Words that almost commute

DOI10.1016/J.DISC.2022.112898MaRDI QIDQ6379272arXivFDO

Authors Daniel Gabric

Publication date 3 October 2021

Published in arXiv

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1016/J.DISC.2022.112898

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Semigroups (20Mxx) Discrete mathematics in relation to computer science (68Rxx) Theory of error-correcting codes and error-detecting codes (94Bxx)

arXiv classification

cs.DMmath.CO

Abstract: The emph{Hamming distance} $extham(u,v)$ between two equal-length words $u$, $v$ is the number of positions where $u$ and $v$ differ. The words $u$ and $v$ are said to be emph{conjugates} if there exist non-empty words $x,y$ such that $u=xy$ and $v=yx$. The smallest value $extham(xy,yx)$ can take on is $0$, when $x$ and $y$ commute. But, interestingly, the next smallest value $extham(xy,yx)$ can take on is $2$ and not $1$. In this paper, we consider conjugates $u=xy$ and $v=yx$ where $extham(xy,yx)=2$. More specifically, we provide an efficient formula to count the number $h(n)$ of length-$n$ words $u=xy$ over a $k$-letter alphabet that have a conjugate $v=yx$ such that $extham(xy,yx)=2$. We also provide efficient formulae for other quantities closely related to $h(n)$. Finally, we show that there is no one easily-expressible good bound on the growth of $h(n)$.

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