LAUSR

With the Hirota bilinear method and symbolic computation, we investigate the $$(3+1)$$ -dimensional generalized Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation. Based on its bilinear form, the bilinear Backlund transformation is constructed, which consists of four equations and five free parameters. The Pfaffian, Wronskian and Grammian form solutions are derived by using the properties of determinant. As an example, the one-, two- and three-soliton solutions are constructed in the context of the Pfaffian, Wronskian and Grammian forms. Moreover, the triangle function solutions are given based on the Pfaffian form solution. A few particular solutions are plotted by choosing the appropriate parameters.