Extremal problems for ordered (hyper)graphs: applications of Davenport-Schinzel sequences

Three Generalizations of Davenport-Schinzel Sequences

We present new, and mostly sharp, bounds on the maximum length of certain generalizations of Davenport-Schinzel sequences. Among the results are sharp bounds on order-$s$ {\em double DS} sequences, for all $s$, sharp bounds on sequences avoiding {\em catenated permutations} (aka formation free sequences), and new lower bounds on sequences avoiding {\em zig-zagging} patterns.

A generalization of the extremal function of the Davenport-Schinzel sequences

Let $[n]=\{1, \ldots, n\}$. A sequence $u=a_1a_2\dots a_l$ over $[n]$ is called $k$-sparse if $a_i = a_j$, $i > j$ implies $i-j\geq k$. In other words, every consecutive subsequence of $u$ of length at most $k$ does not have letters in common. Let $u,v$ be two sequences. We say that $u$ is $v$-free, if $u$ does not contain a subsequence isomorphic to $v$. Suppose there are only $k$ letters appearing in $v$. The extremal function Ex$(v,n)$ is defined as the maximum length of all the $v$-free and $k$-sparse sequences. In this paper, we study a generalization of the extremal function Ex$(v,n)$.

Constructing sparse Davenport-Schinzel sequences

For any sequence $u$, the extremal function $Ex(u, j, n)$ is the maximum possible length of a $j$-sparse sequence with $n$ distinct letters that avoids $u$. We prove that if $u$ is an alternating sequence $a b a b \dots$ of length $s$, then $Ex(u, j, n) = Θ(s n^{2})$ for all $j \geq 2$ and $s \geq n$, answering a question of Wellman and Pettie [Lower Bounds on Davenport-Schinzel Sequences via Rectangular Zarankiewicz Matrices, Disc. Math. 341 (2018), 1987--1993] and extending the result of Roselle and Stanton that $Ex(u, 2, n) = Θ(s n^2)$ for any alternation $u$ of length $s \geq n$ [Some prop…

大阶Davenport-Schinzel序列中鸽巢界渐近紧性

Asymptotic Tightness of the Pigeonhole Bound for Large-Order Davenport-Schinzel Sequences

该研究证明了在特定条件下，大阶Davenport-Schinzel序列的鸽巢界是渐近紧的，并确定了其主导常数和一般形式。

Sharp Bounds on Davenport-Schinzel Sequences of Every Order

One of the longest-standing open problems in computational geometry is to bound the lower envelope of $n$ univariate functions, each pair of which crosses at most $s$ times, for some fixed $s$. This problem is known to be equivalent to bounding the length of an order-$s$ Davenport-Schinzel sequence, namely a sequence over an $n$-letter alphabet that avoids alternating subsequences of the form $a \cdots b \cdots a \cdots b \cdots$ with length $s+2$. These sequences were introduced by Davenport and Schinzel in 1965 to model a certain problem in differential equations and have since been applied …

Lower Bounds on Davenport-Schinzel Sequences via Rectangular Zarankiewicz Matrices

An order-$s$ Davenport-Schinzel sequence over an $n$-letter alphabet is one avoiding immediate repetitions and alternating subsequences with length $s+2$. The main problem is to determine the maximum length of such a sequence, as a function of $n$ and $s$. When $s$ is fixed this problem has been settled but when $s$ is a function of $n$, very little is known about the extremal function $λ(s,n)$ of such sequences. In this paper we give a new recursive construction of Davenport-Schinzel sequences that is based on dense 0-1 matrices avoiding large all-1 submatrices (aka Zarankiewicz's Problem.) I…