Maximal number of subword occurrences in a word

We consider the number of occurrences of subwords (non-consecutive sub-sequences) in a given word. We first define the notion of subword entropy of a given word that measures the maximal number of occurrences among all possible subwords. We then give upper and lower bounds of minimal subword entropy for words of fixed length in a fixed alphabet, and also showing that minimal subword entropy per letter has a limit value. A better upper bound of minimal subword entropy for a binary alphabet is then given by looking at certain families of periodic words. We also give some conjectures based on experimental observations.

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Journal
Journal of Experimental Mathematics
Published
2025-08-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.56994/jxm.001.002.002
Primary Topic
Natural Language Processing Techniques
Type
article
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article

Maximal number of subword occurrences in a word

Wenjie Fang
Journal of Experimental Mathematics
Natural Language Processing Techniques
article

Maximal number of subword occurrences in a word

Wenjie Fang
article en

Abstract

We consider the number of occurrences of subwords (non-consecutive sub-sequences) in a given word. We first define the notion of subword entropy of a given word that measures the maximal number of occurrences among all possible subwords. We then give upper and lower bounds of minimal subword entropy for words of fixed length in a fixed alphabet, and also showing that minimal subword entropy per letter has a limit value. A better upper bound of minimal subword entropy for a binary alphabet is then given by looking at certain families of periodic words. We also give some conjectures based on experimental observations.

Journal of Experimental MathematicsVol. 1(2)
Université Gustave Eiffel (FR)
Openalex Percentile: Top 88%
Natural Language Processing Techniques
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