1,2

In general a tag as defined by Emil Leon Post, is given by a 4-tuple (Sigma,AF,n,w0), where Sigma is some (nonempty) set of symbols called the alphabet, AF is the associated function (sometimes also called set of production rules) AF: Sigma -> Sigma*, n is the deletion number and w0 the initial string.

From the starting sequence we obtain a new string in each step by adjoining the string associated to the prefix symbol of the string, where after the prefix n symbols are removed from the string.

The decision problem is: will the tag end up in an empty string, a(n) = 0 or not, a(n) <> 0?

a(n) is an even number. Proof: for each cycle the number of associations (productions) 0 -> 0 must equal the number of associations (productions) 1 -> 01101 applied within a cycle.

For n=85 the tag is hard to solve by a brute force method, similar to the tag for n=110 with associated function {(0,00),(1,1101)} as reported in A284119.

Also period of orbit of Post's tag system ({0,1},{(0,0),(0,11010)},3,100^(n-1)).

Emil L. Post, Formal reductions of the general combinatorial decision problem, American Journal of Mathematics, Vol. 65, No. 2 (Apr., 1943), pp. 197-215.

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Tag System

Observed: if n is even then a(n) in {0, 4, 292, 4450}, if n is odd then a(n) in {0, 6, 910}.

(Python)

def step(w):

i = 0

while w[0] != alfabet[i]:

i = i+1

w = w+suffix[i]

return w[n:len(w)]

alfabet, suffix, n, ws, w0, m = "01", ["0", "01101"], 3, "100", "", 0

while m >= 0:

w0, m = w0+ws, m+1

w, ww, i, a = w0, w0, 0, 0

while w != "" and a == 0:

w, i = step(w), i+1

if i%100000 == 0:

ww = w

else:

if w == ww or w == "":

if w != "":

a = i%100000

print(m, a)

Cf. A284119, A291793, A292091, A336287.

Sequence in context: A013464 A331582 A306819 * A327113 A051390 A124120

Adjacent sequences: A336324 A336325 A336326 * A336328 A336329 A336330

A.H.M. Smeets, Jul 17 2020

approved