On the power-series expansion of a rational function

• Autorzy: D. V. Lee
• Języki publikacji: EN

Abstrakty

EN

Introduction. The problem of determining the formula for $P_S(n)$, the number of partitions of an integer into elements of a finite set S, that is, the number of solutions in non-negative integers, $h_{s₁},..., h_{s_k}$, of the equation
h_{s₁} s₁ + ... + h_{s_k} s_k = n,
was solved in the nineteenth century (see Sylvester [4] and Glaisher [3] for detailed accounts). The solution is the coefficient of$xⁿ in
[(1-x^{s₁})... (1-x^{s_k})]^{-1}, expressions for which they derived. Wright [5] indicated a simpler method by which to find part of the solution (at least in the case $s_i=i$). The current paper gives a simple method by which the power-series expansion of a rational function may be derived. Lemma 1 is well known and gives the general form of the solution. Lemma 2 is also well known. See, for example, Andrews [1], Example 2, p. 98. Lemma 3 shows how the recurrence relation of Lemma 2 becomes of bounded degree in certain cases. The recurrence relation is then solved, and the solution is extended from these certain cases to all cases. We then apply the result to investigate the growth of the difference $P_S(n) - P_T(n)$, where S and T are finite sets, and in particular when this difference is bounded. The differences $P_S^{(0)}(n) - P_T^{(0)}(n)$ and $P_S^{(1)}(n) - P_T^{(1)}(n)$ are also considered, where $P_S^{(0)}$ (resp. $P_S^{(1)}$) denotes the number of partitions of n into elements of S with an even (resp. odd) number of parts.

• Wydawca: Institute of Mathematics Polish Academy of Sciences
• Czasopismo: Acta Arithmetica
• Rocznik: 1992
• Tom: 62
• Numer: 3
• Strony: 229-255

Daty

wydano

1992

otrzymano

1991-02-07

poprawiono

1992-04-02

Twórcy

autor

D. V. Lee

• Department of Mathematics, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, U.K.

Bibliografia

• [1] G. E. Andrews, Partitions, originally: Encyclopedia of Mathematics, Vol. 2, Addison-Wesley, reprinted by Cambridge University Press, 1976.
• [2] H. Davenport, Multiplicative Number Theory, 2nd ed., Springer, 1980.
• [3] J. W. L. Glaisher, Formulae for partitions into given elements, derived from Sylvester's theorem, Quart. J. Math. 40 (1909), 275-348.
• [4] J. J. Sylvester, On subinvariants, i.e. semi-invariants to binary quantics of an unlimited order: Excursus on rational functions and partitions, Amer. J. Math. 5 (1882), 119-136.
• [5] E. M. Wright, Partitions into k parts, Math. Ann. 142 (1961), 311-316.