Computing the structure of a finite-dimensional algebra is a classical mathematical problem in symbolic computation with many applications such as polynomial factorization, computational group theory and differential factorization. We will investigate the computational complexity and exhibit new algorithms for this problem over the field \mathbb{F}_{q}(y), where \mathbb{F}_{q} is the finite field with q elements. In this thesis we will present new efficient probabilistic algorithms for Wedderburn decomposition and the computation of the radical.

Computing the structure of a finite-dimensional algebra is a classical mathematical problem in symbolic computation with many applications such as polynomial factorization, computational group theory and differential factorization. We will investigate the computational complexity and exhibit new algorithms for this problem over the field \mathbb{F}_{q}(y), where \mathbb{F}_{q} is the finite field with q elements. In this thesis we will present new efficient probabilistic algorithms for Wedderburn decomposition and the computation of the radical.

In this thesis, we will explore the structure of Terwilliger algebras over several different types of finite groups. We will begin by discussing what a Schur ring is, as well as providing many different results and examples of them. Following our discussion on Schur rings, we will move onto discussing association schemes as well as their properties. In particular, we will show every Schur ring gives rise to an association scheme. We will then define a Terwilliger algebra for any finite set, as well as discuss basic properties that hold for all Terwilliger algebras. After specializing to the case of Terwilliger algebras resulting from the orbits of a group, we will explore bounds of the dimension of such a Terwilliger algebra. We will also discuss the Wedderburn decomposition of a Terwilliger algebra resulting from the conjugacy classes of a group for any finite abelian group and any dihedral group.

In this dissertation, we explore the nature of Schur rings over finite cyclic groups, both algebraically and combinatorially. We provide a survey of many fundamental properties and constructions of Schur rings over arbitrary finite groups. After specializing to the case of cyclic groups, we provide an extensive treatment of the idempotents of Schur rings and a description for the complete set of primitive idempotents. We also use Galois theory to provide a classification theorem of Schur rings over cyclic groups similar to a theorem of Leung and Man and use this classification to provide a formula for the number of Schur rings over cyclic p-groups.