I apologize for not have the math background to put this question in a more formal way. I'm looking to create a string of 796 letters (or integers) with certain properties.
Basically, the string is a variation on a De Bruijn sequence B(12,4), except order and repetition within each n-length subsequence are disregarded. i.e. ABBB BABA BBBA are each equivalent to {AB}. In other words, the main property of the string involves looking at consecutive groups of 4 letters within the larger string (i.e. the 1st through 4th letters, the 2nd through 5th letters, the 3rd through 6th letters, etc) And then producing the set of letters that comprise each group (repetitions and order disregarded)
For example, in the string of 9 letters:
A B B A C E B C D
the first 4-letter groups is: ABBA, which is comprised of the set {AB} the second group is: BBAC, which is comprised of the set {ABC} the third group is: BACE, which is comprised of the set {ABCE} etc.
The goal is for every combination of 1-4 letters from a set of N letters to be represented by the 1-4-letter resultant sets of the 4-element groups once and only once in the original string.
For example, if there is a set of 5 letters {A, B, C, D, E} being used Then the possible 1-4 letter combinations are: A, B, C, D, E, AB, AC, AD, AE, BC, BD, BE, CD, CE, DE, ABC, ABD, ABE, ACD, ACE, ADE, BCD, BCE, BDE, CDE, ABCD, ABCE, ABDE, ACDE, BCDE
Here is a working example that uses a set of 5 letters {A, B, C, D, E}.
D D D D E C B B B B A E C C C C D A E E E E B D A A A A C B D D B
The 1st through 4th elements form the set: D The 2nd through 5th elements form the set: DE The 3rd through 6th elements form the set: CDE The 4th through 7th elements form the set: BCDE The 5th through 8th elements form the set: BCE The 6th through 9th elements form the set: BC The 7th through 10th elements form the set: B etc.
*** I am hoping to find a working example of a string that uses 12 different letters (a total of 793 4-letter groups within a 796-letter string) starting (and if possible ending) with 4 of the same letter. ***
Here is a working solution for 7 letters:
AAAABCDBEAAACDECFAAADBFBACEAGAADEFBAGACDFBGCCCCDGEAFAGCBEEECGFFBFEGGGGFDEEEEFCBBBBGDCFFFFDAGBEGDDDDBE