Related papers: Avoiding large squares in infinite binary words

We revisit the so-called "Three Squares Lemma" by Crochemore and Rytter [Algorithmica 1995] and, using arguments based on Lyndon words, derive a more general variant which considers three overlapping squares which do not necessarily share a…

A pattern is encountered in a word if some infix of the word is the image of the pattern under some non-erasing morphism. A pattern $p$ is unavoidable if, over every finite alphabet, every sufficiently long word encounters $p$. A theorem by…

Recently, the authors showed that for every irrational number $\alpha$, there exist infinitely many positive integers $n$ represented by any given positive definite binary quadratic form $Q$, satisfying $||\alpha n||<n^{-(1/2-\varepsilon)}$…

We develop infinitary analogues of the $N\times N\times N$ Rubik's cube. We'll be pushed to consider the possibility of transfinitely many twists and the foremost question we shall study is whether or not all infinite scrambles are…

The main goal of this paper is to address the following problem: given a positive integer $n$, find the largest value $S(n)$ such that a square of edge length $S(n)$ in the Euclidean plane can be covered by $n$ unit squares. We investigate…

We study generating functions for the number of involutions in $S_n$ avoiding (or containing once) 132, and avoiding (or containing once) an arbitrary permutation $\tau$ on $k$ letters. In several interesting cases the generating function…

Let $A_q$ be a $q$-letter alphabet and $w$ be a right infinite word on this alphabet. A subword of $w$ is a block of consecutive letters of $w$. The subword complexity function of $w$ assigns to each positive integer $n$ the number $f_w(n)$…

We study the properties of the ternary infinite word p = 012102101021012101021012 ... , that is, the fixed point of the map h:0->01, 1->21, 2->0. We determine its factor complexity, critical exponent, and prove that it is 2-balanced. We…

We call a pair $(m,f)$ of integers, $m\geq 1$, $0\leq f \leq \binom{m}{2}$, \emph{absolutely avoidable} if there is $n_0$ such that for any pair of integers $(n,e)$ with $n>n_0$ and $0\leq e\leq \binom{n}{2}$ there is a graph on $n$…

The problem of writing a totally positive element as a sum of squares has a long history in mathematics, going back to Bachet and Lagrange. While for some specific rings (like integers or polynomials over the rationals), there are known…

We define a magic square to be a square matrix whose entries are nonnegative integers and whose rows, columns, and main diagonals sum up to the same number. We prove structural results for the number of such squares as a function of the…

Recently, Babson and Steingrimsson have introduced generalised permutation patterns that allow the requirement that two adjacent letters in a pattern must be adjacent in the permutation. We consider pattern avoidance for such patterns, and…

We study the properties of the sequence of words $(B_i)$, where $B_1 = 101$ and $B_{i+1} = B_i C_i$ for $i \geq 1$, where $C_i$ is $B_i$ with the first $i$ symbols removed, and the infinite binary sequence ${\bf b} = 10101101011011101…

In contrast to finite arithmetic configurations, relatively little is known about which infinite patterns can be found in every set of natural numbers with positive density. Building on recent advances showing infinite sumsets can be found,…

Partial words are sequences over a finite alphabet that may contain wildcard symbols, called holes, which match or are compatible with all letters; partial words without holes are said to be full words (or simply words). Given an infinite…

We study orbits of semigroups of $\text{SL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$, and demonstrate reciprocity obstructions: we show that certain such orbits avoid squares, but not as a consequence of obstructions inherited from an algebraic set, and not as a…

Let $f_W(n)$ be the number of different factors of length $n$ appearing in $W$. A classical result of Morse and Hedlund, stated in 1938, asserts that an infinite word $W$ is ultimately periodic if and only if $f_W(n)\leq n$ for some $n\in…

Let x, y be strings of equal length. The Hamming distance h(x,y) between x and y is the number of positions in which x and y differ. If x is a cyclic shift of y, we say x and y are conjugates. We consider f(x,y), the Hamming distance…

In a recent paper by Kitaev and Remmel, several formulas for the number of words of length n avoiding some generalized patterns were established. Each time the obtained function of n had been found in Sloane's Encyclopedia as the number of…

Squares (fragments of the form $xx$, for some string $x$) are arguably the most natural type of repetition in strings. The basic algorithmic question concerning squares is to check if a given string of length $n$ is square-free, that is,…