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-studied combinatorial objects. Specific coloring schemes $(\vecα,\vecβ)$ allow us to place $(\vecα,\vecβ)$-colored Motzkin paths in bijection with different subclasses of generalized $k$-Dyck paths, including $k$-Dyck paths that remain weakly above horizontal lines $y=-a$, $k$-Dyck paths whose peaks all have the same height modulo-$k$, and Fuss-Catalan generalizations of Fine paths. A general bijection is also developed between $(\vecα,\vecβ)$-colored Motzkin paths and certain subclasses of $k$-ary trees.
In this paper, we propose a notion of colored Motzkin paths and establish a bijection between the $n$-cell standard Young tableaux (SYT) of bounded height and the colored Motzkin paths of length $n$. This result not only gives a lattice path interpretation of the standard Young tableaux but also reveals an unexpected intrinsic relation between the set of SYTs with at most $2d+1$ rows and the set of SYTs with at most 2d rows.
We prove a quantitative version of the multi-colored Motzkin-Rabin theorem in the spirit of [BDWY12]: Let $V_1,\ldots,V_n \subset R^d$ be $n$ disjoint sets of points (of $n$ `colors'). Suppose that for every $V_i$ and every point $v \in V_i$ there are at least $δ|V_i|$ other points $u \in V_i$ so that the line connecting $v$ and $u$ contains a third point of another color. Then the union of the points in all $n$ sets is contained in a subspace of dimension bounded by a function of $n$ and $δ$ alone.
The generating function and an explicit expression is derived for the (colored) Motzkin numbers of higher rank introduced recently. Considering the special case of rank one yields the corresponding results for the conventional colored Motzkin numbers for which in addition a recursion relation is given.
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…
Two subclasses of Motzkin paths, S-Motzkin and T-Motzkin paths, are introduced. We provide bijections between S-Motzkin paths and ternary trees, S-Motzkin paths and non-crossing trees, and T-Motzkin paths and ordered pairs of ternary trees. Symbolic equations for both paths, and thus generating functions for the paths, are provided. Using these, various parameters involving the two paths are analyzed.
We give several bijections among restricted Motzkin paths, explaining why various parameters on these paths are equidistributed. For example, the number of doublerise-free Motzkin paths of length n is the same as the number of peak-free Motzkin paths of length n+1 and the parameter "number of doublefalls" has the same distribution on the former set as "number of valleys" does on the latter. The bijections are most easily presented recursively but we also give explicit descriptions using the notion of Motzkin tree.
This short note gives a bijection between quarter plane walks using the steps $\{\rightarrow, \searrow, \downarrow, \leftarrow, \nwarrow, \uparrow\}$ and bicoloured Motzkin paths.
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…
We show how a bijection due to Biane between involutions and labelled Motzkin paths yields bijections between Motzkin paths and two families of restricted involutions that are counted by Motzkin numbers, namely, involutions avoiding 4321 and 3412. As a consequence, we derive characterizations of Motzkin paths corresponding to involutions avoiding either 4321 or 3412 together with any pattern of length 3. Furthermore, we exploit the described bijection to study some notable subsets of the set of restricted involutions, namely, fixed point free and centrosymmetric restricted involutions.
We introduce an equivalence relation on the set of Dyck paths and some operations on them. We determine a formula for the cardinality of those equivalence classes and use this information to obtain a combinatorial formula for the number of Dyck and Motzkin paths of a fixed length.
We say that a permutation $π$ is a Motzkin permutation if it avoids 132 and there do not exist $a<b$ such that $π_a<π_b<π_{b+1}$. We study the distribution of several statistics in Motzkin permutations, including the length of the longest increasing and decreasing subsequences and the number of rises and descents. We also enumerate Motzkin permutations with additional restrictions, and study the distribution of occurrences of fairly general patterns in this class of permutations.
This note collects some results and conjectures for the generating functions of the Hankel determinants of certain polynomials which are related to Motzkin paths.
A bijection between ternary trees with $n$ nodes and a subclass of Motzkin paths of length $3n$ is given. This bijection can then be generalized to $t$-ary trees.
In the present article, we find a closed expression for the entries of the Pascal rhombus. Moreover, we show a relation between the entries of the Pascal rhombus and a family of generalized grand Motzkin paths.
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.
In this paper, we construct a bijection from a set of bounded free Motzkin paths to a set of bounded Motzkin prefixes that induces a bijection from a set of bounded free Dyck paths to a set of bounded Dyck prefixes. We also give bijections between a set of bounded cornerless Motzkin paths and a set of $t$-core partitions, and a set of bounded cornerless symmetric Motzkin paths and a set of self-conjugate $t$-core partitions. As an application, we get explicit formulas for the number of ordinary and self-conjugate $t$-core partitions with a fixed number of corners.
We calculate the total number of humps in Dyck and in Motzkin paths, and we give Standard-Young-Tableaux-interpretations of the numbers involved. One then observes the intriguing phenomena that the humps-calculations change the partitions in a strip to partitions in a hook.
So called $S$-Motzkin paths are combined the concepts `catastrophes' and `air pockets. The enumeration is done by properly set up bivariate generating functions which can be extended using the kernel method.
Two subfamilies of Motzkin paths, with the same numbers of up, down, horizontal steps were known to be equinumerous with ternary trees and related objects. We construct a bijection between these two families that does not use any auxiliary objects, like ternary trees.
Dyck paths where peaks are only allowed on level 1 and on even-indexed levels, were introduced by Retakh and analysed by Zeilberger, with assistance from Ekhad. We add some combinatorial comments to the enumeration, which involves Motzkin numbers, in particular, about the average height of such objects.
A plateau in a Motzkin path is a sequence of three steps: an up step, a horizontal step, then a down step. We find three different forms for the bivariate generating function for plateaus in Motzkin paths, then generalize to longer plateaus. We conclude by describing a further generalization: a continued fraction form from which one can easily derive new multivariate generating functions for various kinds of path statistics. Several examples of generating functions are given using this technique.
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 …
We prove a conjecture of Drake and Kim: the number of $2$-distant noncrossing partitions of $\{1,2,...,n\}$ is equal to the sum of weights of Motzkin paths of length $n$, where the weight of a Motzkin path is a product of certain fractions involving Fibonacci numbers. We provide two proofs of their conjecture: one uses continued fractions and the other is combinatorial.
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.
A {\em Motzkin path} of length $n$ is a lattice path from $(0,0)$ to $(n,0)$ in the plane integer lattice $\mathbb{Z}\times\mathbb{Z}$ consisting of horizontal-steps $(1, 0)$, up-steps $(1,1)$, and down-steps $(1,-1)$, which never passes below the x-axis. A {\em $u$-segment {\rm (resp.} $h$-segment {\rm)}} of a Motzkin path is a maximum sequence of consecutive up-steps ({\rm resp.} horizontal-steps). The present paper studies two kinds of statistics on Motzkin paths: "number of $u$-segments" and "number of $h$-segments". The Lagrange inversion formula is utilized to represent the weighted gene…
Motzkin paths are simple yet important combinatorial objects. In this paper, we consider families of Motzkin paths with restrictions on peak heights, valley heights, upward-run lengths, downward-run lengths, and flat-run lengths. This paper presents two fully automated methods for enumerating the paths of such families. The first method uses numeric dynamic programming. While this method often times works, it can be slow and may not work for larger problems. The second method uses symbolic dynamic programming to solve such problems. These methods are implemented in the maple packages accompany…
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…
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 $c$. Let $τ$ be a word on $\{\mathbf{u}, \mathbf{d}, \mathbf{v}, \mathbf{d}\}$, denoted …
In this note, we introduce a statistic on Motzkin paths that describes the rank generating function of Bruhat order for involutions. Our proof relies on a bijection introduced by Philippe Biane from permutations to certain labeled Motzkin paths and a recently introduced interpretation of this rank generating function in terms of visible inversions. By restricting our identity to fixed-point-free (FPF) involutions, we recover an identity due to Louis Billera, Lionel Levine and Karola Mészáros with a previous bijective proof by Matthew Watson. Our work sheds new light on the Ethiopian dinner gam…
We introduce a new concept of permutation avoidance pattern called hatted pattern, which is a natural generalization of the barred pattern. We show the growth rate of the class of permutations avoiding a hatted pattern in comparison to barred pattern. We prove that Dyck paths with no peak at height $p$, Dyck paths with no $ud... du$ and Motzkin paths are counted by hatted pattern avoiding permutations in $\s_n(132)$ by showing explicit bijections. As a result, a new direct bijection between Motzkin paths and permutations in $\s_n(132)$ without two consecutive adjacent numbers is given. These p…
Recently, several authors have considered lattice paths with various steps, including vertical steps permitted. In this paper, we consider a kind of generalized Motzkin paths, called {\it G-Motzkin paths} for short, that is lattice paths from $(0, 0)$ to $(n, 0)$ in the first quadrant of the $XOY$-plane that consist of up steps $\mathbf{u}=(1, 1)$, down steps $\mathbf{d}=(1, -1)$, horizontal steps $\mathbf{h}=(1, 0)$ and vertical steps $\mathbf{v}=(0, -1)$. We mainly count the number of G-Motzkin paths of length $n$ with given number of $\mathbf{z}$-steps for $\mathbf{z}\in \{\mathbf{u}, \math…
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…
Motzkin paths consist of up-steps, down-steps, level-steps, and never go below the $x$-axis. They return to the $x$-axis at the end. The concept of skew Dyck path \cite{Deutsch-italy} is transferred to skew Motzkin paths, namely, a left step $(-1,-1)$ is additionally allowed, but the path is not allowed to intersect itself. The enumeration of these combinatorial objects was known \cite{Qing}; here, using the kernel method, we extend the results by allowing them to end at a prescribed level $j$. The approach is completely based on generating functions. Asymptotics of the total number of objects…
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.
Motzkin paths with air pockets (MAP) of the first kind are defined as a generalization of Dyck paths with air pockets. They are lattice paths in $\mathbb{N}^2$ starting at the origin made of steps $U=(1,1)$, $D_k=(1,-k)$, $k\geq 1$ and $H=(1,0)$, where two down-steps cannot be consecutive. We enumerate MAP and their prefixes avoiding peaks (resp. valleys, resp. double rise) according to the length, the type of the last step, and the height of its end-point. We express our results using Riordan arrays. Finally, we provide constructive bijections between these paths and restricted Dyck and Motzk…
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…
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 $(…
In this paper, we propose an $(s+d,d)$-abacus for $(s,s+d,\dots,s+pd)$-core partitions and establish a bijection between the $(s,s+d,\dots,s+pd)$-core partitions and the rational Motzkin paths of type $(s+d,-d)$. This result not only gives a lattice path interpretation of the $(s,s+d,\dots,s+pd)$-core partitions but also counts them with a closed formula. Also we enumerate $(s,s+1,\dots,s+p)$-core partitions with $k$ corners and self-conjugate $(s,s+1,\dots,s+p)$-core partitions.
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…
Motzkin paths with air pockets (MAP) are defined as a generalization of Dyck paths with air pockets by adding some horizontal steps with certain conditions. In this paper, we introduce two generalizations. The first one consists of lattice paths in $\Bbb{N}^2$ starting at the origin made of steps $U=(1,1)$, $D_k=(1,-k)$, $k\geq 1$ and $H=(1,0)$, where two down steps cannot be consecutive, while the second one are lattice paths in $\Bbb{N}^2$ starting at the origin, made of steps $U$, $D_k$ and $H$, where each step $D_k$ and $H$ is necessarily followed by an up step, except for the last step of…
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…
A bargraph is a self-avoiding lattice path with steps $U=(0,1)$, $H=(1,0)$ and $D=(0,-1)$ that starts at the origin and ends on the $x$-axis, and stays strictly above the $x$-axis everywhere except at the endpoints. Bargraphs have been studied as a special class of convex polyominoes, and enumerated using the so-called wasp-waist decomposition of Bousquet-Mélou and Rechnitzer. In this paper we note that there is a trivial bijection between bargraphs and Motzkin paths without peaks or valleys. This allows us to use the recursive structure of Motzkin paths to enumerate bargraphs with respect to …
Cross-bifix-free sets are sets of words such that no prefix of any word is a sufix of any other word. In this paper, we introduce a general constructive method for the sets of cross-bifix-free q-ary words of fixed length. It enables us to determine a cross-bifix-free words subset which has the property to be non-expandable.
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…
Enumeration of interval-closed sets via Motzkin paths and quarter-plane walks
Dartmouth College（达特茅斯学院）；Concordia University（康考迪亚大学）；The George Washington University（乔治华盛顿大学）；Willamette University（威拉米特大学）；North Dakota State University（北达科他州立大学）；Eastern Illinois University（东伊利诺伊大学）
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 $\mathfrak{A}$ …
