We present a metric condition $\TTMetric$ which describes the geometry of classical small cancellation groups and applies also to other known classes of groups such as two-dimensional Artin groups. We prove that presentations satisfying condition $\TTMetric$ are diagrammatically reducible in the sense of Sieradski and Gersten. In particular, we deduce that the standard presentation of an Artin group is aspherical if and only if it is diagrammatically reducible. We show that, under some extra hypotheses, $\TTMetric$-groups have quadratic Dehn functions and solvable conjugacy problem. In the spirit of Greendlinger's lemma, we prove that if a presentation P = 〈X| R〉 of group G satisfies conditions $\TTMetric -C'(\frac {1}{2})$, the length of any nontrivial word in the free group generated by X representing the trivial element in G is at least that of the shortest relator. We also introduce a strict metric condition $\TTMetricStrict$, which implies hyperbolicity.

We give an explicit description of the free objects in the quasivariety of adequate semigroups, as sets of labelled directed trees under a natural combinatorial multiplication. The morphisms of the free adequate semigroup onto the free ample semigroup and into the free inverse semigroup are realised by a combinatorial ‘folding’ operation which transforms our trees into Munn trees. We use these results to show that free adequate semigroups and monoids are 𝒥-trivial and never finitely generated as semigroups, and that those which are finitely generated as (2,1,1)-algebras have decidable word problem.

Recent research of the author has studied edge-labelled directed trees under a natural multiplication operation. The class of all such trees (with a fixed labelling alphabet) has an algebraic interpretation, as a free object in the class of adequate semigroups. We consider here a natural subclass of these trees, defined by placing a restriction on edge orientations, and show that the resulting algebraic structure is a free object in the class of left adequate semigroups. Through this correspondence we establish some structural and algorithmic properties of free left adequate semigroups and monoids, and consequently of the category of all left adequate semigroups.

Let be a finitely presented variety with operations Ω and let be the variety having the same set of operations Ω but defined by the empty set of identities. A partial-algebra is a set P with a set of mappings containing for each n-ary operation f of Ω a mapping , where D ⊆ Pn. An incomplete -algebra is a partial -algebra which satisfies the defining identities of , insofar as they can be applied to the partial operations of (Trevor Evans [4, p. 67]). We call an incomplete -algebra a partial Evans-algebra if it can be embedded in a member of the variety .

If the class of all partial Evans -algebras is (first-order) finitely axiomatizable, then the word problem for the variety is solvable. (Evans [4, 5]). In 1953 Evans [5, p. 79] raised the question of whether the converse is true. In this paper we show that the answer is in the negative.

Let CSg denote the variety of commutative semigroups. We call an incomplete CSg-algebra an incomplete commutative semigroup and we call a partial Evans CSg-algebra a partial Evans commutative semigroup. It is known (A. I. Malcev [9] see also Evans [6]) that the variety of commutative semigroups has solvable word problem. We show (Theorem 1) that the class of all partial Evans commutative semigroups is not finitely axiomatizable. Therefore the solvability of the word problem for the variety of commutative semigroups does not imply finite axiomatizability of the class of all partial Evans commutative semigroups.