Questions tagged [enumerative-combinatorics]
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504 questions
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Sum $f(n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_k) 1^{n_1} 2^{n_2} \ldots k^{n_k}$ over partitions
Use the notation $(n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_k) \vdash n$ to denote that $(n_1,n_2,\ldots,n_k)$ is a partition of the positive integer $n$, that is, $n_1+n_2+\ldots+n_k = n$ and $n_1 \ge n_2 \ge \ldots \ge n_k ...
- 261
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3
answers
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On the finite sum of reciprocal Fibonacci sequences
I want to check if $$\left\lfloor \left( \sum_{k=n}^{2n}{\frac{1}{F_{2k}}} \right)^{-1} \right\rfloor =F_{2n-1}~~(n\ge 3) \tag{$*$}$$ where $\lfloor x \rfloor$ is th floor function.
The Fibonacci ...
- 137
4
votes
2
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343
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Number of partitions of $n$ and number of different integers in 1-avoiding partitions
Consider the number of integer partitions of $n$, usually denoted by $p(n)$ and generated by
$$\sum_{n\geq0}p(n)x^n=\prod_{k\geq1}\frac1{1-x^k}.$$
I have encountered an interesting enumeration.
Take ...
- 43.1k
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Why are these two determinants equal?
This question is a follow up on Mark Wildon's comment from an earlier MO question.
As usual, let $(q)_k=(1-q)(1-q^2)\cdots(1-q^k)$ with $(q)_0:=1$. Also, define the Gaussian polynomials by
$$\binom{n}...
- 43.1k
4
votes
1
answer
197
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On a double sum involving binomial coefficients
For natural $n$, let
\begin{equation}
p_n:=2^{1-n}\sum_{v=1}^l \binom l{(v+l)/2}1(v\equiv l)
\sum_{u=1-v}^{v-1}\binom k{(u+k)/2}1(u\equiv k), \tag{1}\label{1}
\end{equation}
where $k:=\lfloor(n+1)/...
- 128k
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1
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482
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Counting $n$-edge directed graphs
I would like to count the $n$-edge directed graphs. The graphs might contain self-loops (edges connecting a vertex to itself) and multiple edges (multiple edges connecting the same pair of vertices). ...
- 21
2
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0
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79
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Skewed plane partition with only row fillings reversed
The number of plane partitions in a bounded box is well-studied and dates back to MacMahon, at the start of this paper by Sam Hopkins and Tri Lai, p9, they summarized current results on the ...
- 51
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97
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"Convolving" a general Catalan with classical Catalan
Consider what is sometimes known as generalized Catalan sequence
$$\mathcal{{\color{red}C}}_{a,b}:=\frac{2b+1}{a+b+1}\binom{2a}{a+b}.$$
Observe that $\mathcal{{\color{red}C}}_{n,0}$ reduces to the ...
- 43.1k
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77
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Distribution of colour pairs from a random matching
Given $a$ many red balls and $b$ many blue balls, with $a+b$ even, suppose we chose a random matching between the $a+b$ balls. What is the distribution of the number of red-red and red-blue (and blue-...
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Number of planar bipartite graphs
How many planar bipartite graphs are there with $m$ vertices of one color and $n$ vertices of the other color?
How many non-isomorphic classes exist?
- 13.9k
6
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Intuitive explanations of the Carlitz-Scoville-Vaughan theorem
Crossposted from MSE:
I recently came across Ira Gessel's slides on a theorem he says should "be considered one of the fundamental theorems of enumerative combinatorics."
The Carlitz-...
- 113
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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}$...
- 43.1k
8
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What is the Möbius function for the lattice of partial partitions?
Let $n$ be a positive integer. Let $P$ be the set of partitions of subsets of
$\{ 1, 2, \dotsc, n \}$ (so, for example, when $n=2$, the set $P$ contains $\emptyset$, $\{ \{1 \} \}$, $\{ \{2 \} \}$, $\{...
- 557
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1
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Seeking for a combinatorial argument for partition identities
Given an integer partition $\lambda$, introduce the following quantities:
\begin{align*}
c(\lambda)&=\sum_{i\geq1}\left\lceil\frac{\lambda_i}2\right\rceil, \qquad c_o(\lambda)=\sum_{i\geq1}\left\...
- 43.1k
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Fuss-Catalan: how does equality of these determinants hold?
There are many ways that the Catalan numbers seemed to have been generalized, one among them is through what Graham-Knuth-Patashnik (in Concrete Mathematics) dubbed as the Fuss-Catalan numbers
$\frac1{...
- 43.1k
2
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1
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205
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Catalan and path pairs in polynomials
Define $\mathbf{K}_n$ to be the set of all $(2n+1)$-tuple sequences $\mathbf{a}=(a_0,a_1,\dots,a_{2n})\in\{-1,1\}^{n+1}$ satisfying: (a) there are $n$ occurrences of $-1$ and $n+1$ of $+1$; (b) all ...
- 43.1k
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100
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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)!}.$$
On page 12, equation (31), there goes ...
- 43.1k
3
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1
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392
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A combinatorial identity involving binomial coefficients
When I was reading an article by CHUN-GANG JI (A SIMPLE PROOF OF A CURIOUS CONGRUENCE BY ZHAO), he mentioned in the acknowledgement
the following identity
$$\sum_{i+j+k=p,\text{ } i,j,k\gt 0}{p\choose ...
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2
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432
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Plane partitions as sums of determinants
Consider the Vandermonde's determinant computed by
$$V(x_1,\dots,x_m):=\det(x_j^{i-1})_{i,j=1}^m=\prod_{1\leq i<j\leq m}(x_i-x_j).$$
The number of plane partitions in an $n\times m\times m$ box (...
- 43.1k
2
votes
1
answer
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Proof of a binomial identity
Computations with Maple suggest the following binomial identity
\begin{equation*}
\forall{p,j}: \sum_{k=j+1}^{p+1} (-1)^j \dfrac{1}{k}\binom{k-1}{j} =
\sum_{k=j+1}^{p+1} (-1)^{k-1} \dfrac{1}{...
- 1,020
1
vote
1
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110
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Existence of some lattice path connecting all given lattice paths
My daily work concerns analysis on metric spaces and some time ago it turned out that the problem I am dealing with boils down to a certain combinatorial problem. I've checked a lot of examples and it ...
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287
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How can we prove this combinatorial identity?
This is a follow up on my earlier MO post. Let's recall the sets
$$\mathbf{K}_n=\{\mathbf{k}\in\mathbb{Z}^n: k_i\geq0, k_1+\cdots+ k_n=n, k_1+\cdots k_i\leq i, \text{for all $1\leq i\leq n$}\}$$
and $\...
- 43.1k
5
votes
1
answer
398
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Catalan sequences vs composition sequences
In the paper, A polytope related to empirical distributions, plane trees, parking functions, and the associahedron, Pitman and Stanley studied the $n$-dimensional polytope
$$\Pi_n(\mathbf x)=\{y\in\...
- 43.1k
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2
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Asymptotic approximation of a convolution of binomial coefficients
I would like to find the following limit which is somewhat similar to the usual Vandermonde's convolution for binomial coefficients. Define $L$ as follows.
$$ L \triangleq \lim_{N\to\infty} \frac{1}{2^...
- 155
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vote
0
answers
40
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Probability of generating the same DAG after picking a topological ordering 3 times in a row
Consider the following process:
Choose a random permutation $p$ of $\{1, 2, \dots, n\}$ out of $n!$ options.
Choose a random directed acyclic graph $G$ that has $p$ as a topological ordering out of $...
- 1,171
7
votes
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98
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Pattern avoidance and P-recursiveness
A sequence $\{a_n\}_{n \geq 0}$ is said to be P-recursive if there exist polynomials $p_0(n), p_1(n), \dots , p_k(n)$ such that
$$
\sum_{i=0}^k p_i(n) a_{n+i}=0
$$
for all $n \in \mathbb N$.
Let $ P$ ...
- 1,608
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2
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309
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Integer solutions of system of inequalities
I am trying to solve a problem in combinatorics and I came up with the following system of inequalities:
$0\leq x<y<z\leq n$ and $x+y<n$ and I am trying to count the number of integer ...
3
votes
2
answers
250
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Proof of an asymptotic formula by Tricomi
Firs of all I ask my question, then I explain how this question arises in my mind and lastly what I tried to solve it.
QUESTION:
Let $P_{n,N}(k)$ be the number of composition of an integer $k$ in $n$ ...
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3
votes
2
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397
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An "incomplete" tiling?
Given an $m\times n$ chess board, we place $p$ $2\times 1$ dominoes on the board so that they don't overlap. How many ways can we place them?
When each square of the board is covered by a domino this ...
- 380
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2
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528
views
Number of matrices with unit determinant and fixed sum of elements
Question. Let $\mathcal{M}_3$ be the set of $3\times 3$ matrices with non-negative integer entries and unit determinant. What is the number of $M\in \mathcal{M}_3$ with fixed sum of entries? What is ...
- 577
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2
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A combinatorial interpretation for $n$-ary trees for negative $n$
The ordinary generating function $T_n=T_n(x)$ for the $n$-ary trees satisfies the functional equation
$$
T_n=1+xT_n^n.
$$
This is usually defined for $n\ge 0$, but the functional equation can be ...
- 1,190
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votes
2
answers
843
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Decomposition of a natural number as sum of positive integers
Let $n \in \mathbb{N}$ be a positive natural number and denote by $f(n)$ the number of decompositions of $n$ of the form $n = a+b+c+d$ where $a,b,c,d > 0$ are also positive natural numbers such ...
- 8,998
21
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1
answer
765
views
Combinatorial proof of a certain binomial identity
Let $n$, $p$, $q$ be non-negative integers. Then
$$
\sum_{k=0}^n{2k+2p\choose k+p,k,p}{2(n-k)+2q\choose n-k+q,n-k,q}=4^n{2p\choose p}{2q\choose q}{n+p+q\choose n}.\tag{$\heartsuit$}\label{heart}
$$
In ...
- 109k
4
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Permutations avoiding a family of consecutive patterns
Let $B=\{1324,14325,154326,1654327,\ldots\}$ be the set of permutation patterns of the form $1(m-1)(m-2)\cdots 2m$ for $m\geq 4$. I'm interested in the set $\mathcal P$ of permutations that avoid all ...
- 135
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77
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Existence of full-weight codeword in a linear q-ary code
I'm new to coding theory but would like to ask the following question:
Let $C$ be a linear $q$-ary code over $\mathbb{F}_q$ of length $n$ and dimension $k$ where $\mathbb{F}_q$ is a finite field with $...
- 191
1
vote
1
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308
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hook length formula for plane partitions
The hook length formula give a simple product expression for the number of standard Young tableaux of a given shape $\lambda$, where $\lambda$ is an integer partition, or equivalently, the number of ...
- 568
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0
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91
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Connectivity constant for lattices
A celebrated result due to Duminil-Copin and Smirnov states that the connectivity constant for the honeycomb lattice is equal to $\sqrt{2+\sqrt{2}}$.
My question is the following: apart from the ...
- 1,561
8
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0
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155
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Partial order on graphs induced by homomorphism counts
For graphs $F$ and $G$, let $\hom(F,G)$ denote the number of homomorphisms (adjacency preserving maps) from $F$ to $G$. Define a relation $\le_{\hom}$ on (isomorphism classes of) graphs as $G \le_{\...
- 2,339
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177
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Existence of fully supported element in a finite-dimensional vector space over $\mathbb{F}_p$ (and in finite abelian groups)
Let $V$ be an $n$-dimensional vector space over $\mathbb{F} = \mathbb{Z} / (p)$, the field of $p$ elements, $p$ a prime, with $\{v_1, \dotsc, v_n \}$ a basis for $V$. An element $x \in V$ is called &...
- 191
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2
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Is this a known symmetry of lattice paths?
I recently came across the fact that NE lattice paths from $(0,0)$ to $(m,n)$ in aggregate pass through each row and column an equal number of times (which also has a corresponding binomial identity); ...
- 43
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0
answers
178
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Which combinatorial class do noncrossing partitions belong to?
Let $n$ be a nonnegative integer. The set $\lbrace 1,2,\ldots, n\rbrace$ is partitioned into blocks, with $p\left(n\right)$ possibilities (e.g., for permutations $p\left(n\right)=n!).$ For each block ...
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1
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And, yet, another evaluation to Catalan numbers
Construct the $n$-tuple Cartesian product of the ternary set $X_n=\{0,1,2\}\times\cdots\times\{0,1,2\}=\{0,1,2\}^n$. Define its subset $W_n$ according to the rule (here $y=(y_1,\dots,y_n)$ is made use ...
- 43.1k
2
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0
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Removing convex sets that are unions of other convex sets from a large combinatorial enumeration
An addition chain for $n$ is a sequence of integers $1=a_0<a_1<...<a_r=n$ with $a_i=a_j+a_k,i>j\ge k\ge 0$. We say $r$ is the addition chain length. We define the length of the smallest ...
- 97
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0
answers
71
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Bounds on these numbers
Let $[n]$ be the set of natural numbers $1,2,3 \cdots n$ and $k$ be a natural number. Define $S(n,k) = \# \{ A \subset [n] \mid \displaystyle\sum_{i \in A} i =k \}$. My question is; Are there any ...
- 271
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1
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Explicit formula for Fibonacci numbers; compositions of $n$
A Fibonacci-type sequence is a sequence with two seed-values, $F_1$ and $F_2$, and which, for all $n>2$, abides by the recurrence relation $F_n = F_{n-1} + F_{n-2}$. If $F_1 = F_2 = s$, then the $n$...
- 13
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2
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424
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A sequence of polynomials related to Catalan numbers
The sequence of polynomials
$$P_n=\sum_{k=0}^{\lfloor(2n-1)/3\rfloor}
\frac{(2n-2k-1)!(2n-2k-2)!}{k!(n-k)!(n-k-1)!(2n-3k-1)!}x^k$$
satisfies apparently the identities
$$0=\sum_{j=0}^nP_{n-j}(P_j-(-x)^...
- 17.9k
3
votes
0
answers
188
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Transitive action on domino tilings
Fix a $n \times m$ rectangle and consider the set $S_{n,m}$ of all its dominos tilings.
Here are examples with $n=m=8$.
The set $S_{n,m}$ is empty if and only if $nm$ is odd, and for small $nm$, its ...
4
votes
0
answers
69
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An atlas for the enumeration of planar maps
The theory of planar map enumeration was started by Tutte and iniciated the theory of map enumeration when trying to solve the 4-colour theorem by enumerative arguments. Nowadays a wide diversity of ...
- 1,561
15
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2
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310
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Convergency radius of the generating series for A93637
Sequence A93637 of the OEIS (https://oeis.org/A093637) starting as $1,1,2,4,9,20,49,117,297,746,1947,\ldots$ is defined by
the coefficients $a_0,a_1,\ldots$ of the unique formal power series
defined ...
- 17.9k
0
votes
1
answer
109
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Upper bound of the number of oscillatory sequences
Let $$A_n=\{(x_1,x_2,x_3,\cdots,x_n):x_i \in [q] \text{ for } i \in [n], x_1 < x_2, x_2 > x_3, x_3 < x_4, \cdots , (-1)^{n}x_{n-1} < (-1)^{n} x_n\}.$$ What is the cardinality of $A_n$?
I ...
- 25