Disjoint skolem-type sequences and applications

Abstract

Let D = {i₁, i₂,..., in} be a set of n positive integers. A Skolem-type sequence of order n is a sequence of i such that every i ∈ D appears exactly twice in the sequence at position aᵢ and bᵢ, and |bᵢ - aᵢ| = i. These sequences might contain empty positions, which are filled with 0 elements and called hooks. For example, (2; 4; 2; 0; 3; 4; 0; 3) is a Skolem-type sequence of order n = 3, D = f2; 3; 4g and two hooks. If D = f1; 2; 3; 4g we have (1; 1; 4; 2; 3; 2; 4; 3), which is a Skolem-type sequence of order 4 and zero hooks, or a Skolem sequence. In this thesis we introduce additional disjoint Skolem-type sequences of order n such as disjoint (hooked) near-Skolem sequences and (hooked) Langford sequences. We present several tables of constructions that are disjoint with known constructions and prove that our constructions yield Skolem-type sequences. We also discuss the necessity and sufficiency for the existence of Skolem-type sequences of order n where n is positive integers.