Talk:Unavoidable pattern
Appearance
![]() | This article is rated Start-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||
|
![]() | It is requested that an image or photograph of Unavoidable pattern be included in this article to improve its quality. Please replace this template with a more specific media request template where possible.
The Free Image Search Tool or Openverse Creative Commons Search may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites. |
Something's missing
[edit]Something must be missing, either in the definition of an unavoidable pattern or in the statement of the first example using Zimin words. Given two unique symbols, a and b, I can create an arbitrarily long strong that doesn't contain aba: ab, aaa, aaab, abbbb, aaabbb, bbaaaaa, etc., which refutes the claim that, in the example as stated, the pattern aba is unavoidable. Unless I'm missing something. Largoplazo (talk) 17:07, 6 October 2017 (UTC)
- This confused me for a moment too, but then I realized A and B in the pattern can relate to the same symbol in the string. If we make our unique symbols x and y instead, it's a bit clearer. 4 characters can avoid the pattern: e.g. xxyy. However 5 or more will match it, as they must contain either xyx, yxy, xxx, or yyy: e.g. xxyyy fits the pattern ABA where A=B=y. 81.132.13.71 (talk) 23:26, 29 November 2017 (UTC)