*Correspondence: [email protected] 2Otto-von-Guericke Universität, Magdeburg, Germany Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Abstract We describe an algorithm which finds binomials in a given ideal I ⊂ Q[x1, . . . , xn] and in particular decides whether binomials exist in I at all. Binomials in polynomial ideals can be well hidden. For example, the lowest degr...