The equational complexity function $\beta \nu \,:\,{\open N} \to {\open N}$ of an equational class of algebras bounds the size of equation required to determine the membership of n-element algebras in . Known examples of finitely generated varieties with unbounded equational complexity have growth in Ω(nc), usually for c ≥ (1/2). We show that much slower growth is possible, exhibiting $O(\log_{2}^{3}(n))$ growth among varieties of semilattice-ordered inverse semigroups and additive idempotent semirings. We also examine a quasivariety analogue of equational complexity, and show that a finite group has polylogarithmic quasi-equational complexity function, bounded if and only if all Sylow subgroups are abelian.

We prove that every locally finite, congruence modular, minimal variety is minimal as a quasivariety. We also construct all finite, strictly simple algebras generating a congruence distributive variety, such that the sett of unary term perations forms a group. Lastly, these results are applied to a problem in algebraic logic to give a sufficient condition for a deductive system to be structurally complete.