MA861 Assignment 1

Aug 2, 2019
(due Aug 9, 2019)

Instructions.
1. The due date is strict. Turn in whatever you have by then.

2. Proofs should be reasonably formal, but no longer than one page (i.e. two sides). Try
to write clearly and concisely. There will be marks for how clearly the proof is written.

3. Try to solve the problems on your own. If you discuss the solution with others and/or
used the internet, mention this on the answer sheet.

4. Even if you do discuss with others, you should write the proof down by yourself.

5. All problems are from Aigner’s book.

Problems to be turned in: 1(c), 1(d), 2, 4, 5.

1. Give combinatorial proofs of the following.

Pn k n+1 − 1
(a) k=0 2 = 2
n 2
= 2n
P


(b) i≤n i n .
n m n n−k





(c) m k = k m−k (n ≥ m ≥ k ≥ 0)
k−1
(d) The number of compositions 1 of k into n parts is n−1


. (You can use the result about
weak compositions from class if you want, or you can prove it directly.)
2r
P
k−1
2r−2s+1 2r−s .


(e) k 2k−1 s−1 = 2 s−1

2. A Delannoy path from (0, 0) to (m, n) is a path in the lattice of integer points where
each step can go one step right, one step up or one step diagonally (i.e. increase x and y
coordinate by 1 simultaneously). The number of such paths is Dm,n . Show that
X mn + k 
Dm,n = .
k m
k

3. (a) Check that nk = n−k k+1 n

· k+1 . Use this to show that the binomial coefficients are
unimodal i.e. for positive n,
           
n n n n n n
< < ··· < = > ··· > >
0 1 bn/2c dn/2e n−1 n
1
Recall from class that a composition (or a strong composition) of k into n parts is a tuple (a1 , . . . , an ) of
strictly positive integers that sum to k.

1
 2n
(b) Show that 2n 2√


n ≥ 2 n
for all n ≥ 1. (Hint: Use induction on n. What is the ratio of
2n 2n−2



n and n−1 ?)

4. Let π = a1 a2 · · · an be an element in Sn given via its word representation. For each j ∈ [n],
let bj denote the number of elements to the left of j that are larger than j. Observe that
0 ≤ bj ≤ n − j for each j ∈ [n].
Thus (b1 , b2 , · · · , bn ) is an element of T = {0, . . . , n − 1} × {0, . . . , n − 2} × · · · × {0}. The
tuple (b1 , · · · , bn ) is called the inversion table of π. Show that the map ρ : Sn → T that
sends each π to its inversion table is a bijection.

5. Let In,k be the number of permutations in Sn with exactly k inversions. Show the following
combinatorially: In,k = In,(n)−k , and when k ≥ 1, In,k = In−1,k + In,k−1 .
2

6. In this exercise, you will show that all these combinatorially defined quantities are the
same. (They are all given by Fibonacci numbers.)

(a) f1 (n) = the number of subsets of [n] that do not contain any pair of consecutive
integers.
(b) f2 (n) = the number of compositions of n + 1 into parts that are all either 1 or 2 (the
composition can be into any number of parts).
(c) f3 (n) = the number of fat subsets of [n]. Here a set A ⊆ [n] is called fat if k ≥ |A|
for each k ∈ A (the empty set ∅ is fat by definition).
(d) f4 (n) = the number of ways of tiling a 2 × (n + 1)-rectangular board with tiles of
size 1 × 2. (A tiling is an arrangment of the smaller tiles so that they don’t overlap
with each other and cover the bigger board.)
(e) f5 (n) = the number of compositions of n + 2 into odd positive parts (the composition
can be into any number of parts).

To show that all the above have the same size, prove by setting up a recurrence of them
form fi (n) = fi (n − 1) + fi (n − 2) for each of them and using induction.
Can you give bijective proofs?

7. By giving bijections, show that all these sets have the same size. (Their common sizes are
given by Catalan numbers.)

(a) The collection of all sequences of brackets (e.g.: “(())()”) of length 2n that are
balanced. That is, for each left bracket ‘(’ there is a matching right bracket ‘)’.
(b) The set of 0-1 sequences of length 2n containing exactly n many 0s such that in any
initial prefix, then number of 0s is greater than or equal to the number of number of
1s.
(c) The set of lattice paths from (0, 0) to (n, n) that stay on or below the diagonal.
(Here, the diagonal refers to the set {(i, i) | i ∈ {0, . . . , n}}.)
(d) The ways of arranging the numbers 1, . . . , 2n in two rows of length n such that the
numbers in any row or column are increasing.