In this paper, we investigate the weighted Catalan, Motzkin and Schröder numbers together with the corresponding weighted paths. The relation between these numbers is illustrated by three equations, which also lead to some known and new interesting identities. To show these three equations, we provide combinatorial proofs. One byproduct is to find a bijection between two sets of Catalan paths: one consisting of those with $k$ valleys, and the other consisting of $k$ $\mathbf{N}$ steps in even positions.
We suggest three applications for the inverses: For the inverse Motzkin matrix we look at Hankel determinants, and counting the paths inside a horizontal band, and for the inverse Schröder matrix we look at the paths inside the same band, but ending on the top side of the band.
We present random sampling procedures for Motzkin and Schröder paths, following previous work on Dyck paths. Our algorithms follow the anticipated rejection method of the Florentine algorithms (Barcucci et al. 1994+), but introduce a recovery idea to greatly reduce the probability of rejection. They use an optimal amount of randomness and achieve a better time complexity than the Florentine algorithms.
We use the inversion of coefficient arrays to define dual polynomials to the Fibonacci and Catalan-Fibonacci polynomials, and we explore the properties of these new polynomials sequences. Many of the arrays involved are Riordan arrays. Direct links to the counting of Motzkin paths by different statistics emerge.
We prove various congruences for Catalan and Motzkin numbers as well as related sequences. The common thread is that all these sequences can be expressed in terms of binomial coefficients. Our techniques are combinatorial and algebraic: group actions, induction, and Lucas' congruence for binomial coefficients come into play. A number of our results settle conjectures of Benoit Cloitre and Reinhard Zumkeller. The Thue-Morse sequence appears in several contexts.
In this paper we study the number of humps (peaks) in Dyck, Motzkin and Schröder paths. Recently A. Regev noticed that the number of peaks in all Dyck paths of order $n$ is one half of the number of super Dyck paths of order $n$. He also computed the number of humps in Motzkin paths and found a similar relation, and asked for bijective proofs. We give a bijection and prove these results. Using this bijection we also give a new proof that the number of Dyck paths of order $n$ with $k$ peaks is the Narayana number. By double counting super Schröder paths, we also get an identity involving produc…
It is shown that Bernoulli numbers and tangent numbers (the derivatives of the tangent function at zero) can be obtained by means of easily defined triangles of numbers in several ways, some of them very similar to the Catalan triangle and a Motzkin-like triangle. Our starting point in order to show this is a new expression of Zeta(2n) involving Motzkin paths.
We consider a generalised version of Motzkin paths, where horizontal steps have length $\ell$, with $\ell$ being a fixed positive integer. We first give the general functional equation for the area-length generating function of this model. Using a heuristic ansatz, we derive the area-length scaling behaviour in terms of a scaling function in one variable for the special cases of Dyck, (standard) Motzkin and Schröder paths, before generalising our approach to arbitrary $\ell$. We then derive an expression for the generating function of Schröder paths and analyse the scaling behaviour of this fu…
Parking Cascades: From the Simplest Sequence to Motzkin and Catalan
Fitchburg State University（菲奇堡州立大学）；Missouri Western State University（密苏里西部州立大学）；University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee（威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校）；Hollins University（霍金斯大学）；University of Colorado Denver（科罗拉多大学丹佛分校）
A 3-dimensional Catalan word is a word on three letters so that the subword on any two letters is a Dyck path. For a given Dyck path $D$, a recently defined statistic counts the number of Catalan words with the property that any subword on two letters is exactly $D$. In this paper, we enumerate Dyck paths with this statistic equal to certain values, including all primes. The formulas obtained are in terms of Motzkin numbers and Motzkin ballot numbers.
We introduce a class of sequences, defined by means of partial Bell polynomials, that contains a basis for the space of linear recurrence sequences with constant coefficients as well as other well-known sequences like Catalan and Motzkin. For the family of `Bell sequences' considered in this paper, we give a general multifold convolution formula and illustrate our result with a few explicit examples.
Inspired by a new mathematical model for bobbin lace, this paper considers finite lattice paths formed from the set of step vectors $\mathfrak{A}=$$\{\rightarrow,$ $\nearrow,$ $\searrow,$ $\uparrow,$ $\downarrow\}$ with the restriction that vertical steps $(\uparrow, \downarrow)$ cannot be consecutive. The set $\mathfrak{A}$ is the union of the well known Motzkin step vectors $\mathfrak{M}=$$\{\rightarrow,$ $\nearrow,$ $\searrow\}$ with the vertical steps $\{\uparrow, \downarrow\}$. An explicit bijection $ϕ$ between the exhaustive set of vertically constrained paths formed from $\mathfrak{A}$ …
Motzkin paths of order-$\ell$ are a generalization of Motzkin paths that use steps $U=(1,1)$, $L=(1,0)$, and $D_i=(1,-i)$ for every positive integer $i \leq \ell$. We further generalize order-$\ell$ Motzkin paths by allowing for various coloring schemes on the edges of our paths. These $(\vecα,\vecβ)$-colored Motzkin paths may be enumerated via proper Riordan arrays, mimicking the techniques of Aigner in his treatment of Catalan-like numbers. After an investigation of their associated Riordan arrays, we develop bijections between $(\vecα,\vecβ)$-colored Motzkin paths and a variety of well-stud…
Noncrossing linked partitions arise in the study of certain transforms in free probability theory. We explore the connection between noncrossing linked partitions and colored Motzkin paths. A (3,2)-Motzkin path can be viewed as a colored Motzkin path in the sense that there are three types of level steps and two types of down steps. A large (3,2)-Motzkin path is defined to be a (3,2)-Motzkin path for which there are only two types of level steps on the x-axis. We establish a one-to-one correspondence between the set of noncrossing linked partitions of [n+1] and the set of large (3,2)-Motzkin p…
We provide sufficient conditions under which the Catalan-like numbers are Stieltjes moment sequences. As applications, we show that many well-known counting coefficients, including the Bell numbers, the Catalan numbers, the central binomial coefficients, the central Delannoy numbers, the factorial numbers, the large and little Schröder numbers, are Stieltjes moment sequences in a unified approach.
We show that matchings avoiding certain partial patterns are counted by the 3-Catalan numbers. We give a characterization of 12312-avoiding matchings in terms of restrictions on the corresponding oscillating tableaux. We also find a bijection between Schröder paths without peaks at level one and matchings avoiding both patterns 12312 and 121323. Such objects are counted by the super-Catalan numbers or the little Schröder numbers. A refinement of the super-Catalan numbers is obtained by fixing the number of crossings in the matchings. In the sense of Wilf-equivalence, we find that the patterns …
A combinatorial structure, $\mathcal{F}$, with counting sequence $\{a_n\}_{n\ge 0}$ and ordinary generating function $G_\mathcal{F}=\sum_{n\ge0} a_n x^n$, is positive algebraic if $G_\mathcal{F}$ satisfies a polynomial equation $G_\mathcal{F}=\sum_{k=0}^N p_k(x)\,G_\mathcal{F}^k $ and $p_k(x)$ is a polynomial in $x$ with non-negative integer coefficients. We show that every such family is associated with a normed $\mathbf{n}$-magma. An $\mathbf{n}$-magma with $\mathbf{n}=(n_1,\dots, n_k)$ is a pair $\mathcal{M}$ and $\mathcal{F}$ where $\mathcal{M}$ is a set of combinatorial structures and $\m…
We provide new interpretations for a subset of Raney numbers, involving threshold sequences and Motzkin-like paths with long up and down steps. Given three integers n, k, l such that n >= 1, k >= 2 and 0 <= l <= k-2, a (k,l)-threshold sequence of length n is any strictly increasing sequence S=(s_1 s_2 ... s_n) of integers such that ki <= s_i <= kn+l. These sequences are in bijection with ordered (l+1)-tuples of k-ary trees. We prove this result and identify the Raney numbers that count the (k,l)-threshold sequences. As a consequence, when k=2 and k=3, we deduce combinatorial identities involvi…
We enumerate the edges in the Hasse diagram of several lattices arising in the combinatorial context of lattice paths. Specifically, we will consider the case of Dyck, Grand Dyck, Motzkin, Grand Motzkin, Schröder and Grand Schröder lattices. Finally, we give a general formula for the number of edges in an arbitrary Young lattice (which can be interpreted in a natural way as a lattice of paths).
The problem of counting plane trees with $n$ edges and an even or an odd number of leaves was studied by Eu, Liu and Yeh, in connection with an identity on coloring nets due to Stanley. This identity was also obtained by Bonin, Shapiro and Simion in their study of Schröder paths, and it was recently derived by Coker using the Lagrange inversion formula. An equivalent problem for partitions was independently studied by Klazar. We present three parity reversing involutions, one for unlabelled plane trees, the other for labelled plane trees and one for 2-Motzkin paths which are in one-to-one corr…
The Tamari lattice, defined on Catalan objects such as binary trees and Dyck paths, is a well-studied poset in combinatorics. It is thus natural to try to extend it to other families of lattice paths. In this article, we fathom such a possibility by defining and studying an analogy of the Tamari lattice on Motzkin paths. While our generalization is not a lattice, each of its connected components is isomorphic to an interval in the classical Tamari lattice. With this structural result, we proceed to the enumeration of components and intervals in the poset of Motzkin paths we defined. We also ex…
In this paper, we find determinant formulas of several Hessenberg-Toeplitz matrices whose nonzero entries are derived from the small and large Schroder and Fine number sequences. Algebraic proofs of these results can be given which make use of Trudi's formula and the generating function of the associated sequence of determinants. We also provide direct arguments of our results that utilize various counting techniques, among them sign-changing involutions, on combinatorial structures related to classes of lattice paths enumerated by the Schroder and Fine numbers. As a consequence of our results…
We present a higher genus generalization of $bc$-Motzkin numbers, which are themselves a generalization of Catalan numbers, and we derive a recursive formula which can be used to calculate them. Further, we show that this leads to a topological recursion which is identical to the topological recursion that had previously been proved by Dumitrescu and Mulase for generalized Catalan numbers, and which is an example of the Eynard-Orantin topological recursion.
A partial Motzkin path is a path from $(0, 0)$ to $(n, k)$ in the $XOY$-plane that does not go below the $X$-axis and consists of up steps $U=(1, 1)$, down steps $D=(1, -1)$ and horizontal steps $H=(1, 0)$. A weighted partial Motzkin path is a partial Motzkin path with the weight assignment that all up steps and down steps are weighted by 1, the horizontal steps are endowed with a weight $x$ if they are lying on $X$-axis, and endowed with a weight $y$ if they are not lying on $X$-axis. Denote by $M_{n,k}(x, y)$ to be the weight function of all weighted partial Motzkin paths from $(0, 0)$ to $(…
An increasing tableau is a semistandard tableau with strictly increasing rows and columns. It is well known that the Catalan numbers enumerate both rectangular standard Young tableaux of two rows and also Dyck paths. We generalize this to a bijection between rectangular 2-row increasing tableaux and small Schröder paths. We demonstrate relations between the jeu de taquin for increasing tableaux developed by H. Thomas and A. Yong and the combinatorics of tropical frieze patterns. We then use this jeu de taquin to present new instances of the cyclic sieving phenomenon of V. Reiner, D. Stanton, a…
Using a recursive approach, we show that the generating function for sets of Motzkin paths avoiding a single (not necessarily consecutive) pattern is rational over $x$ and the Catalan generating function $C(x) = \frac{1-\sqrt{1-4x^2}}{2x^2}$, where $x$ keeps track of the length of the path. Moreover, an algorithm is provided for finding the generating function in the more general case of an arbitrary set of patterns. In addition, this algorithm allows us to find a combinatorial specification for pattern-avoiding Motzkin paths, which can be used not only for enumeration, but also for exhaustive…
We provide enumerating results for partial knight's paths of a given size. We prove algebraically that zigzag knight's paths of a given size ending on the $x$-axis are enumerated by the generalized Catalan numbers, and we give a constructive bijection with peakless Motzkin paths of a given length. After enumerating partial knight's paths of a given length, we prove that zigzag knight's paths of a given length ending on the $x$-axis are counted by the Catalan numbers. Finally, we give a constructive bijection with Dyck paths of a given length.
This article introduces and investigates a refinement of alternating sign trapezoids by means of Catalan objects and Motzkin paths. Alternating sign trapezoids are a generalisation of alternating sign triangles, which were recently introduced by Ayyer, Behrend and Fischer. We show that the number of alternating sign trapezoids associated with a Catalan object (resp. Motzkin path) is a polynomial function in the length of the shorter base of the trapezoid. We also study the rational roots of the polynomials and formulate several conjectures and derive some partial results. Lastly, we deduce a c…
This paper is motivated by two problems recently proposed by Coker on combinatorial identities related to the Narayana polynomials and the Catalan numbers. We find that a bijection of Chen, Deutsch and Elizalde can be used to provide combinatorial interpretations of the identities of Coker when it is applied to weighted plane trees. For the sake of presentation of our combinatorial correspondences, we provide a description of the bijection of Chen, Deutsch and Elizalde in a slightly different manner in the form of a direct construction from plane trees to 2-Motzkin paths without the intermedia…
In this paper we show that many well-known counting coefficients, including the Catalan numbers, the Motzkin numbers, the central binomial coefficients, the central Delannoy numbers are Hausdorff moment sequences in a unified approach. In particular we answer a conjecture of Liang at al. which such numbers have unique representing measures. The smallest interval including the support of representing measure is explicitly found. Subsequences of Catalan-like numbers are also considered. We provide a necessary and sufficient condition for a pattern of subsequences that if sequences are the Stielt…
We give a combinatorial interpretation of a matrix identity on Catalan numbers and the sequence $(1, 4, 4^2, 4^3, ...)$ which has been derived by Shapiro, Woan and Getu by using Riordan arrays. By giving a bijection between weighted partial Motzkin paths with an elevation line and weighted free Motzkin paths, we find a matrix identity on the number of weighted Motzkin paths and the sequence $(1, k, k^2, k^3, ...)$ for any $k \geq 2$. By extending this argument to partial Motzkin paths with multiple elevation lines, we give a combinatorial proof of an identity recently obtained by Cameron and N…
In this paper we shall survey the various methods of evaluating Hankel determinants and as an illustration we evaluate some Hankel determinants of a q-analogue of Catalan numbers. Here we consider $\frac{(aq;q)_{n}}{(abq^{2};q)_{n}}$ as a q-analogue of Catalan numbers $C_{n}=\frac1{n+1}\binom{2n}{n}$, which is known as the moments of the little q-Jacobi polynomials. We also give several proofs of this q-analogue, in which we use lattice paths, the orthogonal polynomials, or the basic hypergeometric series. We also consider a q-analogue of Schröder Hankel determinants, and give a new proof of M…
A generalized Motzkin path, called G-Motzkin path for short, of length $n$ is a lattice path from $(0, 0)$ to $(n, 0)$ in the first quadrant of the XOY-plane that consists of up steps $\mathbf{u}=(1, 1)$, down steps $\mathbf{d}=(1, -1)$, horizontal steps $\mathbf{h}=(1, 0)$ and vertical steps $\mathbf{v}=(0, -1)$. An $(a,b,c)$-G-Motzkin path is a weighted G-Motzkin path such that the $\mathbf{u}$-steps, $\mathbf{h}$-steps, $\mathbf{v}$-steps and $\mathbf{d}$-steps are weighted respectively by $1, a, b$ and $c$. In this paper, we first give bijections between the set of $\mathbf{uvu}$-avoiding …
Riordan paths are Motzkin paths without horizontal steps on the x-axis. We establish a correspondence between Riordan paths and $(321,3\bar{1}42)$-avoiding derangements. We also present a combinatorial proof of a recurrence relation for the Riordan numbers in the spirit of the Foata-Zeilberger proof of a recurrence relation on the Schröder numbers.
In this paper we present a CAT generation algorithm for Dyck paths with a fixed length n. It is the formalization of a method for the exhaustive generation of this kind of paths which can be described by means of two equivalent strategies. The former is described by a rooted tree, the latter lists the paths by means of three operations which, as we are going to see, are equivalent to visit the tree. These constructions are strictly connected with ECO method and can be encoded by a rule, very similar to the succession rule in ECO, with a finite number of labels for each n. Moreover with a sligh…
The classical Chung-Feller theorem [2] tells us that the number of Dyck paths of length $n$ with flaws $m$ is the $n$-th Catalan number and independent on $m$. L. Shapiro [7] found the Chung-Feller properties for the Motzkin paths. In this paper, we find the connections between these two Chung-Feller theorems. We focus on the weighted versions of three classes of lattice paths and give the generalizations of the above two theorems. We prove the Chung-Feller theorems of Dyck type for these three classes of lattice paths and the Chung-Feller theorems of Motzkin type for two of these three classe…
Two general methods for establishing the logarithmic behavior of recursively defined sequences of real numbers are presented. One is the interlacing method, and the other one is based on calculus. Both methods are used to prove logarithmic behavior of some combinatorially relevant sequences, such as Motzkin and Schröder numbers, sequences of values of some classic orthogonal polynomials, and many others. The calculus method extends also to two- (or more-) indexed sequences.
We give a new Jacobi--Trudi-type formula for characters of finite-dimensional irreducible representations in type $C_n$ using characters of the fundamental representations and non-intersecting lattice paths. We give equivalent determinant formulas for the decomposition multiplicities for tensor powers of the spin representation in type $B_n$ and the exterior representation in type $C_n$. This gives a combinatorial proof of an identity of Katz and equates such a multiplicity with the dimension of an irreducible representation in type $C_n$. By taking certain specializations, we obtain identitie…
The known bijections on Dyck paths are either involutions or have notoriously intractable cycle structure. Here we present a size-preserving bijection on Dyck paths whose cycle structure is amenable to complete analysis. In particular, each cycle has length a power of 2. A new manifestation of the Catalan numbers as labeled forests crops up enroute as does the Pascal matrix mod 2. We use the bijection to show the equivalence of two known manifestations of the Motzkin numbers. Finally, we consider some statistics on the new Catalan manifestation.
In this thesis we develop generalized versions of the Chung-Feller theorem for lattice paths constrained in the half plane. The beautiful cycle method which was developed by Devoretzky and Motzkin as a means to prove the ballot problem is modified and applied to generalize the classical Chung-Feller theorem. We use Lagrange inversion to derive the generalized formulas. For the generating function proof we study various ways of decomposing lattice paths. We also show some results related to equidistribution properties in terms of Narayana and Catalan generating functions. We then develop genera…
Three $q$-versions of Lommel polynomials are studied. Included are explicit representations, recurrences, continued fractions, and connections to associated Askey--Wilson polynomials. Combinatorial results are emphasized, including a general theorem when $R_I$ moments coincide with orthogonal polynomial moments. The combinatorial results use weighted Motzkin paths, Schröder paths, and parallelogram polyominoes.
We introduce the notion of doubly rooted plane trees and give a decomposition of these trees, called the butterfly decomposition which turns out to have many applications. From the butterfly decomposition we obtain a one-to-one correspondence between doubly rooted plane trees and free Dyck paths, which implies a simple derivation of a relation between the Catalan numbers and the central binomial coefficients. We also establish a one-to-one correspondence between leaf-colored doubly rooted plane trees and free Schröder paths. The classical Chung-Feller theorem on free Dyck paths and some genera…
In this paper, we study pattern avoidances of generalized permutations and show that the number of all generalized permutations avoiding $π$ is independent of the choice of $π\in S_3$, which extends the classic results on permutations avoiding $π\in S_3$. Extending both Dyck path and Riordan path, we introduce the Catalan-Riordan path which turns out to be a combinatorial interpretation of the difference array of Catalan numbers. As applications, we interpret both Motzkin and Riordan numbers in two ways, via semistandard Young tableaux of two rows and generalized permutations avoiding $π\in S_…
In this paper, we study symmetric lattice paths. Let $d_{n}$, $m_{n}$, and $s_{n}$ denote the number of symmetric Dyck paths, symmetric Motzkin paths, and symmetric Schröder paths of length $2n$, respectively. By using Riordan group methods we obtain six identities relating $d_{n}$, $m_{n}$, and $s_{n}$ and also give two of them combinatorial proofs. Finally, we investigate some relations satisfied by the generic element of some special Riordan arrays and get the average mid-height and the average number of points on the x-axis of symmetric Dyck paths of length $2n.$
This paper concentrates on the set $\mathcal{V}_n$ of weighted Dyck paths of length $2n$ with special restrictions on the level of valleys. We first give its explicit formula of the counting generating function in terms of certain weight functions. When the weight functions are specialized, some connections are builded between $\mathcal{V}_n$ and other classical combinatorial structures such as $(a,b)$-Motzkin paths, $q$-Schröder paths, Delannoy paths and complete $k$-ary trees. Some bijections are also established between these settings and $\mathcal{V}_n$ subject to certain special weight fu…
We introduce weighted succession rules and parametric production matrices - simple extensions of the standard ECO method succession rules and production matrices. The purpose is to enumerate combinatorial objects with respect to several variables. We consider one main example, from the theory of Dyck paths. The path statistics primarily considered are peak height, rise height, and certain subwalks. Many classical sequences (such as the Catalan, Motzkin, Narayana and Schroeder numbers) are incorporated in this example.
We evaluate four families of determinants of matrices, where the entries are sums or differences of generating functions for paths consisting of up-steps, down-steps and level steps. By specialisation, these determinant evaluations have numerous corollaries. In particular, they cover numerous determinant evaluations of combinatorial numbers - most notably of Catalan, ballot, and of Motzkin numbers - that appeared previously in the literature.
Random walks are a series of up, down, and level steps that enumerate distinct paths from $(0,0)$ to $(2n,0)$, where $n$ is the semi-length of the path. We used these paths to analyze Catalan, Schröder, and Motzkin number sequences through a combination of matrix operations, quadratic functions, and inductive reasoning. Our results revealed a number of distinct patterns, some unnamed, between these number sequences and Pascal's triangle that can be explained through generating functions, first returns, group theory, and the Riordan matrix. Various proofs and properties of these number sequence…
We introduce an associative algebra $\M_k(x)$ whose dimension is the $2k$-th Motzkin number. The algebra $\M_k(x)$ has a basis of "Motzkin diagrams," which are analogous to Brauer and Temperley-Lieb diagrams, and it contains the Temperley-Lieb algebra $\TL_k(x)$ as a subalgebra. We prove that for a particular value of $x$, the algebra $\M_k(x)$ is the centralizer algebra of $\uqsl$ acting on the $k$-fold tensor power of the sum of the 1-dimensional and 2-dimensional irreducible $\uqsl$-modules. We show that $\M_k(x)$ is generated by special diagrams $\ell_i, t_i, r_i \ (1 \le i < k)$ and $p_j …
We give a bijection between the set of self-conjugate partitions and that of ordinary partitions. Also, we show the relation between hook lengths of self conjugate partition and corresponding partition via the bijection. As a corollary, we give new combinatorial interpretations for the Catalan number and the Motzkin number in terms of self-conjugate simultaneous core partitions.
