The Jacobi-Stirling numbers and the Legendre-Stirling numbers of the first and second kind were first introduced in [6], [7]. In this paper we note that Jacobi-Stirling numbers and Legendre-Stirling numbers are specializations of elementary and complete symmetric functions. We then study combinatorial interpretations of this specialization and obtain new combinatorial interpretations of the Jacobi-Stirling and Legendre-Stirling numbers.
In this paper we present several natural $q$-analogues of the poly-Bernoulli numbers arising in combinatorial contexts. We also recall some relating analytical results and ask for combinatorial interpretations.
Since 1950s, mathematicians have successfully interpreted the traditional Eulerian numbers and $q-$Eulerian numbers combinatorially. In this paper, the authors give a combinatorial interpretation to the general Eulerian numbers defined on general arithmetic progressions { a, a+d, a+2d,...}.
Gaussian blur is a commonly-used method to filter image data. This paper introduces the collapsing sum, a new operator on matrices that provides a combinatorial interpretation of Gaussian blur. We study the combinatorial properties of this operator and prove the explicit relation between Gaussian blur and the collapsing sum.
We show how the combinatorial interpretation of the normalized median Genocchi numbers in terms of multiset tuples, defined by Hetyei in his study of the alternation acyclic tournaments, is bijectively equivalent to previous models like the normalized Dumont permutations or the Dellac configurations, and we extend the interpretation to the Kreweras triangle.
We give a combinatorial interpretation of a classical meta-Fibonacci sequence defined by G(n) = n - G(G(n-1)) with the initial condition G(1) = 1, which appears in Hofstadter's 'Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid'. The interpretation is in terms of an infinite labelled tree. We then show a few corollaries about the behaviour of the sequence G(n) directly from the interpretation.
We give a combinatorial interpretation in terms of bicolored ordered trees for the sequence (a_n)_{n>=1}=(1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 10, 20, 36, 73,... ), A345973 in OEIS, whose generating function satisfies the defining identity Sum_{n>=1}a_n x^n = x + x^2/Product_{n>=1}(1 - a_n x^n).
Previous work by Mora and Sala provides the reduced Groebner basis of the ideal formed by the elementary symmetric polynomials in $n$ variables of degrees $k=1,\dots,n$, $\langle e_{1,n}(x), \dots, e_{n,n}(x) \rangle$. Haglund, Rhoades, and Shimonozo expand upon this, finding the reduced Groebner basis of the ideal of elementary symmetric polynomials in $n$ variables of degree $d$ for $d=n-k+1,\dots,n$ for $k\leq n$. In this paper, we further generalize their findings by using symbolic computation and experimentation to construct the reduced Groebner basis for the ideal generated by the elemen…
The restricted partitions in which the largest part is less than or equal to $N$ and the number of parts is less than or equal to $k$ were investigated by Andrews in \cite{Andrews76}. These partitions were extended recently by the author to the partitions into parts of two kinds. In this paper, we use a new class of restricted partitions into parts of two kinds to provide new combinatorial interpretations for two identities of Guo and Yang.
We study the combinatorial description of the LDU decomposition of totally positive matrices. We give a description of the lower triangular L, the diagonal D, and the upper triangular U matrices of the LDU decomposition of totally positive matrices in terms of the combinatorial structure of essential planar networks described by Zelvinsky and Fomin. Similarly, we find a combinatorial description of the inverses of these matrices. In addition, we provide recursive formulae for computing the L, D, and U matrices of a totally positive matrix.
In this paper we give a combinatorial interpretation for the coefficient of $s_ν$ in the Kronecker product $s_{(n-p,p)}\ast s_λ$, where $λ=(λ_1, ..., λ_{\ell(λ)})\vdash n$, if $\ell(λ)\geq 2p-1$ or $λ_1\geq 2p-1$; that is, if $λ$ is not a partition inside the $2(p-1)\times 2(p-1)$ square. For $λ$ inside the square our combinatorial interpretation provides an upper bound for the coefficients. In general, we are able to combinatorially compute these coefficients for all $λ$ when $n>(2p-2)^2$. We use this combinatorial interpretation to give characterizations for multiplicity free Kronecker produ…
Let s and t be variables. Define polynomials {n} in s, t by {0}=0, {1}=1, and {n}=s{n-1}+t{n-2} for n >= 2. If s, t are integers then the corresponding sequence of integers is called a Lucas sequence. Define an analogue of the binomial coefficients by C{n,k}={n}!/({k}!{n-k}!) where {n}!={1}{2}...{n}. It is easy to see that C{n,k} is a polynomial in s and t. The purpose of this note is to give two combinatorial interpretations for this polynomial in terms of statistics on integer partitions inside a k by n-k rectangle. When s=t=1 we obtain combinatorial interpretations of the fibonomial coeffic…
In this paper, we consider the generating functions of the complete and elementary symmetric functions and provide a new generalization of these classical symmetric functions. Some classical relationships involving the complete and elementary symmetric functions are reformulated in a more general context. Combinatorial interpretations of these generalized symmetric functions are also introduced.
The Catalan transform of a sequence (a_{n})_{n>=0} is the sequence (b_{n})_{n>=0} with b_{n} = Sum[k/(2n-k) (2n-k)-choose-(n-k) a_{k},k=0..n]. Here we show that the Catalan transform of the Catalan numbers has a simple interpretation: it counts functions f:[1,n] -> [1,n] satisfying the condition that, for all i<j, f(j)-(j-i) is not in the interval [1,f(i)-1].
Using generating functions and some trivial bijections, we show in this paper that the binomial coefficients count the set of (123,132) and (123,213)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings. We also define a q-tableau of power of two and prove that it counts the set of (213,312) and (132,312)-avoiding permutations according to the number of crossings.
In this paper, we apply the combinatorial proof technique of Description, Involution, Exceptions (DIE) to prove various known identities for the joint cumulant. Consider a set of random variables $S = \{X_1,..., X_n\} $. Motivated by the definition of the joint cumulant, we define $ \sC(S) $ as the set of cyclically arranged partitions of $S$, allowing us to express the joint cumulant of $ S $ as a weighted, alternating sum over $\sC(S)$. We continue to define other combinatorial objects that allow us to rewrite expressions originally in terms of the joint cumulant as weighted sums over the se…
We use a q-series identity by Ramanujan to give a combinatorial interpretation of Ramanujan's tau function which involves t-cores and a new class of partitions which we call (m,k)-capsids. The same method can be applied in conjunction with other related identities yielding alternative combinatorial interpretations of the tau function.
The super Catalan numbers $T(m,n)=(2m)!(2n)!/2m!n!(m+n)!$ are integers which generalize the Catalan numbers. With the exception of a few values of $m$, no combinatorial interpretation in known for $T(m,n)$. We give a weighted interpretation for $T(m,n)$ and develop a technique that converts this weighted interpretation into a conventional combinatorial interpretation in the case $m=2$.
The Jacobi-Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds were introduced in 2006 in the spectral theory and are polynomial refinements of the Legendre-Stirling numbers. Andrews and Littlejohn have recently given a combinatorial interpretation for the second kind of the latter numbers. Noticing that these numbers are very similar to the classical central factorial numbers, we give combinatorial interpretations for the Jacobi-Stirling numbers of both kinds, which provide a unified treatment of the combinatorial theories for the two previous sequences and also for the Stirling numbers of both ki…
We find an explicit combinatorial interpretation of the coefficients of Kerov character polynomials which express the value of normalized irreducible characters of the symmetric groups S(n) in terms of free cumulants R_2,R_3,... of the corresponding Young diagram. Our interpretation is based on counting certain factorizations of a given permutation.
We consider the tiling of an $n$-board (a $1\times n$ array of square cells of unit width) with half-squares ($\frac12\times1$ tiles) and $(\frac12,\frac12)$-fence tiles. A $(\frac12,\frac12)$-fence tile is composed of two half-squares separated by a gap of width $\frac12$. We show that the number of ways to tile an $n$-board using these types of tiles equals $F_{n+1}^2$ where $F_n$ is the $n$th Fibonacci number. We use these tilings to devise combinatorial proofs of identities relating the Fibonacci numbers squared to one another and to other number sequences. Some of these identities appear …
Let G be a graph, and let $χ$G be its chromatic polynomial. For any non-negative integers i, j, we give an interpretation for the evaluation $χ$ (i) G (--j) in terms of acyclic orientations. This recovers the classical interpretations due to Stanley and to Green and Zaslavsky respectively in the cases i = 0 and j = 0. We also give symmetric function refinements of our interpretations, and some extensions. The proofs use heap theory in the spirit of a 1999 paper of Gessel.
We describe a method for constructing characters of combinatorial Hopf algebras by means of integrals over certain polyhedral cones. This is based on ideas from resurgence theory, in particular on the construction of well-behaved averages induced by diffusion processes on the real line. We give several interpretations and proofs of the main result in terms of noncommutative symmetric and quasisymmetric functions, as well as generalizations involving matrix quasi-symmetric functions. The interpretation of noncommutative symmetric functions as alien operators in resurgence theory is also discuss…
The Alladi-Gordon identity plays an important role for the Alladi-Gordon generalization of Schur's partition theorem. By using Joichi-Stanton's insertion algorithm, we present an overpartition interpretation for the Alladi-Gordon key identity. Based on this interpretation, we further obtain a combinatorial proof of the Alladi-Gordon key identity by establishing an involution on the underlying set of overpartitions.
A product difference equation is proved and used for derivation by elementary methods of four combinatorial identities, eight combinatorial identities involving generalized harmonic numbers and eight combinatorial identities involving classical harmonic numbers. For the binomial coefficients the definition with gamma functions is used, thus also allowing non-integer arguments in the identities. The generalized harmonic numbers in this case are harmonic numbers with a complex offset, where the classical harmonic numbers are a special case with offset zero.
In a series of papers, P. Blasiak et al. developed a wide-ranging generalization of Bell numbers (and of Stirling numbers of the second kind) that appears to be relevant to the so-called Boson normal ordering problem. They provided a recurrence and, more recently, also offered a (fairly complex) combinatorial interpretation of these numbers. We show that by restricting the numbers somewhat (but still widely generalizing Bell and Stirling numbers), one can supply a much more natural combinatorial interpretation. In fact, we offer two different such interpretations, one in terms of graph colouri…
The Lucas sequence is a sequence of polynomials in s, and t defined recursively by {0}=0, {1}=1, and {n}=s{n-1}+t{n-2} for n >= 2. On specialization of s and t one can recover the Fibonacci numbers, the nonnegative integers, and the q-integers [n]_q. Given a quantity which is expressed in terms of products and quotients of nonnegative integers, one obtains a Lucas analogue by replacing each factor of n in the expression with {n}. It is then natural to ask if the resulting rational function is actually a polynomial in s and t with nonnegative integer coefficients and, if so, what it counts. The…
In this survey we discuss the notion of combinatorial interpretation in the context of Algebraic Combinatorics and related areas. We approach the subject from the Computational Complexity perspective. We review many examples, state a workable definition, discuss many open problems, and present recent results on the subject.
Stiebitz determined the chromatic number of generalised Mycielski graphs using the topological method of Lovasz, which invokes the Borsuk-Ulam theorem. Van Ngoc and Tuza used elementary combinatorial arguments to prove Stiebitz's theorem for 4-chromatic generalised Mycielski graphs, and asked if there is also an elementary combinatorial proof for higher chromatic number. We answer their question by showing that Stiebitz's theorem can be deduced from a version of Fan's combinatorial lemma. Our proof uses topological terminology, but is otherwise completely discrete and could be rewritten to avo…
Studying the virtual Euler characteristic of the moduli space of curves, Harer and Zagier compute the generating function $C_g(z)$ of unicellular maps of genus $g$. They furthermore identify coefficients, $κ^{\star}_{g}(n)$, which fully determine the series $C_g(z)$. The main result of this paper is a combinatorial interpretation of $κ^{\star}_{g}(n)$. We show that these enumerate a class of unicellular maps, which correspond $1$-to-$2^{2g}$ to a specific type of trees, referred to as O-trees. O-trees are a variant of the C-decorated trees introduced by Chapuy, Féray and Fusy. We exhaustively …
