English

Thue-Morse at Multiples of an Integer

Number Theory 2010-09-28 v1 Combinatorics

Abstract

Let (t_n) be the classical Thue-Morse sequence defined by t_n = s_2(n) (mod 2), where s_2 is the sum of the bits in the binary representation of n. It is well known that for any integer k>=1 the frequency of the letter "1" in the subsequence t_0, t_k, t_{2k}, ... is asymptotically 1/2. Here we prove that for any k there is a n<=k+4 such that t_{kn}=1. Moreover, we show that n can be chosen to have Hamming weight <=3. This is best in a twofold sense. First, there are infinitely many k such that t_{kn}=1 implies that n has Hamming weight >=3. Second, we characterize all k where the minimal n equals k, k+1, k+2, k+3, or k+4. Finally, we present some results and conjectures for the generalized problem, where s_2 is replaced by s_b for an arbitrary base b>=2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1009.5357,
  title  = {Thue-Morse at Multiples of an Integer},
  author = {Johannes F. Morgenbesser and Jeffrey Shallit and Thomas Stoll},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1009.5357},
  year   = {2010}
}

Comments

14 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-21T16:19:46.617Z