Independence of algebras with edge term

Two varieties $V,W$ of the same type are independent if there is a binary term $t(x,y)$ such that $V\models t(x,y)\approx x$ and $W \models t(x,y) \approx y$. In this note, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for two finite algebras with a Mal’cev term (or, more generally, with an edge term) to generate independent varieties. In particular we show that the independence of finitely generated varieties with edge term can be decided by a polynomial time algorithm.