The total run length of a word

A run in a word is a periodic factor whose length is at least twice its period and which cannot be extended to the left or right (by a letter) to a factor with greater period. In recent years a great deal of work has been done on estimating the maximum number of runs that can occur in a word of leng...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Glen, A., Simpson, Jamie
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42452
_version_ 1848756423454883840
author Glen, A.
Simpson, Jamie
author_facet Glen, A.
Simpson, Jamie
author_sort Glen, A.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description A run in a word is a periodic factor whose length is at least twice its period and which cannot be extended to the left or right (by a letter) to a factor with greater period. In recent years a great deal of work has been done on estimating the maximum number of runs that can occur in a word of length n. A number of associated problems have also been investigated. In this paper we consider a new variation on the theme. We say that the total run length (TRL) of a word is the sum of the lengths of the runs in the word and that τ(n) is the maximum TRL over all words of length n. We show that n2/8<τ(n)<47n2/72+2nn2/8<τ(n)<47n2/72+2n for all n. We also give a formula for the average total run length of words of length n over an alphabet of size α, and some other results.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T09:11:58Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-42452
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T09:11:58Z
publishDate 2013
publisher Elsevier
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-424522019-02-19T04:27:57Z The total run length of a word Glen, A. Simpson, Jamie A run in a word is a periodic factor whose length is at least twice its period and which cannot be extended to the left or right (by a letter) to a factor with greater period. In recent years a great deal of work has been done on estimating the maximum number of runs that can occur in a word of length n. A number of associated problems have also been investigated. In this paper we consider a new variation on the theme. We say that the total run length (TRL) of a word is the sum of the lengths of the runs in the word and that τ(n) is the maximum TRL over all words of length n. We show that n2/8<τ(n)<47n2/72+2nn2/8<τ(n)<47n2/72+2n for all n. We also give a formula for the average total run length of words of length n over an alphabet of size α, and some other results. 2013 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42452 10.1016/j.tcs.2013.06.004 Elsevier fulltext
spellingShingle Glen, A.
Simpson, Jamie
The total run length of a word
title The total run length of a word
title_full The total run length of a word
title_fullStr The total run length of a word
title_full_unstemmed The total run length of a word
title_short The total run length of a word
title_sort total run length of a word
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/42452