Skip to main content
Search type Search syntax
Tags [tag]
Exact "words here"
Author user:1234
user:me (yours)
Score score:3 (3+)
score:0 (none)
Answers answers:3 (3+)
answers:0 (none)
isaccepted:yes
hasaccepted:no
inquestion:1234
Views views:250
Code code:"if (foo != bar)"
Sections title:apples
body:"apples oranges"
URL url:"*.example.com"
Saves in:saves
Status closed:yes
duplicate:no
migrated:no
wiki:no
Types is:question
is:answer
Exclude -[tag]
-apples
For more details on advanced search visit our help page
Results tagged with
Search options not deleted user 126667

Enumerative combinatorics, graph theory, order theory, posets, matroids, designs and other discrete structures. It also includes algebraic, analytic and probabilistic combinatorics.

7 votes

Sum of $n$ vectors in $(\mathbb Z/n)^k$

The case k = 1 is the Erdős-Ginzburg-Ziv Theorem. Take a look at this Wikipedia article which has links to some surveys of the large literature of similar results. (The particular generalizations I' …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
2 votes

Points and lines in the plane

I'm very curious where this problem comes from, since it is related to some stuff I've been thinking about. The smallest counterexample for k=1 seems to be the set of six points containing the vertic …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
16 votes

Number of permutations with a specified number of fixed points

A permutation of {1, ..., n} with k fixed points is determined by choosing which k elements of {1, ..., n} it fixes and choosing a derangement of the remaining n-k elements. So, $F(k, n) = {n \choos …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
13 votes

What is the minimum N for which there exist N points in the plane that cannot be covered by ...

The trick for N = 10 (which I heard from a friend earlier today) is to check that the density of the triangular packing of unit diameter circles is high enough that some translate of this packing must …
14 votes

Are there any important mathematical concepts without discrete analog?

Is there a discrete analogue of the notion of discreteness?
4 votes

analog of principle of inclusion-exclusion

Writing B \ A for the event "B occurs but A does not" (as in the difference of sets) we have... P(A ∪ B) = P(A) + P(B \ A) P(A ∩ B) = P(A) × P(B | A) Just fun with symbols I think...
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
2 votes

Algorithmic Combinatorics resources?

The method of coupling from the past can be used to sample uniformly at random from certain distributions. Here is a simple demonstration which illustrates the method, and here it is in action comput …
5 votes

Derangements and q-variants

This is just a guess with no basis, but maybe $D_n^+(q)$ should be those elements whose determinant is a quadratic residue (maybe let's assume p > 2 for safety)? Or you could split into $q-1$ groups, …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
21 votes
Accepted

Mathematical solution for a two-player single-suit trick taking game?

Yes, it has been studied by Johan Wästlund in A solution of two-person single-suit whist, which gives an efficient algorithm to compute the value of a position in this game (Theorem 10.1). He has als …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
6 votes

Number of paths equal less than equal to a certain length

This problem seems to be NP-hard, in an informal sense. I'll sketch how we could use an algorithm for this problem to solve the knapsack problem. Suppose given $n$ objects with weights $w_1$, ..., $ …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
24 votes
Accepted

Can we disallow finite choice?

You might want topos theory. A topos is something like the category of sets, but the internal logic of a general topos is much weaker than ZF; it need not even be Boolean. An example of a topos is t …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
8 votes

Asymptotics of a Bernoulli-number-like function

If my computation is correct, then f(n, 2) should be roughly $$\frac12 \sum_{k \in \mathbb{Z}} 2^{k+s} e^{-2^{k+s}}$$ where s = the fractional part of $\log_2 n$. (Note the terms of the sum decay r …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k
4 votes

Is there a topological description of combinatorial Euler characteristic?

Why isn't there an intrinsic topological description, or perhaps manifold-theoretic description? At least in some cases, the combinatorial Euler characteristic of X is equal to the homotopy Euler …
Reid Barton's user avatar
  • 25.2k