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[#P2826] Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three

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Problem. Does there exist an infinite word \(a_0a_1a_2\cdots\) over \(\{0,1,2,3\}\) with no indices \(i\ge0\) and \(\ell\ge1\) for which the three consecutive sums \(\sum_{r=0}^{\ell-1}a_{i+r}\), \(\sum_{r=0}^{\ell-1}a_{i+\ell+r}\), and \(\sum_{r=0}^{\ell-1}a_{i+2\ell+r}\) are equal?

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Definitions and notation

1Context

The unresolved alphabet is exceptional because its values form a short arithmetic progression. Morphic constructions, finite-state certificates, and structural descriptions of the first forced cube can be combined across independent searches.

2Problem setup

Definition 1. An additive cube consists of three consecutive blocks of the same positive length and the same integer sum.

Definition 2. The alphabet is the four-term arithmetic progression \(\{0,1,2,3\}\), with its displayed numerical values.

Remark 1. A word avoids additive cubes when no factor has the stated three-block decomposition.

3What counts as a solution

  • Give an infinite word over \(\{0,1,2,3\}\) with a complete additive-cube avoidance proof, or prove that every such infinite word contains an additive cube.

1Status

Saved packet · July 28, 2026

What counts as a solution

Saved packet status (A finite additive-cube-free word of length 70,880,000 is known). Lietard's 2020 thesis Proposition 6.4.1 gives a word of exactly 70,880,000 letters over {0,1,2,3} with no additive cube; the infinite case remains open.[1]

1Packet records

12 records

Notes and companion material

Original intake status. UNKNOWN as of 2026-07-28. Infinite additive-cube-free words are known for every four-element integer alphabet outside the affine class of {0,1,2,3}. The checked sources leave {0,1,2,3} unresolved.

  • On 2026-07-28 the primary construction, its conference paper, later citations, and recent additive-power work were checked; the infinite {0,1,2,3} case remained unresolved.
  • The strongest neighboring result is a certified additive-cube-free word of length 70,880,000 on the exact alphabet.
  • The exact statement and normalized target were checked against the controlled TheoremDB corpus with no duplicate.

Recorded example 1. The finite word \(0123\) is additive-cube-free because it has no three equal adjacent letters and has length below six.

How the 12 records connect
The overview places each record once. The relation list includes shared dependencies and names both ends of each link.

ProblemAdditive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three

All 17 recorded relations between these records and the problem

2See also

Contribute to this problem
Cite this problem statement

Cite the original sources separately.

Plain text
“Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three.” TheoremDB. P2826. Problem statement; statement text SHA-256 9f8119d3cb757330a8cfa8beb7fafa160ee0ef67c97426849aecb17a1979bfe6. https://theoremdb.org/statement/?ref=P2826
BibTeX
@misc{theoremdb-problem-9f8119d3cb757330a8cfa8beb7fafa160ee0ef67c97426849aecb17a1979bfe6,
  title = {{Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three}},
  howpublished = {TheoremDB},
  note = {Problem statement; statement text SHA-256 9f8119d3cb757330a8cfa8beb7fafa160ee0ef67c97426849aecb17a1979bfe6},
  url = {https://theoremdb.org/statement/?ref=P2826}
}

This problem includes 12 records joined by 17 typed links, current as of July 28, 2026.

1References

  1. Florian Lietard, Evitabilite de puissances additives en combinatoire des mots, doctoral thesis, Universite de Lorraine, 2020, Proposition 6.4.1 on PDF page 119 (printed page 100), construction in Sections 6.2-6.4, and conclusion on PDF page 125. Proposition 6.4.1, printed page 100; Sections 6.2–6.4 and conclusion. ↗thesis · reference source · PDF checked 2026-08-01 · checked 2026-08-01Source use: citation only.Gives the certified 70,880,000-letter additive-cube-free word on the exact alphabet and leaves the infinite case open.Also cited at Florian Lietard, Evitabilite de puissances additives en combinatoire des mots, doctoral thesis, Universite de Lorraine, 2020, Proposition 6.4.1 on PDF page 119 (printed page 100), construction in Sections 6.2-6.4, and conclusion on PDF page 125.Also cited at Chapter 6, especially Sections 6.2.4, 6.3, and 6.4.For Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three: Lietard's 2020 thesis Proposition 6.4.1 gives a word of exactly 70,880,000 letters over {0,1,2,3} with no additive cube; the infinite case remains open.Gives a 70,880,000-letter additive-cube-free word on {0,1,2,3} and leaves the infinite case open.
  2. Florian Lietard and Matthieu Rosenfeld, Avoidability of Additive Cubes over Alphabets of Four Numbers, DLT 2020, Lemma 1, Main Theorem, Corollary 1, and Question 1; Jonathan Andrade and Lucas Mol, arXiv:2408.15390v2, Introduction, PDF page 2. Lemma 1, Main Theorem, Corollary 1, and Question 1. ↗scholarly publication · reference source · arXiv:2408.15390v2 · checked 2026-08-01Source use: citation only.Settles the other four-letter affine classes and isolates the additive-cube problem on {0,1,2,3}.Also cited at Florian Lietard and Matthieu Rosenfeld, Avoidability of Additive Cubes over Alphabets of Four Numbers, DLT 2020, Lemma 1, Main Theorem, Corollary 1, and Question 1; Jonathan Andrade and Lucas Mol, arXiv:2408.15390v2, Introduction, PDF page 2.Also cited at Lemma 1, Main Theorem, Corollary 1, and Question 1.For Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three: Proves avoidability for the other affine classes of four-element integer alphabets and isolates the stated exceptional alphabet.Proves avoidability for the other affine classes of four-element integer alphabets and isolates the stated exceptional alphabet.
  3. Andrade and Mol, arXiv:2408.15390v2, Section 2.4 and Theorem 2.4; Lietard and Rosenfeld, DLT 2020, Question 1; implementation commit 3b40fb14bd64f2d18455c024c4393b9e7142beca. Introduction, PDF page 2. ↗preprint · reference source · arXiv:2408.15390v2 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Records the current open status of the exceptional additive-cube class and the finite-integer additive-square problem.Also cited at Andrade and Mol, arXiv:2408.15390v2, Section 2.4 and Theorem 2.4; Lietard and Rosenfeld, DLT 2020, Question 1; implementation commit 3b40fb14bd64f2d18455c024c4393b9e7142beca.Also cited at Introduction and Theorem 2.4.For Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three: The audit resolved one canonical TheoremDB problem with no attached research records and found a February 2025 primary source explicitly calling the {0,1,2,3} case unknown.Provides the latest checked survey statement that the {0,1,2,3} additive-cube problem remains open.
  4. Michaël Rao, “On some generalizations of abelian power avoidability”. Theoretical Computer Science 601 (2015), 39-46. DOI 10.1016/j.tcs.2015.07.026. The source isolates the arithmetic-progression alphabet as an open case; this CC0 textbook restatement was prepared on 2026-07-27. ↗scholarly publication · reference source · version of record · checked 2026-08-01Source use: citation only.Develops generalized abelian-power avoidance and states a neighboring additive-power question.Also cited at Section 3.2, Question 5, and Table 3 on PDF pages 11-12.Source used to assess the problem's recorded status.For Additive-cube avoidance on the alphabet zero through three: Original CC0 record prose for a sourced additive-cube avoidance question. Corpus dataset: theoremdb.agent-candidate-problems@2026-07-v8. Source: On some generalizations of abelian power avoidability (original_by_contributor). Credited contributor: TheoremDB agent session.Source used to formulate or check the problem record.
  5. Pierre Popoli, Jeffrey Shallit, Manon Stipulanti, Additive Word Complexity and Walnut. Sections 4-5, especially additive powers and Walnut on PDF pages 12-16. ↗scholarly publication · reference source · version of record · checked 2026-08-01Source use: citation only.Studies additive powers with Walnut and gives a current source for the open finite-integer questions.Source used to assess the problem's recorded status.
  6. Gabriele Fici, Svetlana Puzynina, Abelian Combinatorics on Words: a Survey. Section 8.4, Theorems 85-86, PDF page 33. ↗preprint · reference source · arXiv:2207.09937v2 · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Surveys abelian and additive powers and records the structural results used to place the four-letter additive-cube target.
  7. Lucas Mol, Additive-Powers-Decision-Algorithm, GitHub repository, commit 3b40fb14bd64f2d18455c024c4393b9e7142beca (2025). Repository implementation of the finite additive-power decision algorithm. ↗software · software source · commit 3b40fb14bd64f2d18455c024c4393b9e7142beca · checked 2026-07-28Source use: citation only.Provides the decision procedure proposed for completing the morphism search after the finite prefilters.

Original CC0 record prose for a sourced additive-cube avoidance question.

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