I know the combinatorial interpretation of first, and second order Stirling numbers (#of k cycles of n items, and #of partitions n items into k subsets). Is there an interpretation for the generalized Stirling numbers?
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$\begingroup$ did you try at least googling? $\endgroup$– SuvritCommented Nov 12, 2014 at 2:44
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$\begingroup$ Don't forget to add your findings (and references!) to the Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_numbers_of_the_second_kind $\endgroup$– Per AlexanderssonCommented Nov 12, 2014 at 10:14
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2 Answers
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Combinatorial Interpretation of Generalized Stirling Numbers (2009)
A combinatorial interpretation of the earlier studied generalized Stirling numbers, emerging in a normal ordering problem and its inversion, is given. It involves unordered forests of certain types of labeled trees. Partition number arrays related to such forests are also presented.
answered Nov 12, 2014 at 2:38
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Similar numbers were introduced in the article On a generalization of Stirling numbers (2002). They have combinatorial interpretations in terms of trees and necklaces.
answered Apr 20, 2015 at 14:32