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Detecting Binomiality

Binomial ideals are special polynomial ideals with many algorithmically and theoretically nice properties. We discuss the problem of deciding if a given polynomial ideal is binomial. While the methods are general, our main motivation and source of examples is the simplification of steady state equations of chemical reaction networks. For homogeneous ideals we give an efficient, Gröbner-free algorithm for binomiality detection, based on linear algebra only. On inhomogeneous input the algorithm can only give a sufficient condition for binomiality. As a remedy we construct a heuristic toolbox that can lead to simplifications even if the given ideal is not binomial.