  The Whitehead Minimization problem is a problem of finding elements of the
minimal length in the automorphic orbit of a given element of a free group. The
classical algorithm of Whitehead that solves the problem depends exponentially
on the group rank. Moreover, it can be easily shown that exponential blowout
occurs when a word of minimal length has been reached and, therefore, is
inevitable except for some trivial cases.
  In this paper we introduce a deterministic Hybrid search algorithm and its
stochastic variation for solving the Whitehead minimization problem. Both
algorithms use search heuristics that allow one to find a length-reducing
automorphism in polynomial time on most inputs and significantly improve the
reduction procedure. The stochastic version of the algorithm employs a
probabilistic system that decides in polynomial time whether or not a word is
minimal. The stochastic algorithm is very robust. It has never happened that a
non-minimal element has been claimed to be minimal.
