Abstract
The purpose of this expository paper is to present a self-contained proof of a famous theorem of Fife that gives a full description of the set of infinite overlap-free words over a binary alphabet. Fife's characterization consists in a parameterization of these infinite words by a set of infinite words over a ternary alphabet. The result is that the latter is a regular set. The proof is by the explicit construction of the minimal automaton, obtained by the method of left quotients.
Partially supported by PRC “Mathématiques et Informatique” and by ESPRIT BRA working group 6317 — ASMICS 2.
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© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Berstel, J. (1994). A rewriting of Fife's theorem about overlap-free words. In: Karhumäki, J., Maurer, H., Rozenberg, G. (eds) Results and Trends in Theoretical Computer Science. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 812. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58131-6_34
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-58131-6_34
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