English

Avoiding 2-binomial squares and cubes

Formal Languages and Automata Theory 2013-10-18 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

Two finite words u,vu,v are 2-binomially equivalent if, for all words xx of length at most 2, the number of occurrences of xx as a (scattered) subword of uu is equal to the number of occurrences of xx in vv. This notion is a refinement of the usual abelian equivalence. A 2-binomial square is a word uvuv where uu and vv are 2-binomially equivalent. In this paper, considering pure morphic words, we prove that 2-binomial squares (resp. cubes) are avoidable over a 3-letter (resp. 2-letter) alphabet. The sizes of the alphabets are optimal.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1310.4743,
  title  = {Avoiding 2-binomial squares and cubes},
  author = {M. Rao and M. Rigo and P. Salimov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.4743},
  year   = {2013}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T01:49:00.497Z