Equations on partial words
It is well-known that some of the most basic properties of words, like the commutativity (xy = yx) and the conjugacy (xz = zy), can be expressed as solutions of word equations. An important problem is to decide whether or not a given equation on words has a solution. For instance, the equation xMyN = zP has only periodic solutions in a free monoid, that is, if xMyN = zP holds with integers m,n,p ≥ 2, then there exists a word w such that x, y, z are powers of w. This result, which received a lot...