WORD EQUATIONS WITH ONE UNKNOWN

We consider properties of the solution set of a word equation with one unknown. We prove that the solution set of a word equation possessing infinite number of solutions is of the form (pq)*p where pq is primitive. Next, we prove that a word equation with at most four occurrences of the unknown possesses either infinitely many solutions or at most two solutions. We show that there are equations with at most four occurrences of the unknown possessing exactly two solutions. Finally, we prove that a word equation with at most 2k occurrences of the unknown possesses either infinitely many solutions or at most 8 log k + O(1) solutions. Hence, if we consider a class εk of equations with at most 2k occurrences of the unknown, then each equation in this class possesses either infinitely many solutions or O( log k) number of solutions. Our considerations allow to construct the first alphabet independent linear time algorithm for computing the solution set of an equation in a nontrivial class of equations.