Are Buchberger's criteria necessary for the chain condition? (Q2470056)

Buchberger's algorithm for Gröbner basis is an fundamental tool in symbolic computation. It essentially carries out several S-polynomial reductions. Buchberger himself showed that, in some instances, one can skip the S-polynomial reductions. Skipping S-polynomial reductions is possible when the leading coefficient of the polynomial satisfy certain conditions, called Buchberger's criteria. In this paper, the authors study the converse of this result. More precisely, after rephrasing the condition skipping S-polynomial reduction is terms of a chain condition, the result of Buchberger may stated as: Buchberger's criteria imply the chain condition. They show that if there are least four polynomials, then Buchberger's criteria and the chain condition are equivalent. If there are exactly three polynomials, they show that the chain condition is not necessary.