An answer to a question of D. Pigozzi (Q690109)

If the identities of a finite abstract algebra \(A\) fail to be finitely based then one may ask whether the quasi-identities of that algebra are finitely based. In the case that they are, one can still form a finite basis for the identities of \(A\) but using some finite number of extra inference rules adjoined to the rules of equational logic. The significance of this approach has been indicated by \textit{D. Pigozzi} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 310, 499-533 (1988; Zbl 0706.08009)], who provided a number of examples of finite algebras whose quasi-identities are finitely based while their identities are not. In this connection he asked whether there exists a finite algebra whose identities and quasi- identities both fail to be finitely based, but whose identities are all consequences of a finite set of its quasi-identities. We show in this note that the non-associative algebra \(B\) constructed by \textit{S. Oates Macdonald} and \textit{M. R. Vaughan-Lee} [J. Austral. Math. Soc., Ser. A 26, 368-382 (1978; Zbl 0393.17001)] provides a positive answer on Pigozzi's question.