  In this talk I give an elementary introduction to the key algorithm used in
recent applications of computational algebraic geometry to the subject of
string phenomenology. I begin with a simple description of the algorithm itself
and then give 3 examples of its use in physics. I describe how it can be used
to obtain constraints on flux parameters, how it can simplify the equations
describing vacua in 4d string models and lastly how it can be used to compute
the vacuum space of the electroweak sector of the MSSM.

High Energy Physics - Theory