Let $\{b_{k}(n)\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ be the Bell numbers of order $k$. It is proved that the sequence $\{b_{k}(n)/n!\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ is log-concave and the sequence $\{b_{k}(n)\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ is log-convex, or equivalently, the following inequalities hold for all $n\geq 0$, $$1\leq {b_{k}(n+2) b_{k}(n) \over b_{k}(n+1)^{2}} \leq {n+2 \over n+1}.$$ Let $\{\a(n)\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ be a sequence of positive numbers with $\a(0)=1$. We show that if $\{\a(n)\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ is log-convex, then $$\a (n) \a (m) \leq \a(n+m), \quad \forall n, m\geq 0.$$ On the other hand, if $\{\a(n)/n!\}_{n=0}^{\infty}$ is log-concave, then $$\a (n+m) \leq {n+m \choose n} \a (n) \a (m), \quad \forall n, m\geq 0.$$ In particular, we have the following inequalities for the Bell numbers $$b_{k}(n) b_{k}(m) \leq b_{k}(n+m) \leq {n+m \choose n} b_{k}(n) b_{k}(m), \quad \forall n, m\geq 0.$$ Then we apply these results to white noise distribution theory.
Let $P_{n,k}$ be the number of permutations $π$ on [n]={1, 2,..., n} such that the length of the longest increasing subsequences of $π$ equals k, and let $M_{2n, k}$ be the number of matchings on [2n] with crossing number k. Define $P_n(x)= \sum_k P_{n,k}x^k$ and $M_{2n}(x)=\sum_{k} M_{2n,k}x^k$. We propose some conjectures on the log-concavity and q-log-convexity of the polynomials $P_n(x)$ and $M_{2n}(x)$. We also introduce the notions of $\infty$-q-log-convexity and $\infty$-q-log-concavity, and the notion of higher order log-concavity with respect to $\infty$-q-log-convex or $\infty$-q-log…
We show that the sequence of moments of order less than 1 of averages of i.i.d. positive random variables is log-concave. For moments of order at least 1, we conjecture that the sequence is log-convex and show that this holds eventually for integer moments (after neglecting the first $p^2$ terms of the sequence).
Polynomial sequence ${P_m}_{m\geq0}$ is $q$-logarithmically concave if $P_{m}^2-P_{m+1}P_{m-1}$ is a polynomial with nonnegative coefficients for any $m\geq{1}$. We introduce an analogue of this notion for formal power series whose coefficients are nonnegative continuous functions of parameter. Four types of such power series are considered where parameter dependence is expressed by a ratio of gamma functions. We prove six theorems stating various forms of $q$-logarithmic concavity and convexity of these series. The main motivating examples for these investigations are hypergeometric functions…
It is well-known that the binomial transformation preserves the log-concavity property and log-convexity property. Let $\binom{a+n}{b+k}$ be the binomial coefficients and $\binom{n,k}{j}$ be defined by $(b_0+b_1x+\cdots+b_kx^{k})^n:=\sum_{j=0}^{kn}\binom{n,k}{j}x^j,$ where the sequence $(b_i)_{0\leq i\leq k}$ is log-concave. In this paper, we prove that the linear transformation $$y_n(q)=\sum_{k=0}^n\binom{a+n}{b+k}x_k(q)$$ preserves the strong $q$-log-concavity property for any fixed nonnegative integers $a$ and $b$, which strengthens and gives a simple proof of results of Ehrenborg and Stein…
Using Schur positivity and the principal specialization of Schur functions, we provide a proof of a recent conjecture of Liu and Wang on the $q$-log-convexity of the Narayana polynomials, and a proof of the second conjecture that the Narayana transformation preserves the log-convexity. Based on a formula of Bränd$\mathrm{\acute{e}}$n which expresses the $q$-Narayana numbers as the specializations of Schur functions, we derive several symmetric function identities using the Littlewood-Richardson rule for the product of Schur functions, and obtain the strong $q$-log-convexity of the Narayana pol…
We extend the exponential formula by Bender and Canfield (1996), which relates log-concavity and the cycle index polynomials. The extension clarifies the log-convexity relation. The proof is by noticing the property of a compound Poisson distribution together with its moment generating function. We also give a combinatorial proof of extended "log-convex part" referring Bender and Canfield's approach, where the formula by Bruijn and Erdös (1953) is additionally exploited. The combinatorial approach yields richer structural results more than log-convexity. Furthermore, we consider normal and bin…
Log-concavity and almost log-convexity of the cycle index polynomials were proved by Bender and Canfield [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 74 (1996)]. Schirmacher [J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 85 (1999)] extended them to $q$-log-concavity and almost $q$-log-convexity. Motivated by these, we consider the stronger properties total positivity from the Toeplitz matrix and Hankel matrix. By using exponential Riordan array methods, we give some criteria for total positivity of the triangular matrix of coefficients of the generalized cycle index polynomials, the Toeplitz matrix and Hankel matrix of the polynomia…
Two interesting sequences arose in the study of the series expansions of the complete elliptic integrals, which are called the Catalan-Larcombe-French sequence $\{P_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ and the Fennessey-Larcombe-French sequence $\{V_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ respectively. In this paper, we prove the log-convexity of $\{V_n^2-V_{n-1}V_{n+1}\}_{n\geq 2}$ and $\{n!V_n\}_{n\geq 1}$, the ratio log-concavity of $\{P_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ and the sequence $\{A_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ of Apéry numbers, and the ratio log-convexity of $\{V_n\}_{n\geq 1}$.
We investigate coordination numbers of the cubic lattices with emphases on their analytic behaviors, including the total positivity of the coordination matrices, the distribution of zeros of the coordination polynomials, the asymptotic normality of the coefficients of the coordination polynomials, the log-concavity and the log-convexity of the coordination numbers.
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…
Recently, Z. W. Sun put forward a series of conjectures on monotonicity of combinatorial sequences in the form of $\{z_n/z_{n-1}\}_{n=N}^\infty$ and $\{\sqrt[n+1]{z_{n+1}}/\sqrt[n]{z_n}\}_{n=N}^\infty$ for some positive integer $N$, where $\{z_n\}_{n=0}^\infty$ is a sequence of positive integers. Luca and Stănică, Hou et al., Chen et al., Sun and Yang proved some of them. In this paper, we give an affirmative answer to monotonicity of another new kind of number conjectured by Z. W. Sun via interlacing method for log-convexity and log-concavity of a sequence, and we also use the criterion for l…
The normalized incomplete beta function can be defined either as cumulative distribution function of beta density or as the Gauss hypergeometric function with one of the upper parameters equal to unity. Logarithmic concavity/convexity of this function in parameters was established by Finner and Roters in 1997. Their proof is indirect and rather difficult; it is based on generalized reproductive property of certain more general distributions. These authors remark that these results "seems to be very hard to obtain by usual analytic methods". In the first part of this paper we provide such proof…
Let $p(n)$ denote the partition function. Desalvo and Pak proved the log-concavity of $p(n)$ for $n>25$ and the inequality $\frac{p(n-1)}{p(n)}\left(1+\frac{1}{n}\right)>\frac{p(n)}{p(n+1)}$ for $n>1$. Let $r(n)=\sqrt[n]{p(n)/n}$ and $Δ$ be the difference operator respect to $n$. Desalvo and Pak pointed out that their approach to proving the log-concavity of $p(n)$ may be employed to prove a conjecture of Sun on the log-convexity of $\{r(n)\}_{n\geq 61}$, as long as one finds an appropriate estimate of $Δ^2 \log r(n-1)$. In this paper, we obtain a lower bound for $Δ^2\log r(n-1)$, leading to a…
It was discovered recently by Griffin, Ono, Rolen and Zagier that the Jensen polynomials associated to many sequences have Hermite polynomial limits. We develop this theory in detail, based on the log-polynomial property which is a refinement of log-concavity and log-convexity. Applications to various partition sequences are given. An application to the sequence of factorials leads naturally to evaluating limits of generalized Laguerre polynomials.
