Modular multiplication and exponentiation are common operations in modern cryptography. Uni cation problems with respect to some equational theories that these operations satisfy are investigated. Two dierent but related equational theories are analyzed. A uni cation algorithm is given for one of the theories which relies on solving syzygies over multivariate integral polynomials with noncommuting indeterminates. For the other theory, in which the distributivity property of exponentiation over multiplication is assumed, the uni ability problem is shown to be undecidable by adapting a construction developed by one of the authors to reduce Hilbert's 10th problem to the solvability problem for linear equations over semi-rings. A new algorithm for computing strong Grobner bases of right ideals over the polynomial semiring Z<X 1 ; : : : ; Xn> is proposed; unlike earlier algorithms proposed by Baader as well as by Madlener and Reinert which work only for right admissible term orderings with the boundedness property, this algorithm works for any right admissible term ordering. The algorithms for some of these uni cation problems are expected to be integrated into Research supported in part by the NSF grant nos. CCR-0098114 and CDA-9503064, the ONR grant no. N00014-01-1-0429, and a grant from the Computer Science Research Institute at Sandia National Labs.

We consider the problem of solving linear equations over various semirings. In particular, solving of linear equations over polynomial rings with the additional restriction that the solutions must have only non-negative coefficients is shown to be undecidable. Applications to undecidability proofs of several unification problems are illustrated, one of which, unification modulo one associative-commutative function and one endomorphism, has been a long-standing open problem. The problem of solving multiset constraints is also shown to be undecidable.