Culminating paths

zbMATH Open1196.05007arXiv0706.0694MaRDI QIDQ3575426FDOQ3575426

Authors: Mireille Bousquet-Mélou, Yann Ponty 

Publication date: 27 July 2010

Abstract: Let a and b be two positive integers. A culminating path is a path of Z^2 that starts from (0,0), consists of steps (1,a) and (1,-b), stays above the x-axis and ends at the highest ordinate it ever reaches. These paths were first encountered in bioinformatics, in the analysis of similarity search algorithms. They are also related to certain models of Lorentzian gravity in theoretical physics. We first show that the language on a two letter alphabet that naturally encodes culminating paths is not context-free. Then, we focus on the enumeration of culminating paths. A step by step approach, combined with the kernel method, provides a closed form expression for the generating fucntion of culminating paths ending at a (generic) height k. In the case a=b, we derive from this expression the asymptotic behaviour of the number of culminating paths of length n. When a>b, we obtain the asymptotic behaviour by a simpler argument. When a<b, we only determine the exponential growth of the number of culminating paths. Finally, we study the uniform random generation of culminating paths via various methods. The rejection approach, coupled with a symmetry argument, gives an algorithm that is linear when a>= b, with no precomputation stage nor non-linear storage required. The choice of the best algorithm is not as clear when a<b. An elementary recursive approach yields a linear algorithm after a precomputation stage involving O(n^3) arithmetic operations, but we also present some alternatives that may be more efficient in practise.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/0706.0694

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zbMATH Keywords

enumerationlattice pathsrandom generation

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Exact enumeration problems, generating functions (05A15)

Cited In (9)

• Degree Monotone Paths
• Pattern avoiding permutations with a unique longest increasing subsequence
• On \({k}\)-Dyck paths with a negative boundary
• Restricting Dyck paths and 312-avoiding permutations
• Weakly directed self-avoiding walks
• Taming reluctant random walks in the positive quadrant
• The bidirectional ballot polytope
• Analysis of bidirectional ballot sequences and random walks ending in their maximum
• On doubly symmetric Dyck words

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