Avoiding 5/4-powers on the alphabet of nonnegative integers (Q2194095)

Summary: We identify the structure of the lexicographically least word avoiding \(5/4\)-powers on the alphabet of nonnegative integers. Specifically, we show that this word has the form \(\mathbf{p}\tau (\varphi(\mathbf{z})\varphi^2(\mathbf{z})\cdots)\) where \(\mathbf{p}\), \(\mathbf{z}\) are finite words, \(\varphi\) is a \(6\)-uniform morphism, and \(\tau\) is a coding. This description yields a recurrence for the \(i\)th letter, which we use to prove that the sequence of letters is \(6\)-regular with rank \(188\). More generally, we prove \(k\)-regularity for a sequence satisfying a recurrence of the same type.