Solving sparse linear equations over finite fields

Ahstruct-A “coordinate recurrence” method for solving sparse systems of linear equations over finite fields is described. The algorithms discussed all require O( n,( w + nl) logkn,) field operations, where nI is the maximum dimension of the coefficient matrix, w is approximately the number of field operations required to apply the matrix to a test vector, and the value of k depends on the algorithm. A probabilistic algorithm is shown to exist for finding the determinant of a square matrix. Also, probabilistic algorithms are shown to exist for finding the minimum polynomial and rank with some arbitrarily small possibility of error.