Algorithms and Classification in Combinatorial Group Theory

In January 1989 a Workshop on Algorithms, Word Problems and Classi­ fication in Combinatorial Group Theory was held at MSRl. This was part of a year-long program on Geometry and Combinatorial Group Theory or­ ganised by Adyan, Brown, Gersten and Stallings. The organisers of the workshop were G. Baumslag, F.B. Cannonito and C.F. Miller III. The pa­ pers in this volume are an outgrowth of lectures at this conference. The first three papers are concerned with decision problems and the next two with finitely presented simple groups. These are followed by two papers dealing with combinatorial geometry and homology. The remaining papers are about automatic groups and related topics. Some of these papers are, in essence, announcements of new results. The complexity of some of them are such that neither the Editors nor the Reviewers feel that they can take responsibility for vouching for the completeness of the proofs involved. We wish to thank the staff at MSRl for their help in organising the workshop and this volume.