TY - JOUR
T1 - Lower bounds, and exact enumeration in particular cases, for the probability of existence of a universal cycle or a universal word for a set of words
AU - Chen, Herman Z.Q.
AU - Kitaev, Sergey
AU - Sun, Brian Y.
PY - 2020/5/12
Y1 - 2020/5/12
N2 - A universal cycle, or u-cycle, for a given set of words is a circular word that contains each word from the set exactly once as a contiguous subword. The celebrated de Bruijn sequences are a particular case of such a u-cycle, where a set in question is the set A^n of all words of length n over a k-letter alphabet A. A universal word, or u-word, is a linear, i.e., non-circular, version of thuniversal cycle; u-cycle; universal word; u-word; de Bruijn sequencee notion of a u-cycle, and it is defined similarly. Removing some words in A^n may, or may not, result in a set of words for which u-cycle, or u-word, exists. The goal of this paper is to study the probability of existence of the universal objects in such a situation. We give lower bounds for the probability in general cases, and also derive explicit answers for the case of removing up to two words in A^n, or the case when k = 2 and n ≤ 4.
AB - A universal cycle, or u-cycle, for a given set of words is a circular word that contains each word from the set exactly once as a contiguous subword. The celebrated de Bruijn sequences are a particular case of such a u-cycle, where a set in question is the set A^n of all words of length n over a k-letter alphabet A. A universal word, or u-word, is a linear, i.e., non-circular, version of thuniversal cycle; u-cycle; universal word; u-word; de Bruijn sequencee notion of a u-cycle, and it is defined similarly. Removing some words in A^n may, or may not, result in a set of words for which u-cycle, or u-word, exists. The goal of this paper is to study the probability of existence of the universal objects in such a situation. We give lower bounds for the probability in general cases, and also derive explicit answers for the case of removing up to two words in A^n, or the case when k = 2 and n ≤ 4.
KW - universal cycle
KW - u-cycle
KW - universal word
KW - u-word
KW - de Bruijn sequence
UR - https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/8/5/778#cite
U2 - 10.3390/math8050778
DO - 10.3390/math8050778
M3 - Article
VL - 8
JO - Mathematics
JF - Mathematics
IS - 5
M1 - 778
ER -