Discrete differential equations of order 1 relate polynomially a power series 𝐹 (𝑡, 𝑢) in 𝑡 with polynomial coefficients in a "catalytic" variable 𝑢 and one of its specializations, say 𝐹 (𝑡, 1). Such equations are ubiquitous in combinatorics, notably in the enumeration of maps and walks. When the solution 𝐹 is unique, a celebrated result by Bousquet-Mélou and Jehanne, reminiscent of Popescu's theorem in commutative algebra, states that 𝐹 is algebraic. We address algorithmic and complexity questions related to this result. In generic situations, we first revisit and analyze known algorithms, based either on polynomial elimination or on the guess-and-prove paradigm. We then design two new algorithms: the first has a geometric flavor, the second blends elimination and guess-and-prove. In the general case (no genericity assumptions), we prove that the total arithmetic size of the algebraic equations for 𝐹 (𝑡, 1) is bounded polynomially in the size of the input discrete differential equation, and that one can compute such equations in polynomial time.
CCS CONCEPTS• Computing methodologies → Algebraic algorithms.