OFFSET
1,4
COMMENTS
All multinomial coefficients (MC's) are equal, but some are more equal than others. These are the basic multinomial coefficients (BMC's). The ordinary multinomial coefficients can be generated with the basic multinomial coefficients; see A178867.
A number n can be partitioned in A000041(n) different ways. The seven partitions of n=5 are e.g. [5] = [1+4] = [2+3] = [1+1+3] = [1+2+2] = [1+1+1+2] = [1+1+1+1+1]. We observe that the k-th partition of n will consist of a certain number of 1s (i.e., "singles"), a certain number of 2s (i.e., "pairs"), a certain number of 3s (i.e., "triples"), a certain number of 4s (i.e., "4-tuples") and so on. We denote with qt the number of t-tuples in the k-th partition of n. We observe that for the third partition of n=5 there is one pair (q2=1) and one triple (q3=1).
The multinomial coefficients are defined by M3[n,k] = n!/product((t!)^qt*(qt)!, t = 1..n), see Abramowitz and Stegun. For the third partition M3[5,3] = 10, so there are 10 different ways of distributing one pair (B1, B1) and one triple (B2, B2, B2) over five positions.
We define the BMC's as the multinomial coefficients M3[n,k] for which there are no singles (q1=0) in the k-th partition of n for n>=2. Furthermore we define a(1) = 1.
LINKS
M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, eds., Handbook of Mathematical Functions, National Bureau of Standards, Applied Math. Series 55, Tenth Printing, 1972, Chapter 24, pp. 822-832.
Kevin Brown, The Collector's Problem
J. W. Meijer and M. Nepveu, Euler's ship on the Pentagonal Sea, Acta Nova, Volume 4, No.1, December 2008. pp. 176-187.
FORMULA
n = sum(qt*t, t=1..n)
M3[n,k] = n!/product((t!)^qt*(qt)!, t = 1..n)
EXAMPLE
The first few triangle rows are (P = Pair; T = Triple; 4-T = 4 Tuple; etc..):
n = 1: 1;
n = 2: 1 (1*P);
n = 3: 1 (1*T);
n = 4: 3 (2*P), 1 (1*4-T);
n = 5: 10 (1*P+1*T), 1 (1*5-T);
n = 6: 15 (3*P), 15 (1*4-T+1*P), 10 (2*T), 1 (1*6-T);
n = 7: 105 (1*T+2*P), 35 (1*4-T+1*T), 21 (1*5-T+1*P), 1 (1*7-T);
MAPLE
with(combinat): nmax:=11; A178866(1):=1: T:=1: for n from 1 to nmax do y(n):=numbpart(n): P(n):=sort(partition(n)): k:=0: for r from 1 to y(n) do if P(n)[r, 1]>1 then k:=k+1; B(k):=P(n)[r]: fi; od: A002865(n):=k; for k from 1 to A002865(n) do s:=0: j:=1: while s<n do s:=s+B(k)[j]: x(j+1):=B(k)[j]: j:=j+1; end do; jmax:=j; for r from 1 to n do q(r):=0 od: for r from 2 to n do for j from 1 to jmax do if x(j)=r then q(r):=q(r)+1 fi: od: od: M3[n, k]:= n!/(product((t!)^q(t)*q(t)!, t=1..n)): od: a:=sort([seq(M3[n, k], k=1..A002865(n))], `>`): for k from 1 to A002865(n) do M3[n, k]:=a[k] od: for k from 1 to A002865(n) do T:=T+1: A178866(T):= M3[n, k]: od: od: seq(A178866(n), n=1..T);
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
easy,nonn,tabf
AUTHOR
Johannes W. Meijer and Manuel Nepveu (Manuel.Nepveu(AT)tno.nl), Jun 21 2010, Jun 24 2010
STATUS
approved