Description
Monsky-Washnitzer cohomology is a p-adic cohomology theory for algebraic varieties over finite fields, based on algebraic de Rham cohomology. Unlike the l-adic (etale) cohomology, it is well-suited for explicit computations, particularly over fields of small characteristic. We describe how to use Monsky-Washnitzer to construct efficient algorithms for computing zeta functions of varieties over finite fields, using as an example the case of hyperelliptic curves in odd characteristic.