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Questions tagged [catalan-numbers]

The Catalan numbers form the sequence of numbers starting 1,1,2,5,14,42,... with explicit formula $\frac{1}{n+1}\binom{2n}{n}$. It counts many combinatorial objects like planar binary trees, triangulations, noncrossing partitions, Dyck paths, etc. See https://oeis.org/A000108

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Catalan objects associated to a univariate polynomial

Given a monic degree $n$ polynomial $f(z)$ with no double roots, and a phase $0\leq \theta < \pi$, there are natural constructions which associate to this data: a noncrossing matching on $2n$ ...
Hugh Thomas's user avatar
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10 votes
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A bijective proof for the odd companion to Shapiro's Catalan convolution

Shapiro's Catalan convolution is the following formula (where $C_n$ is the $n$th Catalan number): $$ \sum_{k=0}^{n}{C_{2k}C_{2(n-k)}}=4^nC_n. $$ In other words, letting $C(z)=\sum_{n=0}^{\infty}{C_nz^...
Alexander Burstein's user avatar
9 votes
0 answers
213 views

Some quotients of Hankel determinants

This question has been inspired by Hankel determinants of binomial coefficients. For a sequence $\{h_{n}\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ denote by $H_n$ the Hankel matrix $$H_{n}:=\begin{pmatrix} h_{0} & h_{...
Johann Cigler's user avatar
7 votes
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Hankel determinants for some convolutions of Catalan numbers

Let $c(x)=\frac{1-\sqrt{1-4x}}{2x}$ be the generating function of the Catalan numbers and let $$x^k c(x)^{2k}=(c(x)-1)^k =\sum_{n\geq0}c(k,n)x^n.$$ Consider the determinants $$D(k,n,m)= \det\left(c(k,...
Johann Cigler's user avatar
7 votes
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184 views

Upper bounds for a sequence of integers

Given $\alpha\geq0$ we consider the sequence $$ C_k=k^\alpha\sum_{j=0}^{k-1}C_jC_{k-1-j} $$ with $C_0=1$. I'm interested in upper bounds (in terms of $\alpha$) for such a sequence. I know that when $\...
guacho's user avatar
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Can we define the Mandelbrot set in terms of the generating function of the Catalan numbers?

For each complex number $c$, define $P_{0}(c)=0$ and $P_{n+1}(c) = (P_{n}(c))^{2} + c$ . The Mandelbrot set is the set of complex numbers c for which $|P_{n}(c)|$ stays bounded as $n\rightarrow \...
Andrius Kulikauskas's user avatar
6 votes
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Can one naturally transform Tamari lattices into distributive lattices with the same number of elements?

Many of the zillions of combinatorial objects counted by Catalan numbers come with various lattice structures. The $n$th Tamari lattice $T_n$, as originally defined, is the lattice of all those maps $...
მამუკა ჯიბლაძე's user avatar
6 votes
0 answers
295 views

Catalan numbers from matchings?

There are several examples of interpreting the Catalan numbers as non-nesting or non-crossing matchings of some graph. My question is: Is there a family of graphs $G_1,G_2,\dotsc$ with the number of ...
Per Alexandersson's user avatar
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Bijection between forests and skew SYT + Cyclic sieving

Consider the two-row skew shape $\lambda_n = (2n+1,n)/(1)$. The number of standard Young tableaux of this shape is $\binom{3n}{n}-\binom{3n}{n-2}$ (since one can easily biject this to the set of non-...
Per Alexandersson's user avatar
6 votes
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Reference request: colored Motzkin path interpretation of Catalan numbers

Recall that a Dyck path of length $2n$ is a lattice path in $\mathbb{Z}^2$ from $(0,0)$ to $(2n,0)$ consisting of $n$ up steps $U=(1,1)$ and $n$ down steps $D=(1,-1)$ which never goes below the $x$-...
Sam Hopkins's user avatar
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Looking for a combinatorial proof for an identity involving $q$-Catalan triangles

Let $C_n=\frac1{n+1}\binom{2n}n$ be the Catalan numbers. Following my earlier post on MO, one fine colleague asked me if there is a $q$-analogue of the identity formed by the so-called Shapiro's ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
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A conjecture about sums over partitions arising from Hilbert scheme of points

$\DeclareMathOperator{\leg}{\operatorname{leg}}\DeclareMathOperator{\arm}{\operatorname{arm}}$The following situation arose from the study of some localization computations on Hilbert schemes of ...
Drew's user avatar
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Yet, another generalization of Catalan determinants

The discussion on this page is motivated by Johann Cigler's MO question. My intention arose from a possible generalization of Cigler's matrix $$A_{n,m}=\left( \binom{2m}{j-i+m}-\binom{2m}{m-i-j-1} \...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
4 votes
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272 views

Representations of $\mathrm{sl}(3,\mathbb{C})$ and Catalan-like paths

Background on representations of $\mathrm{sl}(3,\mathbb{C})$ In Chapter 6 of Brian C. Hall's book "Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Representations", he constructs the irreducible ...
Samuel Johnston's user avatar
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Non-crossing and crossing bijection in higher genus

This is a follow-up question of my SO post I'll briefly mention it here. So given a $n$ cycle say $(1,2,\ldots,n)$, what are the monotonic 2 -tuples, of the form $(a,b)(c,d)$, monotonicity in on the ...
GGT's user avatar
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Dyck paths weighted by height profile

We are interested in a question concerning a weight function on Dyck paths that penalizes visits to higher heights. Let $\rho$ be a parameter. Let $D_k$ be the set of all nearest neighbor random walk ...
Matthew Junge's user avatar
4 votes
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144 views

Using Mellin transform for a certain function

In short, I want to use the Mellin transform to obtain the asymptotic behavior of the sequence $D_n = \frac{ [z^n] D(z)} {C_n}$ where $$ D(z) = \frac 1{2z}\sum_{p \ge 1}C_p \left( \sqrt{1-4z+4z^{p+...
john_leo's user avatar
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More 3-connected cubic graphs with all 2-factors of same cycle type?

The setup is as in this question: Let $G$ be a 3-connected cubic graph. If all 2-factors of $G$ are isomorphic (as graphs), i.e. all have the same partition $\pi$ as cycle type, we'll say that $G$ is ...
Wolfgang's user avatar
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3 votes
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Seeking bijective proof of a recurrence for generalized Narayana numbers

Consider lattice paths in $d$ dimensions with the steps $X_1\mathrel{:=}(1,0,\dotsc,0)$, $X_2\mathrel{:=} (0,1,\dotsc,0)$,…, $X_d\mathrel{:=} (0,0,\dotsc,1)$. Let $\mathcal C(d, n)$ denote the set of ...
Tri's user avatar
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2 votes
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The linear independence and linear elimination of non-crossing matching polynomials

Consider the polynomial set: $$ f_{ij} = (t_i - t_j)x_i x_j + x_i - x_j, \quad (1 \leq j < i \leq 2n) $$ where $ t_1, t_2, \dots, t_{2n} $ are pairwise distinct. Let's look at the non-crossing ...
dzp's user avatar
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Injection of Catalan objects into 3-connected planar graphs

Let $C_n = \frac{1}{n+1}\binom{2n}{n}$ be the $n$-th Catalan number, counting, for example, the number of (rooted) triangulations of the $(n+2)$-gon. Let $P_n$ be the number of three-connected planar ...
Martin Rubey's user avatar
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2 votes
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Lattice paths avoiding holes

Consider lattice paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2n,2n)$ with steps $N=(0,1)$ and $E=(1,0)$ avoiding the points $(2i-1,2i-1)$ for all $1\leq i\leq n$. There are Catalan many $C_{2n}=\frac1{2n+1}\binom{4n}{2n}$...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
241 views

Determinants of band matrices which are related to Hankel matrices of Catalan numbers

Let $A_{n,m}$ be the band matrix $$ A_{n,m}=\left( \binom{2m}{j-i+m}-\binom{2m}{m-i-j-1} \right)_{0\leq {i,j} \leq {n-1}}.$$ For example, $$A_{6,2}=\left ( \begin{matrix} 2 & 3 & 1& 0 &...
Johann Cigler's user avatar
2 votes
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182 views

Does this question have anything to do with Catalan numbers?

I think this question has something to do with Catalan numbers but I'm not really sure. I want to find out the number of strings that consist of $n$ $L$'s and $n$ $R$'s, under the constraint that for ...
Tuhin Mukherjee's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
80 views

Is there a distance function on Dyck/Tamari words of arbitrary length?

Consider sequences of well-formed parentheses (or up/down sequences) of the type counted by the Catalan numbers. See http://www-math.mit.edu/~rstan/ec/catalan.pdf These are sometimes called Dyck ...
Abraham Smith's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
100 views

Super Catalan (super ballot) numbers

We refer to this article by Ira Gessel. In section 6, page 10, equation (28), the Super Catalan numbers are defined as $$S(m,n)=\frac{(2m)!(2n)!}{m!n!(m+n)!}.$$ On page 12, equation (31), there goes ...
T. Amdeberhan's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
78 views

Shifted Hankel determinants for convolutions of Catalan numbers

It is well known that for $m\in \mathbb N$ the Hankel determinants $$D_m(n)= \det\left(C_{i+j+m}\right)_{0\leq i,j\leq {n-1}}$$ satisfy $D_m(n)=p_m(n)$, where $p_m(n)=\prod_{1 \leq i \leq j \leq {m-1}}...
Johann Cigler's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
92 views

Solving a Catalan-like recursion of polynomials, related to the KdV energies

I am working on a PDE problem. The goal is to connect the higher order energies of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation to those of the Korteweg-de-Vries equation. As these higher order energies are ...
Robert Wegner's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
747 views

Number of Dyck paths with k returns and b peaks

The number of Dyck paths from the origin to $(2n,0)$ which touch the $x$-axis $k+2$ times ($k$ internal touches) is given by $$\frac{k}{2n-k}{2n-k \choose n}.$$ The number of Dyck paths from the ...
user160371's user avatar