  This document is a practical guide to computations using an automatic
structure for the mapping class group of a once-punctured, oriented surface
$S$. We describe a quadratic time algorithm for the word problem in this group,
which can be implemented efficiently with pencil and paper. The input of the
algorithm is a word, consisting of ``chord diagrams'' of ideal triangulations
and elementary moves, which represents an element of the mapping class group.
The output is a word called a ``normal form'' that uniquely represents the same
group element.
