xz, then we show R cannot be complete for x22 ≈ x rings.