Revisiting the Equivalence Problem for Finite Multitape Automata

The decidability of determining equivalence of deterministic multitape automata (or transducers) was a longstanding open problem until it was resolved by Harju and Karhum\"{a}ki in the early 1990s. Their proof of decidability yields a co_NP upper bound, but apparently not much more is known about the complexity of the problem. In this paper we give an alternative proof of decidability, which follows the basic strategy of Harju and Karhumaki but replaces their use of group theory with results on matrix algebras. From our proof we obtain a simple randomised algorithm for deciding language equivalence of deterministic multitape automata and, more generally, multiplicity equivalence of nondeterministic multitape automata. The algorithm involves only matrix exponentiation and runs in polynomial time for each fixed number of tapes. If the two input automata are inequivalent then the algorithm outputs a word on which they differ

Lie symmetries of systems of second-order linear ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients

Lie symmetries of systems of second-order linear ordinary differential equations with constant coefficients are exhaustively described over both the complex and real fields. The exact lower and upper bounds for the dimensions of the maximal Lie invariance algebras possessed by such systems are obtained using an effective algebraic approach