It is known that the $S(n,k)$ Stirling numbers as well as the ordered Stirling numbers $k!S(n,k)$ form log-concave sequences. Although in the first case there are many estimations about the mode, for the ordered Stirling numbers such estimations are not known. In this short note we study this problem and some of its generalizations.
By considering Eulerian numbers and ordered Stirling numbers of the second and third kinds over a multiset, we generalize identities of Eulerian numbers and Stirling numbers of the second and third kinds and provide $q$-analogs of these generalizations. Using these generalizations, we also compute Eulerian numbers and ordered Stirling numbers of the second kind over a multiset.
For the Stirling numbers of the second kind $S(n,k)$ and the ordered Bell numbers $B(n)$, we prove the identity $\sum_{k=1}^{n/2} S(n,2k)(2k-1)! = B(n-1)$. An analogous identity holds for the sum over odd $k$'s.
An ordered partition of [n]:={1,2,..., n} is a sequence of its disjoint subsets whose union is [n]. The number of ordered partitions of [n] with k blocks is k!S(n,k), where S(n,k) is the Stirling number of second kind. In this paper we prove some refinements of this formula by showing that the generating function of some statistics on the set of ordered partitions of [n] with k blocks is a natural $q$-analogue of k!S(n,k). In particular, we prove several conjectures of Steingr\'ımsson. To this end, we construct a mapping from ordered partitions to walks in some digraphs and then, thanks to tra…
We define a variation of Stirling permutations, called quasi-Stirling permutations, to be permutations on the multiset $\{1,1,2,2,\ldots, n,n\}$ that avoid the patterns 1212 and 2121. Their study is motivated by a known relationship between Stirling permutations and increasing ordered rooted labeled trees. We construct a bijection between quasi-Stirling permutations and the set of ordered rooted labeled trees and investigate pattern avoidance for these permutations.
A set partition of $[n] := \{1, 2, \dots, n \}$ is called {\em $r$-Stirling} if the numbers $1, 2, \dots, r$ belong to distinct blocks. Haglund, Rhoades, and Shimozono constructed graded ring $R_{n,k}$ depending on two positive integers $k \leq n$ whose algebraic properties are governed by the combinatorics of ordered set partitions of $[n]$ with $k$ blocks. We introduce a variant $R_{n,k}^{(r)}$ of this quotient for ordered $r$-Stirling partitions which depends on three integers $r \leq k \leq n$. We describe the standard monomial basis of $R_{n,k}^{(r)}$ and use the combinatorial notion of t…
Elementary asymptotics for the Stirling numbers of the second kind: The central range
Institute of Statistical Science, Academia Sinica(中央研究院统计科学研究所);Department of Mathematics, Soochow University(东吴大学数学系);Institute of Computer Science, Vilnius University(维尔纽斯大学计算机研究所)
We prove a conjecture of Haglund which can be seen as an extension of the equidistribution of the inversion number and the major index over permutations to ordered set partitions. Haglund's conjecture implicitly defines two statistics on ordered set partitions and states that they are equidistributed. The implied inversion statistic is equivalent to a statistic on ordered set partitions studied by Steingrímsson, Ishikawa, Kasraoui, and Zeng, and is known to have a nice distribution in terms of $q$-Stirling numbers. The resulting major index exhibits a combinatorial relationship between $q$-Sti…
For the Chebyshev-Stirling numbers, a special case of the Jacobi-Stirling numbers, asymptotic formulae are derived in terms of a local central limit theorem. The underlying probabilistic approach also applies to the classical Stirling numbers of the second kind. Thereby a supplement of the asymptotic analysis for these numbers is established.
For the Legendre-Stirling numbers of the second kind asymptotic formulae are derived in terms of a local central limit theorem. Thereby, supplements of the recently published asymptotic analysis of the Chebyshev-Stirling numbers are established. Moreover, we provide results on the asymptotic normality and unimodality for modified Legendre-Stirling numbers.
Stirling's formula, the asymptotic expansion of $n!$ for $n$ large, or of $Γ(z)$ for $z\to \infty$, is derived directly from the recursion equation $Γ(z+1) =z Γ(s)$ and the normalization condition $Γ({1/2}) =\sqrtπ$.
We obtain formulas for the growth rate of the numbers of certain paths in infinite graphs built on the two-dimensional Eulerian graph. Corollaries are identities relating Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds.
The distribution of certain Mahonian statistic (called $\mathrm{BAST}$) introduced by Babson and Steingrímsson over the set of permutations that avoid vincular pattern $1\underline{32}$, is shown bijectively to match the distribution of major index over the same set. This new layer of equidistribution is then applied to give alternative interpretations of two related $q$-Stirling numbers of the second kind, studied by Carlitz and Gould. Moreover, extensions to an Euler-Mahonian statistic over ordered set partitions, and to statistics over ordered multiset partitions present themselves naturall…
We provide completely effective error estimates for Stirling numbers of the first and second kind, denoted by $s(n,m)$ and $S(n,m)$, respectively. These bounds are useful for values of $m \geq n - O(\sqrt{n})$. An application of our Theorem 5 yields, for example, \[ s(10^{12},\ 10^{12}-2\times 10^6)/10^{35664464} \in [ 1.87669, 1.876982 ], \] \[ S(10^{12},\ 10^{12}-2\times 10^6)/10^{35664463} \in [ 1.30121, 1.306975 ]. \] The bounds are obtained via Chen-Stein Poisson approximation, using an interpretation of Stirling numbers as the number of ways of placing non-attacking rooks on a chess boar…
This paper studies the generalizations of the Stirling numbers of both kinds and the Lah numbers in association with the normal order problem in the Weyl algebra $W=\langle x,D|Dx-xD=1\rangle$. Any word $ω\in W$ with $m$ $x$'s and $n$ $D$'s can be expressed in the normally ordered form $ω=x^{m-n}\sum_{k\ge 0} {ω\brace {k}} x^{k}D^{k}$, where ${ω\brace {k}}$ is known as the Stirling number of the second kind for the word $ω$. This study considers the expansions of restricted words $ω$ in $W$ over the sequences $\{(xD)^{k}\}_{k\ge 0}$ and $\{xD^{k}x^{k-1}\}_{k\ge 0}$. Interestingly, the coeffici…
Stirling permutations were introduced by Gessel and Stanley, who used their enumeration by the number of descents to give a combinatorial interpretation of certain polynomials related to Stirling numbers. Quasi-Stirling permutations, which can be viewed as labeled noncrossing matchings, were introduced by Archer et al. as a natural extension of Stirling permutations. Janson's correspondence between Stirling permutations and labeled increasing plane trees extends to a bijection between quasi-Stirling permutations and the same set of trees without the increasing restriction. Archer et al. posed …
We study statistics on ordered set partitions whose generating functions are related to $p,q$-Stirling numbers of the second kind. The main purpose of this paper is to provide bijective proofs of all the conjectures of \stein (Arxiv:math.CO/0605670). Our basic idea is to encode ordered partitions by a kind of path diagrams and explore the rich combinatorial properties of the latter structure. We also give a partition version of MacMahon's theorem on the equidistribution of the statistics inversion number and major index on words.
Stirling numbers, which count partitions of a set and permutations in the symmetric group, have found extensive application in combinatorics, geometry, and algebra. We study analogues and q-analogues of these numbers corresponding to the Coxeter group of type B. In particular, we show how they are related to complete homogeneous and elementary symmetric polynomials; demonstrate how they q-count signed partitions and permutations; compute their ordinary, exponential, and q-exponential generating functions; and prove various identities about them. Ordered analogues of the q-Stirling numbers of t…
For a simple finite graph G denote by {G \brace k} the number of ways of partitioning the vertex set of G into k non-empty independent sets (that is, into classes that span no edges of G). If E_n is the graph on n vertices with no edges then {E_n \brace k} coincides with {n \brace k}, the ordinary Stirling number of the second kind, and so we refer to {G \brace k} as a graph Stirling number. Harper showed that the sequence of Stirling numbers of the second kind, and thus the graph Stirling sequence of E_n, is asymptotically normal --- essentially, as n grows, the histogram of ({E_n \brace k})_…
We apply the Euler--Maclaurin formula to find the asymptotic expansion of the sums $\sum_{k=1}^n (\log k)^p / k^q$, ~$\sum k^q (\log k)^p$, ~$\sum (\log k)^p /(n-k)^q$, ~$\sum 1/k^q (\log k)^p $ in closed form to arbitrary order ($p,q \in\N$). The expressions often simplify considerably and the coefficients are recognizable constants. The constant terms of the asymptotics are either $ζ^{(p)}(\pm q)$ (first two sums), 0 (third sum) or yield novel mathematical constants (fourth sum). This allows numerical computation of $ζ^{(p)}(\pm q)$ faster than any current software. One of the constants also…
We provide asymptotic expansions for the Stirling numbers of the first kind and, more generally, the Ewens (or Karamata-Stirling) distribution. Based on these expansions, we obtain some new results on the asymptotic properties of the mode and the maximum of the Stirling numbers and the Ewens distribution. For arbitrary $θ>0$ and for all sufficiently large $n\in\mathbb N$, the unique maximum of the Ewens probability mass function $$ \mathbb L_n(k) = \frac{θ^k}{θ(θ+1)\ldots(θ+n-1)} \genfrac{[}{]}{0pt}{}{n}{k}, \quad k=1,\ldots,n, $$ is attained at $k= \left\lfloor θ\log n + \frac{θΓ'(θ)}{Γ(θ)} -…
For a graph $G$ and a positive integer $k$, the {\em graphical Stirling number} $S(G,k)$ is the number of partitions of the vertex set of $G$ into $k$ non-empty independent sets. Equivalently it is the number of proper colorings of $G$ that use exactly $k$ colors, with two colorings identified if they differ only on the names of the colors. If $G$ is the empty graph on $n$ vertices then $S(G,k)$ reduces to $S(n,k)$, the familiar Stirling number of the second kind. In this note we first consider Stirling numbers of forests. We show that if $(F^{c(n)}_n)_{n\geq 0}$ is any sequence of forests wit…
We derive asymptotic formulas for central extended binomial coefficients, which are generalizations of binomial coefficients. To do so, we relate the exact distribution of the sum of independent discrete uniform random variables to the asymptotic distribution, obtained from the Central Limit Theorem and a local limit variant.
We investigate the combinatorics of the general formulas for the powers of the operator $h \partial^k$, where $h$ is a central element of a ring and $\partial$ is a differential operator. This generalizes previous work on the powers of operators $h \partial$. New formulas for the generalized Stirling numbers are obtained.
We construct a new parametrization of double sequences $\{A_{n,k}(s)\}_{n,k}$ between $A_{n,k}(0)= \binom{n-1}{k-1}$ and $A_{n,k}(1)= \frac{1}{n!}\stirl{n}{k}$, where $\stirl{n}{k}$ are the unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind. For each $s$ we prove a central limit theorem and a local limit theorem. This extends the de\,Moivre--Laplace central limit theorem and Goncharov's result, that unsigned Stirling numbers of the first kind are asymptotically normal. Herewith, we provide several applications.
We present details of logically simplest integral sufficient for deducing the Stirling asymptotic formula for n!. It is the Newton integral, defined as the difference of values of any primitive at the endpoints of the integration interval. We review in its framework in detail two derivations of the Stirling formula. The first approximates log(1)+log(2)+...+log(n) with an integral and the second uses the classical gamma function and a Fubini-type result. We mention two more integral representations of n!.
A conjectured relation between Ramanujan's asymptotic approximations to the exponential function and the exponential integral is established. The proof involves Stirling numbers, second-order Eulerian numbers, modifications of both of these, and Stirling's approximation to the gamma function. Our work provides new information about the coefficients in Stirling's approximation and their connection to Ramanujan's approximation coefficients. A more analytic second proof of the main result is also included in an appendix.
We study mod-$φ$ convergence of several probability distributions on the set of positive integers that involve Stirling numbers of both kinds and, as a consequence, derive various limit theorems for these distributions. We also derive closely related limit theorems for the distribution of zeros of the corresponding generating functions. For example, we identify the asymptotic distribution of zeros for the generating polynomial of the number of occupied boxes when $n$ balls are allocated equiprobably and independently among $θ$ boxes in the regime when $θ$ grows linearly with $n$.
We define a new family of generalized Stirling permutations that can be interpreted in terms of ordered trees and forests. We prove that the number of generalized Stirling permutations with a fixed number of ascents is given by a natural three-parameter generalization of the well-known Eulerian numbers. We give the generating function for this new class of numbers and, in the simplest cases, we find closed formulas for them and the corresponding row polynomials. By using a non-trivial involution our generalized Eulerian numbers can be mapped onto a family of generalized Ward numbers, forming a…
We obtain an explicit simple formula for the coefficients of the asymptotic expansion for the factorial of a natural number,in terms of derivatives of powers of an elementary function. The unique explicit expression for the coefficients that appears to be known is that in the book by L. Comtet, which is given in terms of sums of associated Stirling numbers of the first kind. By considering the bivariate generating function of the associated Stirling numbers of the second kind, another expression for the coefficients in terms of them follows also from our analysis. Comparison with Comtet's expr…
Martin Klazar computed the total weight of ordered trees under 12 different notions of weight. The last and perhaps most interesting of these weights, w_{12}, led to a recurrence relation and an identity for which he requested combinatorial explanations. Here we provide such explanations. To do so, we introduce the notion of a "Klazar violator" vertex in an increasing ordered tree and observe that w_{12} counts what we call Klazar trees--increasing ordered trees with no Klazar violators. A highlight of the paper is a bijection from n-edge increasing ordered trees to perfect matchings of [2n]={…
P.L. Erdos and L.A. Szekely [Adv. Appl. Math. 10(1989), 488-496] gave a bijection between rooted semilabeled trees and set partitions. L.H. Harper's results [Ann. Math. Stat. 38(1967), 410-414] on the asymptotic normality of the Stirling numbers of the second kind translates into asymptotic normality of rooted semilabeled trees with given number of vertices, when the number of internal vertices varies. The Erdos-Szekely bijection specializes to a bijection between phylogenetic trees and set partitions with classes of size \geq 2. We consider modified Stirling numbers of the second kind that en…
We find exact and asymptotic formulas for the average values of several statistics on set partitions: of Carlitz's $q$-Stirling distributions, of the numbers of crossings in linear and circular representations of set partitions, of the numbers of overlappings and embracings, and of the numbers of occurrences of a 2-pattern.
For two collections of nonnegative and suitably normalised weights $\W=(\W_j)$ and $\V=(\V_{n,k})$, a probability distribution on the set of partitions of the set $\{1,...,n\}$ is defined by assigning to a generic partition $\{A_j, j\leq k\}$ the probability $\V_{n,k} \W_{|A_1|}... \W_{|A_k|}$, where $|A_j|$ is the number of elements of $A_j$. We impose constraints on the weights by assuming that the resulting random partitions $Π_n$ of $[n]$ are consistent as $n$ varies, meaning that they define an exchangeable partition of the set of all natural numbers. This implies that the weights $\W$ mu…
In this paper, two new series for the logarithm of the $Γ$-function are presented and studied. Their polygamma analogs are also obtained and discussed. These series involve the Stirling numbers of the first kind and have the property to contain only rational coefficients for certain arguments related to $π^{-1}$. In particular, for any value of the form $\lnΓ(\frac{1}{2}n\pmαπ^{-1})$ and $Ψ_k(\frac{1}{2}n\pmαπ^{-1})$, where $Ψ_k$ stands for the $k$th polygamma function, $α$ is positive rational greater than $\frac{1}{6}π$, $n$ is integer and $k$ is non-negative integer, these series have ratio…
An ordered hypergraph is a hypergraph $G$ whose vertex set $V(G)$ is linearly ordered. We find the Turán numbers for the $r$-uniform $s$-vertex tight path $P^{(r)}_s$ (with vertices in the natural order) exactly when $r\le s < 2r$ and $n$ is even; our results imply $\mathrm{ex}_{>}(n,P^{(r)}_s)=(1-\frac{1}{2^{s-r}} + o(1))\binom{n}{r}$ when $r\le s<2r$. When $r\ge 2s$, the asymptotics of $\mathrm{ex}_{>}(n,P^{(r)}_s)$ remain open. For $r=3$, we give a construction of an $r$-uniform $n$-vertex hypergraph not containing $P^{(r)}_s$ which we conjecture to be asymptotically extremal.
Let $ξ_1,ξ_2,\ldots$ be a sequence of independent copies of a random vector in $\mathbb R^d$ having an absolutely continuous distribution. Consider a random walk $S_i:=ξ_1+\cdots+ξ_i$, and let $C_{n,d}:=\text{conv}(0,S_1,S_2,\ldots,S_n)$ be the convex hull of the first $n+1$ points it has visited. The polytope $C_{n,d}$ is called $k$-neighborly if for every indices $0\leq i_0 <\cdots < i_k\leq n$ the convex hull of the $k+1$ points $S_{i_0},\ldots, S_{i_k}$ is a $k$-dimensional face of $C_{n,d}$. We study the probability that $C_{n,d}$ is $k$-neighborly in various high-dimensional asymptotic r…
We develop algorithms, implemented in Maple, that study the number of vertices with a particular number of children in a random ordered tree where all vertices must have a number of children in some finite set. By calculating the mixed moments of two such numbers, the package gives strong experimental evidence numbers are pairwise asymptotically normal.
Using calculus we show how to prove some combinatorial inequalities of the type log-concavity or log-convexity. It is shown by this method that binomial coefficients and Stirling numbers of the first and second kinds are log-concave, and that Motzkin numbers and secondary structure numbers of rank 1 are log-convex. In fact, we prove via calculus a much stronger result that a natural continuous ``patchwork'' (i.e. corresponding dynamical systems) of Motzkin numbers and secondary structures recursions are increasing functions. We indicate how to prove asymptotically the log-convexity for general…
We consider the enumeration of ordered set partitions avoiding a permutation pattern, as introduced by Godbole, Goyt, Herdan and Pudwell. Let $\op_{n,k}(p)$ be the number of ordered set partitions of $\{1,2,\ldots,n\}$ into $k$ blocks that avoid a permutation pattern $p$. We establish an explicit identity between the number $\op_{n,k}(p)$ and the numbers of words avoiding the inverse of $p$. This identity allows us to easily translate results on pattern-avoiding words obtained in earlier works into equivalent results on pattern-avoiding ordered set partitions. In particular, \emph{(a)} we dete…
For ordered graphs $G$ and $H$, the ordered Ramsey number $r_<(G,H)$ is the smallest $n$ such that every red/blue edge coloring of the complete graph on vertices $\{1,\dots,n\}$ contains either a blue copy of $G$ or a red copy of $H$, where the embedding must preserve the relative order of vertices. One number of interest, first studied by Conlon, Fox, Lee, and Sudakov, is the "off-diagonal" ordered Ramsey number $r_<(M, K_3)$, where $M$ is an ordered matching on $n$ vertices. In particular, Conlon et al. asked what asymptotic bounds (in $n$) can be obtained for $\max r_<(M, K_3)$, where the m…
We investigate extremal functions ex_e(F,n) and ex_i(F,n) counting maximum numbers of edges and maximum numbers of vertex-edge incidences in simple hypergraphs H which have n vertices and do not contain a fixed hypergraph F; the containment respects linear orderings of vertices. We determine both functions exactly if F has only distinct singleton edges or if F is one of the 55 hypergraphs with at most four incidences (we give proofs only for six cases). We prove some exact formulae and recurrences for the numbers of hypergraphs, simple and all, with n incidences and derive rough logarithmic as…
An ordered graph is a pair $\mathcal{G}=(G,\prec)$ where $G$ is a graph and $\prec$ is a total ordering of its vertices. The ordered Ramsey number $\overline{R}(\mathcal{G})$ is the minimum number $N$ such that every ordered complete graph with $N$ vertices and with edges colored by two colors contains a monochromatic copy of $\mathcal{G}$. In contrast with the case of unordered graphs, we show that there are arbitrarily large ordered matchings $\mathcal{M}_n$ on $n$ vertices for which $\overline{R}(\mathcal{M}_n)$ is superpolynomial in $n$. This implies that ordered Ramsey numbers of the same…
We consider the Ordered Open End Bin Packing problem. Items of sizes in $(0,1]$ are presented one by one, to be assigned to bins in this order. An item can be assigned to any bin for which the current total size strictly below $1$. This means also that the bin can be overloaded by its last packed item. We improve lower and upper bounds on the asymptotic competitive ratio in the online case. Specifically, we design the first algorithm whose asymptotic competitive ratio is strictly below $2$ and it is close to the lower bound. This is in contrast to the best possible absolute approximation ratio…
We study configuration spaces $C(n; p, q)$ of $n$ ordered unit squares in a $p$ by $q$ rectangle. Our goal is to estimate the Betti numbers for large $n$, $j$, $p$, and $q$. We consider sequences of area-normalized coordinates, where $(\frac{n}{pq}, \frac{j}{pq})$ converges as $n$, $j$, $p$, and $q$ approach infinity. For every sequence that converges to a point in the "feasible region" in the $(x,y)$-plane, we show that the factorial growth rate of the Betti numbers is the same as the factorial growth rate of $n!$. This implies that (1) the Betti numbers are vastly larger than for the configu…
We give three interpretations of the number $b$ of orbits of the Borel subgroup of upper triangular matrices on the variety $\ms{X}$ of complete quadrics. First, we show that $b$ is equal to the number of standard Young tableaux on skew-diagrams. Then, we relate $b$ to certain values of a modified Hermite polynomial. Third, we relate $b$ to a certain cell decomposition on $\ms{X}$ previously studied by De Concini, Springer, and Strickland. Using these, we give asymptotic estimates for $b$ as the dimension of the quadrics increases.