Some properties of the Tribonacci sequence (Q2372431)

The well known Fibonacci sequence, the fixed point of the substitution \(\sigma(a) = ab\) and \(\sigma(b) = ba\), has been extensively studied by many authors. Concepts such as the structure of the sequence's factors, singular and Lyndon factorizations of the sequence have been studied. In this paper, the authors consider similar concepts for the Tribonacci sequence, a generalization of the Fibonacci sequence which is the fixed point of the substitution \(\sigma(a) = ab\), \(\sigma(b) =ac\) and \(\sigma(c)=a\). In particular, the authors discuss some combinatorial properties of the Tribonacci sequence's factors such as the power and the overlap properties. In addition, they calculate its free index, that is, the highest power of a factor.