[Information and Computation, December 1990, pp. 180-198]

Properties of Words in a Free Partially Commutative Monoid

Hai-Ning Liu, Celia Wrathall, and Kenneth A. Zeger

Abstract

We examine several properties of words in a Free Partially Commutative Monoid. The Word Reconstruction Problem and The Reconstructibility Problem are presented and shown to be decidable, each with linear-time algorithms. The notions of congruential prefix and congruential root of a word in Σ* are defined, and several results analogous to the case of a free monoid are proven. The Generalized Word Problem in an FPCM is solved with a quadratic time algorithm. Polynomial-time algorithms are given deciding the Conjugacy and Cyclic Equality Problems.