Related papers: Simultaneous avoidance of large squares and fracti…
We investigate the expressive power of quantifier alternation hierarchy of first-order logic over words. This hierarchy includes the classes ${\Sigma}_i$ (sentences having at most $i$ blocks of quantifiers starting with an $\exists$) and…
Using a new approach based on automatic sequences, logic, and a decision procedure, we reprove some old theorems about circularly squarefree words and unbordered conjugates in a new and simpler way. Furthermore, we prove three new results…
In this paper we determine the group of rational automorphisms of binary cubic and quartic forms with integer coefficients and non-zero discriminant in terms of certain quadratic covariants of cubic and quartic forms. This allows one to…
We establish that almost every positive integer $n$ is the sum of four cubes, two of which are at most $n^{\theta}$, as long as $\theta\geq192/869$. An asymptotic formula for the number of such representations is established when…
We demonstrate that there are infinitely many integers that cannot be expressed as the sum of two squares of integers and up to two non-negative integer powers of 2.
We generalize two well-known enumerative facts. The first, due to Clebsch, says that a general binary sextic form is expressible as the sum of a cube and a square in 40 different ways. The second, due to Zariski and later Vakil, states that…
We review the recent progress in the investigation of powerfree words, with particular emphasis on binary cubefree and ternary squarefree words. Besides various bounds on the entropy, we provide bounds on letter frequencies and consider…
A $4^-$-power is a non-empty word of the form $XXXX^-$, where $X^-$ is obtained from $X$ by erasing the last letter. A binary word is called {\em faux-bonacci} if it contains no $4^-$-powers, and no factor 11. We show that faux-bonacci…
We study the problem of whether a given finite algebra with finitely many basic operations contains a cube term; we give both structural and algorithmic results. We show that if such an algebra has a cube term then it has a cube term of…
Chen, Kitaev, M\"{u}tze, and Sun recently introduced the notion of universal partial words, a generalization of universal words and de Bruijn sequences. Universal partial words allow for a wild-card character $\diamond$, which is a…
Given a negative $D>-(\log X)^{\log 2-\delta}$, we give a new upper bound on the number of square free integers $<X$ which are represented by some but not all forms of the genus of a primitive positive definite binary quadratic form $f$ of…
We revisit a work by R. Okazaki and prove that for every cubic binary form F(x, y) with large enough discriminant, the Thue equation |F(x, y)| = 1 has at most 7 solutions in integers x and y.
A positive definite and integral quadratic form $f$ is called irrecoverable if there is a quadratic form $F$ such that it represents all proper subforms of $f$, whereas it does not represent $f$ itself. In this case, $F$ is called an…
We associate in a canonical way a substitution to any abstract numeration system built on a regular language. In relationship with the growth order of the letters, we define the notion of two independent substitutions. Our main result is…
This note is an attempt to attack a conjecture of Fraenkel and Simpson stated in 1998 concerning the number of distinct squares in a finite word. By counting the number of (right-)special factors, we give an upper bound of the number of…
We study decompositions of words into subwords that are in some sense similar, which means that one subword may be obtained from the other by a relatively simple transformation. Our main inspiration are shuffle squares, an intriguing class…
We will give new upper bounds for the number of solutions to the inequalities of the shape $|F(x , y)| \leq h$, where $F(x , y)$ is a sparse binary form, with integer coefficients, and $h$ is a sufficiently small integer in terms of the…
We construct an infinite word $w$ over the $5$-letter alphabet such that for every factor $f$ of $w$ of length at least two, there exists a cyclic permutation of $f$ that is not a factor of $w$. In other words, $w$ does not contain a…
For a large class (heuristically most) of irreducible binary cubic forms $F(x,y) \in \mathbb Z[x,y]$, Bennett and Dahmen proved that the generalized superelliptic equation $F(x,y)=z^l$ has at most finitely many solutions in $x,y \in \mathbb…
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…