Computing Cocycles on Simplicial Complexes

In this note, working in the context of simplicial sets, we give a detailed study of the complexity for computing chain level Steenrod squares, in terms of the number of face operators required. This analysis is based on the combinatorial formulation given in [R. Gonzalez-Diaz, P. Real. A Combinatorial Method for Computing Steenrod Squares. J. of Pure and Applied Algebra, 139 (1999) 89-108]. As an application, we give here an algorithm for computing cup-$i$ products over integers on a simplicial complex at chain level.