We present a computer-aided, yet fully rigorous, proof of Ira Gessel's tantalizingly simply-stated conjecture that the number of ways of walking $2n$ steps in the region $x+y \geq 0, y \geq 0$ of the square-lattice with unit steps in the east, west, north, and south directions, that start and end at the origin, equals $16^n\frac{(5/6)_n(1/2)_n}{(5/3)_n(2)_n}$ .
Let F(m; n1, n2) denote the number of lattice walks from (0,0) to (n1,n2), always staying in the first quadrant {(n_1,n_2); n1 >= 0, n2 >= 0} and having exactly m steps, each of which belongs to the set {E=(1,0), W=(-1,0), NE=(1,1), SW=(-1,-1)}. Ira Gessel conjectured that F(2n; 0, 0) = 16^n (1/2)_n (5/6)_n / ((2)_n (5/3)_n) where (a)_n is the Pochhammer symbol. We pose similar conjectures for some other values of (n1,n2), and give closed-form formulas for F(n1; n1, n2) when n1 >= n2 as well as for F(2n2 - n1; n1, n2) when n1 <= n2. In the main part of the paper, we derive a functional equatio…
We use the Robinson-Schensted correspondence, followed by symbol-crunching, in order to derive explicit expressions for the quantities mentioned in the title. We follow it by number crunching, in order to compute the first terms of these sequences. As an encore, we cleverly implement Ira Gessel's celebrated determinant formula for the generating functions of these sequences, to crank out many terms. This modest tribute is dedicated to one of the greatest enumerators alive today (and definitely the most modest one!), Ira Martin Gessel, who is turning 64 years-old today
Gessel walks are lattice paths confined to the quarter plane that start at the origin and consist of unit steps going either West, East, South-West or North-East. In 2001, Ira Gessel conjectured a nice closed-form expression for the number of Gessel walks ending at the origin. In 2008, Kauers, Koutschan and Zeilberger gave a computer-aided proof of this conjecture. The same year, Bostan and Kauers showed, again using computer algebra tools, that the complete generating function of Gessel walks is algebraic. In this article we propose the first "human proofs" of these results. They are derived …
We consider Gessel walks in the plane starting at the origin $(0, 0)$ remaining in the first quadrant $i, j \geq 0$ and made of West, North-East, East and South-West steps. Let $F(m; n_1, n_2)$ denote the number of these walks with exact $m$ steps ending at the point $(n_1, n_2)$, Petkovšek and Wilf posed several analogous conjectures similar to the famous Gessel's conjecture. We establish a probabilistic model of Gessel walks which is concerned with the problem of vicious walkers. This model helps us to obtain the linear homogeneous recurrence relations with binomial coefficients for both $F(…
We interpret walks in the first quadrant with steps {(1,1),(1,0),(-1,0), (-1,-1)} as a generalization of Dyck words with two sets of letters. Using this language, we give a formal expression for the number of walks in the steps above beginning and ending at the origin. We give an explicit formula for a restricted class of such words using a correspondance between such words and Dyck paths. This explicit formula is exactly the same as that for the degree of the polynomial satisfied by the square of the area of cyclic n-gons conjectured by Dave Robbins although the connection is a mystery. Final…
A permutation whose any prefix has no more descents than ascents is called a ballot permutation. In this paper, we present a decomposition of ballot permutations that enables us to construct a bijection between ballot permutations and odd order permutations, which proves a set-valued extension of a conjecture due to Spiro using the statistic of peak values. This bijection also preserves the neighbors of the largest letter in permutations and thus resolves a refinement of Spiro' s conjecture proposed by Wang and Zhang. Our decomposition can be extended to well-labelled positive paths, a class o…
Gessel conjectured that the two-sided Eulerian polynomial, recording the common distribution of the descent number of a permutation and that of its inverse, has non-negative integer coefficients when expanded in terms of the gamma basis. This conjecture has been proved recently by Lin. We conjecture that an analogous statement holds for simple permutations, and use the substitution decomposition tree of a permutation (by repeated inflation) to show that this would imply the Gessel-Lin result. We provide supporting evidence for this stronger conjecture.
We present a bijection between cyclic permutations of {1,2,...,n+1} and permutations of {1,2,...,n} that preserves the descent set of the first n entries and the set of weak excedances. This non-trivial bijection involves a Foata-like transformation on the cyclic notation of the permutation, followed by certain conjugations. We also give an alternate derivation of the consequent result about the equidistribution of descent sets using work of Gessel and Reutenauer. Finally, we prove a conjecture of the author in [SIAM J. Discrete Math. 23 (2009), 765-786] and a conjecture of Eriksen, Freij and …
The great enumerator Germain Kreweras empirically discovered this intriguing fact, and then needed lots of pages[K], and lots of human ingenuity, to prove it. Other great enumerators, for example, Heinrich Niederhausen[N], Ira Gessel[G1], and Mireille Bousquet-Mélou[B], found other ingenious, ``simpler'' proofs. Yet none of them is as simple as ours! Our proof (with the generous help of our faithful computers) is ``ugly'' in the traditional sense, since it would be painful for a lowly human to follow all the steps. But according to our humble aesthetic taste, this proof is much more elegant, s…
We prove a compositional refinement of the Delta conjecture (rise version) of Haglund, Remmel and Wilson (2018) for $Δ_{e_{n-k-1}}'e_n$ which was stated by D'Adderio, Iraci and Vanden Wyngaerd (2020) in terms of Theta operators.
We give a combinatorial interpretation of a certain positivity conjecture of Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson classes, as stated by P. Aluffi and the author in a previous paper. It translates into a positivity property for a sum of p by p determinants consisting of binomial coefficients, generalizing the classical Theorem of Lindstrom-Gessel-Viennot et al. which computes these determinants in terms of non-intersecting lattice paths. We prove this conjecture for p=2,3.
In the context of the (generalized) Delta Conjecture and its compositional form, D'Adderio, Iraci, and Wyngaerd recently stated a conjecture relating two symmetric function operators, $D_k$ and $Θ_k$. We prove this Theta Operator Conjecture, finding it as a consequence of the five-term relation of Mellit and Garsia. As a result, we find surprising ways of writing the $D_k$ operators.
Let $(x_1, \dots, x_n, y_1, \dots, y_n)$ be a list of $2n$ commuting variables, $(θ_1, \dots, θ_n, ξ_1, \dots, ξ_n)$ be a list of $2n$ anticommuting variables, and $\mathbb{C}[X_n, Y_n] \otimes \wedge \{Θ_n, Ξ_n\}$ be the algebra generated by these variables. D'Adderio, Iraci, and Vanden Wyngaerd introduced the {\em Theta operators} on the ring of symmetric functions and used them to conjecture a formula for the quadruply-graded $\mathfrak{S}_n$-isomorphism type of $\mathbb{C}[X_n,Y_n] \otimes \wedge \{Θ_n, Ξ_n\}/I$ where $I$ is the ideal generated by $\mathfrak{S}_n$-invariants with vanishing…
We introduce area, bounce and dinv statistics on decorated parallelogram polyominoes, and prove that some of their q,t-enumerators match $\langle Δ_{h_m} e_{n+1}, s_{k+1,1^{n-k}} \rangle$, extending in this way the work in (Aval et al. 2014). Also, we provide a bijective connection between decorated parallelogram polyominoes and decorated labelled Dyck paths, which allows us to prove the combinatorial interpretation of the coefficient $\langleΔ_{e_{m+n-k-1}}'e_{m+n}, h_m h_n \rangle$ predicted by the Delta conjecture in (Haglund et al. 2015). Finally, we define a statistic pmaj on partially la…
We introduce area, bounce and dinv statistics on decorated parallelogram polyominoes, and prove that some of their q,t-enumerators match $\langle Δ_{h_m} e_{n+1},s_{k+1,1^{n-k}}\rangle$, extending in this way the work in (Aval et al. 2014). Also, we provide a bijective connection between decorated parallelogram polyominoes and decorated labelled Dyck paths, which allows us to prove the combinatorial interpretation of the coefficient $\langle Δ_{e_{m+n-k-1}}'e_{m+n},h_m h_n\rangle$ predicted by the Delta conjecture in (Haglund et al. 2015). Finally, we define a statistic pmaj on partially label…
Using the polynomial method in additive number theory, this article establishes a new addition theorem for the set of subsums of a set satisfying $A\cap(-A)=\emptyset$ in $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$: \[|Σ(A)|\geqslant\min{p,1+\frac{|A|(|A|+1)}{2}}.\] The proof is similar in nature to Alon, Nathanson and Ruzsa's proof of the Erdös-Heilbronn conjecture (proved initially by Dias da Silva and Hamidoune \cite{DH}). A key point in the proof of this theorem is the evaluation of some binomial determinants that have been studied in the work of Gessel and Viennot. A generalization to the set of subsums of …