The genus problem for one-relator products of locally indicable groups (Q2644766)

The genus of an n-tuple of elements of a group is the least number of commutators which can represent the product of some conjugate of each of the n elements. The genus problem is that of determining the genus algorithmically. We solve this problem for a one-relator product of locally indicable groups in which the relator is a proper power. The method of proof is by pictures on compact surfaces. The same method yields results on quadratic equations, and in particular commutativity relations in such one-relator products.