Related papers: Finite automata and pattern avoidance in words
A pattern p (i.e., a string of variables and terminals) matches a word w, if w can be obtained by uniformly replacing the variables of p by terminal words. The respective matching problem, i.e., deciding whether or not a given pattern…
Nonnesting permutations are permutations of the multiset $\{1,1,2,2,\dots,n,n\}$ that avoid subsequences of the form $abba$ for any $a\neq b$. These permutations have recently been studied in connection to noncrossing (also called…
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…
In the area of pattern avoidability the central role is played by special words called Zimin patterns. The symbols of these patterns are treated as variables and the rank of the pattern is its number of variables. Zimin type of a word $x$…
We consider sets of factors that can be avoided in square-free words on two-generator free groups. The elements of the group are presented in terms of 0,1,2,3 such that 0 and 2 (resp.,1 and 3) are inverses of each other so that 02, 20, 13…
Every word has a shape determined by its image under the Robinson-Schensted-Knuth correspondence. We show that when a word w contains a separable (i.e., 3142- and 2413-avoiding) permutation \sigma\ as a pattern, the shape of w contains the…
A word $u=u_1\dots u_n$ is a scattered factor of a word $w$ if $u$ can be obtained from $w$ by deleting some of its letters: there exist the (potentially empty) words $v_0,v_1,..,v_n$ such that $w = v_0u_1v_1...u_nv_n$. The set of all…
Two words $p$ and $q$ are avoided by the same number of length-$n$ words, for all $n$, precisely when $p$ and $q$ have the same set of border lengths. Previous proofs of this theorem use generating functions but do not provide an explicit…
Let L be an infinite regular language on a totally ordered alphabet (A,<). Feeding a finite deterministic automaton (with output) with the words of L enumerated lexicographically with respect to < leads to an infinite sequence over the…
We obtain an explicit formula for the number of permutations of [n] that avoid the barred pattern bar{1}43bar{5}2. A curious feature of its counting sequence, 1, 1, 2, 5, 14, 43, 145, 538, 2194,..., is that the displayed terms agree with…
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…
The recently confirmed Dejean's conjecture about the threshold between avoidable and unavoidable powers of words gave rise to interesting and challenging problems on the structure and growth of threshold words. Over any finite alphabet with…
A word is square-free if it does not contain nonempty factors of the form $XX$. In 1906 Thue proved that there exist arbitrarily long square-free words over a $3$-letter alphabet. It was proved recently [7] that among these words there are…
In a recent paper, Bona and Smith define the notion of \textit{strong avoidance}, in which a permutation and its square both avoid a given pattern. In this paper, we generalize this idea to what we call \textit{chain avoidance}. We say that…
We study generating functions for the number of permutations on n letters avoiding 132 and an arbitrary permutation $\tau$ on k letters, or containing $\tau$ exactly once. In several interesting cases the generating function depends only on…
We study word reconstruction problems. Improving a previous result by P. Fleischmann, M. Lejeune, F. Manea, D. Nowotka and M. Rigo, we prove that, for any unknown word $w$ of length $n$ over an alphabet of cardinality $k$, $w$ can be…
We consider two-variable first-order logic $\text{FO}^2$ and its quantifier alternation hierarchies over both finite and infinite words. Our main results are forbidden patterns for deterministic automata (finite words) and for Carton-Michel…
We develop a general framework for the specification and implementation of systems whose executions are words, or partial orders, over an infinite alphabet. As a model of an implementation, we introduce class register automata, a one-way…
Distinct letters $x$ and $y$ alternate in a word $w$ if after deleting in $w$ all letters but the copies of $x$ and $y$ we either obtain a word of the form $xyxy\cdots$ (of even or odd length) or a word of the form $yxyx\cdots$ (of even or…
An infinite permutation $\alpha$ is a linear ordering of $\mathbb N$. We study properties of infinite permutations analogous to those of infinite words, and show some resemblances and some differences between permutations and words. In this…