In how many ways can m balls be distributed into n boxes?

Boxes distinguishable?

Balls distinguishable?

Minimum number of balls allowed in a box

Maximum number of balls allowed in a box

Number of distributions

nm

n! (n m)!

n! S(m, n)

n+m1 m

n m

m1 mn

i=1

S(m, i)

S(m, n)

i=1

p(m, i)

p(m, n)

Stirling number of the second kind: S(m, n) = 1 n!

n

(1)i
i=0

n (n i)m i

is the number of ways of partitioning a set with m elements into n nonempty sets.

Catalan number: bn = 2n 2n n1 n = 2n 1 n+1 n = (2n)! n!(n + 1)!

is the number of length 2n binary strings in any initial segment of which the number of 0s never exceeds the number of 1s.

Derangement number:
n

dn = n!
i=0

(1)i = n! i!

i=2

(1)i i!

is the number of permutations of n objects that leave no object in its original place.

Inclusion-Exclusion Formulas:
nm

Em =
i=0

(i)i

m+i Sm+i i

is the number of elements that lie in exactly m of the sets A1 , A2 , . . . , An ;

nm

Lm =
i=0

(i)i

m1+i Sm+i i

is the number of elements that lie in at least m of the sets A1 , A2 , . . . , An where Sk = |Ai1 Ai2 Aik |.
1i1 <i2 <<ik n