Minimal weight expansions in Pisot bases

For applications to cryptography, it is important to represent numbers with a small number of non-zero digits (Hamming weight) or with small absolute sum of digits. The problem of finding representations with minimal weight has been solved for integer bases, e.g. by the non-adjacent form in base~2. In this paper, we consider numeration systems with respect to real bases $\beta$ which are Pisot numbers and prove that the expansions with minimal absolute sum of digits are recognizable by finite automata. When $\beta$ is the Golden Ratio, the Tribonacci number or the smallest Pisot number, we determine expansions with minimal number of digits $\pm1$ and give explicitely the finite automata recognizing all these expansions. The average weight is lower than for the non-adjacent form

From Fibonacci Numbers to Central Limit Type Theorems

A beautiful theorem of Zeckendorf states that every integer can be written uniquely as a sum of non-consecutive Fibonacci numbers $\{F_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$. Lekkerkerker proved that the average number of summands for integers in $[F_n, F_{n+1})$ is $n/(\phi^2 + 1)$, with $\phi$ the golden mean. This has been generalized to the following: given nonnegative integers $c_1,c_2,...,c_L$ with $c_1,c_L>0$ and recursive sequence $\{H_n\}_{n=1}^{\infty}$ with $H_1=1$, $H_{n+1} =c_1H_n+c_2H_{n-1}+...+c_nH_1+1$ $(1\le n< L)$ and $H_{n+1}=c_1H_n+c_2H_{n-1}+...+c_LH_{n+1-L}$ $(n\geq L)$, every positive integer can be written uniquely as $\sum a_iH_i$ under natural constraints on the $a_i$'s, the mean and the variance of the numbers of summands for integers in $[H_{n}, H_{n+1})$ are of size $n$, and the distribution of the numbers of summands converges to a Gaussian as $n$ goes to the infinity. Previous approaches used number theory or ergodic theory. We convert the problem to a combinatorial one. In addition to re-deriving these results, our method generalizes to a multitude of other problems (in the sequel paper \cite{BM} we show how this perspective allows us to determine the distribution of gaps between summands in decompositions). For example, it is known that every integer can be written uniquely as a sum of the $\pm F_n$'s, such that every two terms of the same (opposite) sign differ in index by at least 4 (3). The presence of negative summands introduces complications and features not seen in previous problems. We prove that the distribution of the numbers of positive and negative summands converges to a bivariate normal with computable, negative correlation, namely $-(21-2\phi)/(29+2\phi) \approx -0.551058$.Comment: This is a companion paper to Kologlu, Kopp, Miller and Wang's On the number of summands in Zeckendorf decompositions. Version 2.0 (mostly correcting missing references to previous literature

On Aperiodic Subtraction Games with Bounded Nim Sequence

Subtraction games are a class of impartial combinatorial games whose positions correspond to nonnegative integers and whose moves correspond to subtracting one of a fixed set of numbers from the current position. Though they are easy to define, sub- traction games have proven difficult to analyze. In particular, few general results about their Sprague-Grundy values are known. In this paper, we construct an example of a subtraction game whose sequence of Sprague-Grundy values is ternary and aperiodic, and we develop a theory that might lead to a generalization of our construction.Comment: 45 page