arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Miklos Bona.
We provide bijective proofs of two classic identities that are very simple to prove using generating functions, but surprisingly difficult to prove combinatorially. The problem of finding a bijective proof for the first identity was first raised in the 1930s. The second, more involved identity takes the first one a step further.
A random binary search tree grown from the uniformly random permutation of $[n]$ is studied. We analyze the exact and asymptotic counts of vertices by rank, the distance from the set of leaves. The asymptotic fraction $c_k$ of vertices of a fixed rank $k\ge 0$ is shown to decay exponentially with $k$. Notoriously hard to compute, the exact fractions $c_k$ had been determined for $k\le 3$ only. We computed $c_4$ and $c_5$ as well; both are ratios of enormous integers, denominator of $c_5$ being $274$ digits long. Prompted by the data, we proved that, in sharp contrast, the largest prime divisor of $c_k$'s denominator is $2^{k+1}+1$ at most. We conjecture that, in fact, the prime divisors of every denominator for $k>1$ form a single interval, from $2$ to the largest prime not exceeding $2^{k+1}+1$.
We show that for every $k$, the probability that a randomly selected vertex of a random binary search tree on $n$ nodes is at distance $k-1$ from the closest leaf converges to a rational constant $c_k$ as $n$ goes to infinity.
Numerical evidence suggests that certain permutation patterns of length k are easier to avoid than any other patterns of that same length. We prove that these patterns are avoided by no more than (2.25k^2)^n permutations of length n. In light of this, we conjecture that no pattern of length k is avoided by more than that many permutations of length n.
We prove that the number of 1324-avoiding permutations of length n is less than (7+4\sqrt{3})^n.
We prove generalized versions of some conjectures of Joel Lewis on the number of alternating permutations avoiding certain patterns. Our main tool is the perhaps surprising observation that a classic bijection on pattern avoiding permutations often preserves the alternating property.
Motivated by the question of how macromolecules assemble, the notion of an {\it assembly tree} of a graph is introduced. Given a graph $G$, the paper is concerned with enumerating the number of assembly trees of $G$, a problem that applies to the macromolecular assembly problem. Explicit formulas or generating functions are provided for the number of assembly trees of several families of graphs, in particular for what we call $(H,ϕ)$-graphs. In some natural special cases, we apply powerful recent results of Zeilberger and Apagodu on multivariate generating functions, and results of Wimp and Zeilberger, to deduce recurrence relations and very precise asymptotic formulas for the number of assembly trees of the complete bipartite graphs $K_{n,n}$ and the complete tripartite graphs $K_{n,n,n}$. Future directions for reseach, as well as open questions, are suggested.
We prove that the total number $S_{n,132}(q)$ of copies of the pattern $q$ in all 132-avoiding permutations of length $n$ is the same for $q=231$, $q=312$, or $q=213$. We provide a combinatorial proof for this unexpected threefold symmetry. We then significantly generalize this result to show an exponential number of different pairs of patterns $q$ and $q'$ of length $k$ for which $S_{n,132}(q)=S_{n,132}(q')$ and the equality is non-trivial.
Following a question of J. Cooper, we study the expected number of occurrences of a given permutation pattern $q$ in permutations that avoid another given pattern $r$. In some cases, we find the pattern that occurs least often, (resp. most often) in all $r$-avoiding permutations. We also prove a few exact enumeration formulae, some of which are surprising.
This paper uses combinatorics and group theory to answer questions about the assembly of icosahedral viral shells. Although the geometric structure of the capsid (shell) is fairly well understood in terms of its constituent subunits, the assembly process is not. For the purpose of this paper, the capsid is modeled by a polyhedron whose facets represent the monomers. The assembly process is modeled by a rooted tree, the leaves representing the facets of the polyhedron, the root representing the assembled polyhedron, and the internal vertices representing intermediate stages of assembly (subsets of facets). Besides its virological motivation, the enumeration of orbits of trees under the action of a finite group is of independent mathematical interest. If $G$ is a finite group acting on a finite set $X$, then there is a natural induced action of $G$ on the set $\mathcal{T}_X$ of trees whose leaves are bijectively labeled by the elements of $X$. If $G$ acts simply on $X$, then $|X| := |X_n| = n \cdot |G|$, where $n$ is the number of $G$-orbits in $X$. The basic combinatorial results in this paper are (1) a formula for the number of orbits of each size in the action of $G$ on $\mathcal{T}_{X_n}$, for every $n$, and (2) a simple algorithm to find the stabilizer of a tree $τ\in \mathcal{T}_X$ in $G$ that runs in linear time and does not need memory in addition to its input tree.
The probability that two randomly selected phylogenetic trees of the same size are isomorphic is found to be asymptotic to a decreasing exponential modulated by a polynomial factor. The number of symmetrical nodes in a random phylogenetic tree of large size obeys a limiting Gaussian distribution, in the sense of both central and local limits. The probability that two random phylogenetic trees have the same number of symmetries asymptotically obeys an inverse square-root law. Precise estimates for these problems are obtained by methods of analytic combinatorics, involving bivariate generating functions, singularity analysis, and quasi-powers approximations.
We use an interesting result of probabilistic flavor concerning the product of two permutations consisting of one cycle each to find an explicit formula for the average number of block interchanges needed to sort a permutation of length $n$.
We prove a lower and an upper bound on the number of block moves necessary to sort a permutation. We put our results in contrast with existing results on sorting by block transpositions, and raise some open questions.
We study Stirling permutations defined by Gessel and Stanley. We prove that their generating function according to the number of descents has real roots only. We use that fact to prove that the distribution of these descents, and other, equidistributed statistics on these objects converge to a normal distribution.
We prove that the number of copies of any given permutation pattern $q$ has an asymptotically normal distribution in random permutations.
We review how the monotone pattern compares to other patterns in terms of enumerative results on pattern avoiding permutations. We consider three natural definitions of pattern avoidance, give an overview of classic and recent formulas, and provide some new results related to limiting distributions.
We use Janson's dependency criterion to prove that the distribution of $d$-descents of permutations of length $n$ converge to a normal distribution as $n$ goes to infinity. We show that this remains true even if $d$ is allowed to grow with $n$, up to a certain degree.
We consider pattern containment and avoidance with a very tight definition that was used first by Riordan more than 60 years ago. Using this definition, we prove the monotone pattern is easier to avoid than almost any other pattern of the same length. We also show that with this definition, almost all patterns of length $k$ are avoided by the same number of permutations of length $n$. The corresponding statements are not known to be true for more relaxed definitions of pattern containment. This is the first time we know of that expectations are used to compare numbers of permutations avoiding certain patterns.