The number of automata, boundedly determined functions and hereditary properties of automata
Suppose that some polynomial with rational coefficients takes only natural values at natural numbers, i. e., . We show that the base- representation of is a context-free language if and only if is linear, answering a question of Shallit. The proof is based on a new criterion for context-freeness, which is a combination of the Interchange lemma and a generalization of the Pumping lemma.
In this paper we give a simple proof that the alternation-depth hierarchy of the μ-calculus for binary trees is strict. The witnesses for this strictness are the automata that determine whether there is a winning strategy for the parity game played on a tree.