Ming-wei Wang

Unary Context-Free Grammars and Pushdown Automata, Descriptional Complexity and Auxiliary Space Lower Bounds

Abstract It is well known that a context-free language defined over a one-letter alphabet is regular. This implies that unary context-free grammars and unary pushdown automata can be transformed into equivalent finite automata. In this paper, we study these transformations from a descriptional complexity point of view. In particular, we give optimal upper bounds for the number of states of nondeterministic and deterministic finite automata equivalent to unary context-free grammars in Chomsky normal form. These bounds are functions of the number of variables of the given grammars. We also give upper bounds for the number of states of finite automata simulating unary pushdown automata. As a main consequence, we are able to prove a log log n lower bound for the workspace used by one-way auxiliary pushdown automata in order to accept nonregular unary languages. The notion of space we consider is the so-called weak space concept.

Avoiding large squares in infinite binary words

We consider three aspects of avoiding large squares in infinite binary words. First, we construct an infinite binary word avoiding both cubes xxx and squares yy with |y| ≥4; our construction is somewhat simpler than the original construction of Dekking. Second, we construct an infinite binary word avoiding all squares except 02, 12, and (01)2; our construction is somewhat simpler than the original construction of Fraenkel and Simpson. In both cases, we also show how to modify our construction to obtain exponentially many words of length n with the given avoidance properties. Finally, we answer an open question of Prodinger and Urbanek from 1979 by demonstrating the existence of two infinite binary words, each avoiding arbitrarily large squares, such that their perfect shuffle has arbitrarily large squares.

Periodicity, morphisms, and matrices

In 1965, Fine and Wilf proved the following theorem: if (fn)n≥0 and (gn)n≥0 are periodic sequences of real numbers, of period lengths h and k, respectively, and fn = gn for 0 ≤ n > h + k - gcd(h,k), then fn = gn for all n ≥ 0. Furthermore, the constant h + k - gcd(h,k) is best possible. In this paper, we consider some variations on this theorem. In particular, we study the case where fn ≤ gn, instead of fn = gn. We also obtain generalizations to more than two periods.We apply our methods to a previously unsolved conjecture on iterated morphisms, the decreasing length conjecture: if h : Σ* → Σ* is a morphism with |Σ|= n, and w is a word with |w| < |h(w)| < |h2(w)| < ... < |hk(w)|, then k ≤ n.

Inverse star, borders, and palstars

A language L is closed if L=L^@?. We consider an operation on closed languages, L^-^@?, that is an inverse to Kleene closure. It is known that if L is closed and regular, then L^-^@? is also regular. We show that the analogous result fails to hold for the context-free languages. Along the way we find a new relationship between the unbordered words and the prime palstars of Knuth, Morris, and Pratt. We use this relationship to enumerate the prime palstars, and we prove that neither the language of all unbordered words nor the language of all prime palstars is context-free.

Variations on a Theorem of Fine & Wilf

In 1965, Fine & Wilf proved the following theorem: if (fn)n≥0 and (gn)n≥0 are periodic sequences of real numbers, of periods h and k respectively, and fn = gn for 0 ≤ n ≤ h+k-gcd(h, k), then fn = gn for all n ≥ 0. Furthermore, the constant h + k - gcd(h, k) is best possible. In this paper we consider some variations on this theorem. In particular, we study the case where fn ≤ gn instead of fn = gn. We also obtain a generalization to more than two periods.