We examine the poset $P$ of 132-avoiding $n$-permutations ordered by descents. We show that this poset is the "coarsening" of the well-studied poset $Q$ of noncrossing partitions . In other words, if $x<y$ in $Q$, then $f(y)<f(x)$ in $P$, where $f$ is the canonical bijection from the set of noncrossing partitions onto that of 132-avoiding permutations. This enables us to prove many properties of $P$.
In this case-study in computer-human collaboration, we develop, implement, and execute symbolic-computational algorithms for the automatic discovery and proof of explicit expressions for the expectation, variance, and higher moments of a large class of natural combinatorial statistics defined on Catalan-counted objects, enabling, inter-alia, to prove that they are not asymptotically normal. In particular, we reproduce in 0.12 seconds results of Miklos Bona, and derive far deeper results, way beyond the scope of humans, concerning higher moments of the random variable "number of occurrences of …
We introduce two partially ordered sets, $P^A_n$ and $P^B_n$, of the same cardinalities as the type-A and type-B noncrossing partition lattices. The ground sets of $P^A_n$ and $P^B_n$ are subsets of the symmetric and the hyperoctahedral groups, consisting of permutations which avoid certain patterns. The order relation is given by (strict) containment of the descent sets. In each case, by means of an explicit order-preserving bijection, we show that the poset of restricted permutations is an extension of the refinement order on noncrossing partitions. Several structural properties of these per…
We count the number of closed walks on a vertex in a regular tree using the Catalan's triangle and also the Borel's triangle, showing another combinatorial structure counted by these two array of numbers.
The classical parking functions, counted by the Cayley number (n+1)^(n-1), carry a natural permutation representation of the symmetric group S_n in which the number of orbits is the n'th Catalan number. In this paper, we will generalize this setup to rational parking functions indexed by a pair (a,b) of coprime positive integers. We show that these parking functions, which are counted by b^(a-1), carry a permutation representation of S_a in which the number of orbits is a rational Catalan number. We compute the Frobenius characteristic of the S_a-module of (a,b)-parking functions. Next we prop…
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 …
We introduce a transformation of finite integer sequences, show that every sequence eventually stabilizes under this transformation and that the number of fixed points is counted by the Catalan numbers. The sequences that are fixed are precisely those that describe themselves -- every term $t$ is equal to the number of previous terms that are smaller than $t$. In addition, we provide an easy way to enumerate all these self-describing sequences by organizing them in a Catalan tree with a specific labelling system.
Motivated by a formula of A. Postnikov relating binary trees, we define the hook length polynomials for m-ary trees and plane forests, and show that these polynomials have a simple binomial expression. An integer value of this expression is C_{k,m}(n)=\frac{1}{mn+1}{(mn+1)k \choose n}, which we call the (k,m)-Catalan number. For proving the hook length formulas, we also introduce a combinatorial family, (k,m)-ary trees, which are counted by the (k,m)-Catalan numbers.
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.
Hexaflexagons were popularized by the late Martin Gardner in his first Scientific American column in 1956. Oakley and Wisner showed that they can be represented abstractly by certain recursively defined permutations called pats, and deduced that they are counted by the Catalan numbers. Counting pats by number of descents yields the curious identity Sum[1/(2n-2k+1)binom{2n-2k+1}{k}binom{2k}{n-k},k=0..n] = C(n), where only the middle third of the summands are nonzero.
Descending plane partitions, alternating sign matrices, and totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions are equinumerous combinatorial sets for which no explicit bijection is known. In this paper, we isolate a subset of descending plane partitions counted by the Catalan numbers. The proof follows by constructing a generating tree on these descending plane partitions that has the same structure as the generating tree for 231-avoiding permutations. We hope this result will provide insight on the search for a bijection with alternating sign matrices and/or totally symmetric self-complem…
Catalan structures arising from pattern-avoiding Stoimenow matchings and other Fishburn objects
College of Mathematical Sciences & Institute of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tianjin Normal University（天津师范大学数学科学学院与数学及交叉科学研究所）；Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Strathclyde（斯特拉斯克莱德大学数学与统计系）
The notion of a mesh pattern was introduced recently, but it has already proved to be a useful tool for description purposes related to sets of permutations. In this paper we study eight mesh patterns of small lengths. In particular, we link avoidance of one of the patterns to the harmonic numbers, while for three other patterns we show their distributions on 132-avoiding permutations are given by the Catalan triangle. Also, we show that two specific mesh patterns are Wilf-equivalent. As a byproduct of our studies, we define a new set of sequences counted by the Catalan numbers and provide a r…
We solve two open problems in Coxeter-Catalan combinatorics. First, we introduce a family of rational noncrossing objects for any finite Coxeter group, using the combinatorics of distinguished subwords. Second, we give a type-uniform proof that these noncrossing Catalan objects are counted by the rational Coxeter-Catalan number, using the character theory of the associated Hecke algebra and the properties of Lusztig's exotic Fourier transform. We solve the same problems for rational noncrossing parking objects.
Catalan words are particular growth-restricted words over the set of non-negative integers, and they represent still another combinatorial class counted by the Catalan numbers. We study the distribution of descents on the sets of Catalan words avoiding a pattern of length at most three: for each such a pattern $p$ we provide a bivariate generating function where the coefficient of $x^ny^k$ in its series expansion is the number of length $n$ Catalan words with $k$ descents and avoiding $p$. As a byproduct, we enumerate the set of Catalan words avoiding $p$, and we provide the popularity of desc…
Pattern avoiding machines were introduced recently by Claesson, Cerbai and Ferrari as a particular case of the two-stacks in series sorting device. They consist of two restricted stacks in series, ruled by a right-greedy procedure and the stacks avoid some specified patterns. Some of the obtained results have been further generalized to Cayley permutations by Cerbai, specialized to particular patterns by Defant and Zheng, or considered in the context of functions over the symmetric group by Berlow. In this work we study pattern avoiding machines where the first stack avoids a pair of patterns …
Vincular and covincular patterns are generalizations of classical patterns allowing restrictions on the indices and values of the occurrences in a permutation. In this paper we study the integer sequences arising as the enumerations of permutations simultaneously avoiding a vincular and a covincular pattern, both of length 3, with at most one restriction. We see familiar sequences, such as the Catalan and Motzkin numbers, but also some previously unknown sequences which have close links to other combinatorial objects such as lattice paths and integer partitions. Where possible we include a gen…
We investigate the tree gonality of a genus-$g$ metric graph, defined as the minimum degree of a tropical morphism from any tropical modification of the metric graph to a metric tree. We give a combinatorial constructive proof that this number is at most $\lceil g/2 \rceil + 1$, a fact whose proofs so far required an algebro-geometric detour via special divisors on curves. For even genus, the tropical morphism which realizes the bound belongs to a family of tropical morphisms that is pure of dimension $3g-3$ and that has a generically finite-to-one map onto the moduli space of genus-$g$ metric…
Ascent sequences have received a lot of attention in recent years in connection with (2 + 2)-free posets and other combinatorial objects. Here, we first show bijectively that analogous repetition sequences are counted by the Bell numbers, and 021-avoiding repetition sequences by the Catalan numbers. Then we adapt a bijection of Chen et al and use it along with the "symbolic" method of Flajolet to find the 4-variable generating function for 021-avoiding ascent sequences by length, number of 0's, number of isolated 0's, and number of runs of 2 or more 0's. We deduce that 021-avoiding ascent sequ…
The stack sort algorithm has been the subject of extensive study over the years. In this paper we explore a generalized version of this algorithm where instead of avoiding a single decrease, the stack avoids a set $T$ of permutations. We let $s_T$ denote this map. We classify for which sets $T$ the map $s_T$ is bijective. A corollary to this answers a question of Baril, Cerbai, Khalil, and Vajnovszki about stack sort composed with $s_{\{σ,τ\}}$, known as the $(σ,τ)$-machine. This fully classifies for which $σ$ and $τ$ the preimage of the identity under the $(σ,τ)$-machine is counted by the Cat…
The past decade has seen a flurry of research into pattern avoiding permutations but little of it is concerned with their exhaustive generation. Many applications call for exhaustive generation of permutations subject to various constraints or imposing a particular generating order. In this paper we present generating algorithms and combinatorial Gray codes for several families of pattern avoiding permutations. Among the families under consideration are those counted by Catalan, Schröder, Pell, even index Fibonacci numbers and the central binomial coefficients. Consequently, this provides Gray…
A $k$-plane tree is a plane tree whose vertices are assigned labels between $1$ and $k$ in such a way that the sum of the labels along any edge is no greater than $k+1$. These trees are known to be related to $(k+1)$-ary trees, and they are counted by a generalised version of the Catalan numbers. We prove a surprisingly simple refined counting formula, where we count trees with a prescribed number of labels of each kind. Several corollaries are derived from this formula, and an analogous theorem is proven for $k$-noncrossing trees, a similarly defined family of labelled noncrossing trees that …
Each positive rational number x>0 can be written uniquely as x=a/(b-a) for coprime positive integers 0<a<b. We will identify x with the pair (a,b). In this paper we define for each positive rational x>0 a simplicial complex \Ass(x)=\Ass(a,b) called the {\sf rational associahedron}. It is a pure simplicial complex of dimension a-2, and its maximal faces are counted by the {\sf rational Catalan number} \Cat(x)=\Cat(a,b):=\frac{(a+b-1)!}{a!\,b!}. The cases (a,b)=(n,n+1) and (a,b)=(n,kn+1) recover the classical associahedron and its "Fuss-Catalan" generalization studied by Athanasiadis-Tzanaki and…
Inspired by Yakoubov's 2015 investigation of pattern avoiding linear extensions of the posets called combs, we study pattern avoiding linear extensions of rectangular posets. These linear extensions are closely related to standard tableaux. For positive integers $s$ and $t$ we consider two natural rectangular partial orders on $\{1,2,\ldots,s t\}$, which we call the NE rectangular order and the EN rectangular order. First we enumerate linear extensions of both rectangular orders avoiding most sets of patterns of length three. Then we use both a generating tree and a bijection to show that the …
A word $w=w_1w_2\cdots w_n$ is alternating if either $w_1<w_2>w_3<w_4>\cdots$ (when the word is up-down) or $w_1>w_2<w_3>w_4<\cdots$ (when the word is down-up). The study of alternating words avoiding classical permutation patterns was initiated by the authors in~\cite{GKZ}, where, in particular, it was shown that 123-avoiding up-down words of even length are counted by the Narayana numbers. However, not much was understood on the structure of 123-avoiding up-down words. In this paper, we fill in this gap by introducing the notion of a cut-pair that allows us to subdivide the set of words in q…
An unlabeled poset is said to be (2+2)-free if it does not contain an induced subposet that is isomorphic to 2+2, the union of two disjoint 2-element chains. Let $p_n$ denote the number of (2+2)-free posets of size $n$. In a recent paper, Bousquet-Mélou et al.\cite{BCDK} found, using so called ascent sequences, the generating function for the number of (2+2)-free posets of size $n$: $P(t)=\sum_{n \geq 0} p_n t^n = \sum_{n\geq 0} \prod_{i=1}^{n} (1-(1-t)^i)$. We extend this result in two ways. First, we find the generating function for (2+2)-free posets when four statistics are taken into accou…
