The international
conference "WORDS" was held in Rouen, France,
during the week September 22-26, 1997. About sixty researchers interested in
Combinatorics on Words attended this long-awaited event.
No simple relation of causality can ever give rise to a system
of thinking.
Scientific theories are not an exception to the rule
of this complex process, where concepts are elaborated, and questions formulated.
A systematic study of words first appeared at the beginning
of the twenty-iff century, when three now famous papers
were published by the Norwegian, Axel Thue
(in 1906, 1912, 1914). He explored the properties
of infinite words and repetions, and research into these topics is still progressing,
as attested by the numerous fruitful studies that were presented at the conference.
Some decades latter in the century, Post would also make use of the concept of Words.
Similarly, Words became a basic concept in the combinatorial group theory
(the Burnside Problem), in number theory (Van der Waerden's theorem),
and in the theory of semigroups,
where the concept unifies fundamental results
from the theory of Automata, the theory of Complexity, and the study of Formal Languages.
About twenty years ago, Marcel Paul Schützenberger presented a series of questions
concerning words. The originality, diversity and difficulty of
these questions were the basis of an independent theory of Words.
Specific events, such as the meeting "Fête des Mots", organised by Dominique Perrin in 1980,
or the first edition of "Combinatorics
of Words", published by Lothaire in 1983, have been devoted to the theory.
Research will continue in such well-known domains as Codes, Unavoidability, Periodicity,
and many others.
The present volume collects 14 refered papers, whose results
give a good overview of the various topics presented in the conference.
These hight quality studies raise numerous questions and open up news areas of research,
thus confirming the vitality of the Theory of Words.
"WORDS"
Special issues
Special issue WORDS, September 99 Special issue WORDS, September 01| atml@free.fr | Dernière mise à jour : le 04.03.02 |