English

Pattern-avoiding alternating words

Combinatorics 2015-05-18 v1

Abstract

A word w=w1w2wnw=w_1w_2\cdots w_n is alternating if either w1<w2>w3<w4>w_1<w_2>w_3<w_4>\cdots (when the word is up-down) or w1>w2<w3>w4<w_1>w_2<w_3>w_4<\cdots (when the word is down-up). In this paper, we initiate the study of (pattern-avoiding) alternating words. We enumerate up-down (equivalently, down-up) words via finding a bijection with order ideals of a certain poset. Further, we show that the number of 123-avoiding up-down words of even length is given by the Narayana numbers, which is also the case, shown by us bijectively, with 132-avoiding up-down words of even length. We also give formulas for enumerating all other cases of avoidance of a permutation pattern of length 3 on alternating words.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1505.04078,
  title  = {Pattern-avoiding alternating words},
  author = {Emma L. L. Gao and Sergey Kitaev and Philip B. Zhang},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1505.04078},
  year   = {2015}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-22T09:35:00.869Z