Related papers: Nice formulas, $xyx$-formulas, and palindrome patt…
For every pattern $p$ over the alphabet $\{x,y,x^R,y^R\}$, we specify the least $k$ such that $p$ is $k$-avoidable.
We present an infinite family of formulas with reversal whose avoidability index is bounded between 4 and 5, and we show that several members of the family have avoidability index 5. This family is particularly interesting due to its size…
We obtain the following results about the avoidance of ternary formulas. Up to renaming of the letters, the only infinite ternary words avoiding the formula $ABCAB.ABCBA.ACB.BAC$ (resp. $ABCA.BCAB.BCB.CBA$) have the same set of recurrent…
Clark has defined the notion of $n$-avoidance basis which contains the avoidable formulas with at most $n$ variables that are closest to be unavoidable in some sense. The family $C_i$ of circular formulas is such that $C_1=AA$,…
In the interest of studying formulas with reversal of high avoidability index, we find $n$-avoidance bases for formulas with reversal for $n\in\{1,2,3\}$. We demonstrate that there is a unique formula with reversal in each of these three…
In combinatorics on words, a word $w$ over an alphabet $\Sigma$ is said to avoid a pattern $p$ over an alphabet $\Delta$ of variables if there is no factor $f$ of $w$ such that $f=h(p)$ where $h:\Delta^*\to\Sigma^*$ is a non-erasing…
We investigate the avoidability of unary patterns of size of four with morphic permutations. More precisely, we show that, for the positive integers $i,j,k$, the sizes of the alphabets over which a pattern $x \pi ^ {i} (x) \pi^{j}(x)…
An infinte word w avoids a pattern p with the involution t if there is no substitution for the variables in p and no involution t such that the resulting word is a factor of w. We investigate the avoidance of patterns with respect to the…
The set of all avoidable patterns in n or fewer letters can be avoided on an alphabet with 2(n+2) letters.
The avoidability, or unavoidability of patterns in words over finite alphabets has been studied extensively. A word (pattern) over a finite set is said to be unavoidable if, for all but finitely many words, there exists a morphism mapping…
The avoidability of binary patterns by binary cube-free words is investigated and the exact bound between unavoidable and avoidable patterns is found. All avoidable patterns are shown to be D0L-avoidable. For avoidable patterns, the growth…
We present a family of avoidable formulas with reversal whose avoidability index is unbounded. We also complete the determination of the avoidability index of the formulas with reversal in the 3-avoidance basis.
We consider the enumeration of pattern-avoiding involutions, focusing in particular on sets defined by avoiding a single pattern of length 4. As we demonstrate, the numerical data for these problems demonstrates some surprising behavior.…
We consider avoiding mesosomes -- that is, words of the form $xx'$ with $x'$ a conjugate of $x$ that is different from $x$ -- over a binary alphabet. We give a structure theorem for mesosome-avoiding words, count how many there are,…
In combinatorics on words, a word $w$ over an alphabet $\Sigma$ is said to avoid a pattern $p$ over an alphabet $\Delta$ if there is no factor $f$ of $w$ such that $f=h(p)$ where $h:\Delta^*\to\Sigma^*$ is a non-erasing morphism. A pattern…
We solve a problem of Petrova, finalizing the classification of letter patterns avoidable by ternary square-free words; we show that there is a ternary square-free word avoiding letter pattern $xyzxzyx$. In fact, we: (1) characterize all…
We consider the following novel variation on a classical avoidance problem from combinatorics on words: instead of avoiding repetitions in all factors of a word, we avoid repetitions in all factors where each individual factor is considered…
We investigate pattern-avoiding (0,1)-matrices as generalizations of pattern-avoiding permutations. Our emphasis is on 123-avoiding and 321-avoiding patterns for which we obtain exact results as to the maximum number of 1's such matrices…
Pattern avoidance for permutations has been extensively studied, and has been generalized to vincular patterns, where certain elements can be required to be adjacent. In addition, cyclic permutations, i.e., permutations written in a circle…
While a characterization of unavoidable formulas (without reversal) is well-known, little is known about the avoidability of formulas with reversal in general. In this article, we characterize the unavoidable formulas with reversal that…