cp's OEIS Frontend

Number of ways n competitors can rank in a competition, allowing for the possibility of ties.

Also number of asymmetric generalized weak orders on n points.

Also called the ordered Bell numbers.

A weak order is a relation that is transitive and complete.

Called Fubini numbers by Comtet: counts formulas in Fubini theorem when switching the order of summation in multiple sums. - Olivier Gérard, Sep 30 2002 [Named after the Italian mathematician Guido Fubini (1879-1943). - Amiram Eldar, Jun 17 2021]

If the points are unlabeled then the answer is a(0) = 1, a(n) = 2^(n-1) (cf. A011782).

For n>0, a(n) is the number of elements in the Coxeter complex of type A_{n-1}. The corresponding sequence for type B is A080253 and there one can find a worked example as well as a geometric interpretation. - Tim Honeywill and Paul Boddington, Feb 10 2003

Also number of labeled (1+2)-free posets. - Detlef Pauly, May 25 2003

Also the number of chains of subsets starting with the empty set and ending with a set of n distinct objects. - Andrew Niedermaier, Feb 20 2004

From Michael Somos, Mar 04 2004: (Start)

Stirling transform of A007680(n) = [3,10,42,216,...] gives [3,13,75,541,...].

Stirling transform of a(n) = [1,3,13,75,...] is A083355(n) = [1,4,23,175,...].

Stirling transform of A000142(n) = [1,2,6,24,120,...] is a(n) = [1,3,13,75,...].

Stirling transform of A005359(n-1) = [1,0,2,0,24,0,...] is a(n-1) = [1,1,3,13,75,...].

Stirling transform of A005212(n-1) = [0,1,0,6,0,120,0,...] is a(n-1) = [0,1,3,13,75,...].

(End)

Unreduced denominators in convergent to log(2) = lim_{n->infinity} n*a(n-1)/a(n).

a(n) is congruent to a(n+(p-1)p^(h-1)) (mod p^h) for n >= h (see Barsky).

Stirling-Bernoulli transform of 1/(1-x^2). - Paul Barry, Apr 20 2005

This is the sequence of moments of the probability distribution of the number of tails before the first head in a sequence of fair coin tosses. The sequence of cumulants of the same probability distribution is A000629. That sequence is twice the result of deletion of the first term of this sequence. - Michael Hardy (hardy(AT)math.umn.edu), May 01 2005

With p(n) = the number of integer partitions of n, p(i) = the number of parts of the i-th partition of n, d(i) = the number of different parts of the i-th partition of n, p(j,i) = the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, m(i,j) = multiplicity of the j-th part of the i-th partition of n, one has: a(n) = Sum_{i=1..p(n)} (n!/(Product_{j=1..p(i)} p(i,j)!)) * (p(i)!/(Product_{j=1..d(i)} m(i,j)!)). - Thomas Wieder, May 18 2005

The number of chains among subsets of [n]. The summed term in the new formula is the number of such chains of length k. - Micha Hofri (hofri(AT)wpi.edu), Jul 01 2006

Occurs also as first column of a matrix-inversion occurring in a sum-of-like-powers problem. Consider the problem for any fixed natural number m>2 of finding solutions to the equation Sum_{k=1..n} k^m = (k+1)^m. Erdős conjectured that there are no solutions for n, m > 2. Let D be the matrix of differences of D[m,n] := Sum_{k=1..n} k^m - (k+1)^m. Then the generating functions for the rows of this matrix D constitute a set of polynomials in n (for varying n along columns) and the m-th polynomial defining the m-th row. Let GF_D be the matrix of the coefficients of this set of polynomials. Then the present sequence is the (unsigned) first column of GF_D^-1. - Gottfried Helms, Apr 01 2007

Assuming A = log(2), D is d/dx and f(x) = x/(exp(x)-1), we have a(n) = (n!/2*A^(n+1)) Sum_{k=0..n} (A^k/k!) D^n f(-A) which gives Wilf's asymptotic value when n tends to infinity. Equivalently, D^n f(-a) = 2*( A*a(n) - 2*a(n-1) ). - Martin Kochanski (mjk(AT)cardbox.com), May 10 2007

List partition transform (see A133314) of (1,-1,-1,-1,...). - Tom Copeland, Oct 24 2007

First column of A154921. - Mats Granvik, Jan 17 2009

A slightly more transparent interpretation of a(n) is as the number of 'factor sequences' of N for the case in which N is a product of n distinct primes. A factor sequence of N of length k is of the form 1 = x(1), x(2), ..., x(k) = N, where {x(i)} is an increasing sequence such that x(i) divides x(i+1), i=1,2,...,k-1. For example, N=70 has the 13 factor sequences {1,70}, {1,2,70}, {1,5,70}, {1,7,70}, {1,10,70}, {1,14,70}, {1,35,70}, {1,2,10,70}, {1,2,14,70}, {1,5,10,70}, {1,5,35,70}, {1,7,14,70}, {1,7,35,70}. - Martin Griffiths, Mar 25 2009

Starting (1, 3, 13, 75, ...) = row sums of triangle A163204. - Gary W. Adamson, Jul 23 2009

Equals double inverse binomial transform of A007047: (1, 3, 11, 51, ...). - Gary W. Adamson, Aug 04 2009

If f(x) = Sum_{n>=0} c(n)*x^n converges for every x, then Sum_{n>=0} f(n*x)/2^(n+1) = Sum_{n>=0} c(n)*a(n)*x^n. Example: Sum_{n>=0} exp(n*x)/2^(n+1) = Sum_{n>=0} a(n)*x^n/n! = 1/(2-exp(x)) = e.g.f. - Miklos Kristof, Nov 02 2009

Hankel transform is A091804. - Paul Barry, Mar 30 2010

It appears that the prime numbers greater than 3 in this sequence (13, 541, 47293, ...) are of the form 4n+1. - Paul Muljadi, Jan 28 2011

The Fi1 and Fi2 triangle sums of A028246 are given by the terms of this sequence. For the definitions of these triangle sums, see A180662. - Johannes W. Meijer, Apr 20 2011

The modified generating function A(x) = 1/(2-exp(x))-1 = x + 3*x^2/2! + 13*x^3/3! + ... satisfies the autonomous differential equation A' = 1 + 3*A + 2*A^2 with initial condition A(0) = 0. Applying [Bergeron et al., Theorem 1] leads to two combinatorial interpretations for this sequence: (A) a(n) gives the number of plane-increasing 0-1-2 trees on n vertices, where vertices of outdegree 1 come in 3 colors and vertices of outdegree 2 come in 2 colors. (B) a(n) gives the number of non-plane-increasing 0-1-2 trees on n vertices, where vertices of outdegree 1 come in 3 colors and vertices of outdegree 2 come in 4 colors. Examples are given below. - Peter Bala, Aug 31 2011

Starting with offset 1 = the eigensequence of A074909 (the beheaded Pascal's triangle), and row sums of triangle A208744. - Gary W. Adamson, Mar 05 2012

a(n) = number of words of length n on the alphabet of positive integers for which the letters appearing in the word form an initial segment of the positive integers. Example: a(2) = 3 counts 11, 12, 21. The map "record position of block containing i, 1<=i<=n" is a bijection from lists of sets on [n] to these words. (The lists of sets on [2] are 12, 1/2, 2/1.) - David Callan, Jun 24 2013

This sequence was the subject of one of the earliest uses of the database. Don Knuth, who had a computer printout of the database prior to the publication of the 1973 Handbook, wrote to N. J. A. Sloane on May 18, 1970, saying: "I have just had my first real 'success' using your index of sequences, finding a sequence treated by Cayley that turns out to be identical to another (a priori quite different) sequence that came up in connection with computer sorting." A000670 is discussed in Exercise 3 of Section 5.3.1 of The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 3, 1973. - N. J. A. Sloane, Aug 21 2014

Ramanujan gives a method of finding a continued fraction of the solution x of an equation 1 = x + a2*x^2 + ... and uses log(2) as the solution of 1 = x + x^2/2 + x^3/6 + ... as an example giving the sequence of simplified convergents as 0/1, 1/1, 2/3, 9/13, 52/75, 375/541, ... of which the sequence of denominators is this sequence, while A052882 is the numerators. - Michael Somos, Jun 19 2015

For n>=1, a(n) is the number of Dyck paths (A000108) with (i) n+1 peaks (UD's), (ii) no UUDD's, and (iii) at least one valley vertex at every nonnegative height less than the height of the path. For example, a(2)=3 counts UDUDUD (of height 1 with 2 valley vertices at height 0), UDUUDUDD, UUDUDDUD. These paths correspond, under the "glove" or "accordion" bijection, to the ordered trees counted by Cayley in the 1859 reference, after a harmless pruning of the "long branches to a leaf" in Cayley's trees. (Cayley left the reader to infer the trees he was talking about from examples for small n and perhaps from his proof.) - David Callan, Jun 23 2015

From David L. Harden, Apr 09 2017: (Start)

Fix a set X and define two distance functions d,D on X to be metrically equivalent when d(x_1,y_1) <= d(x_2,y_2) iff D(x_1,y_1) <= D(x_2,y_2) for all x_1, y_1, x_2, y_2 in X.

Now suppose that we fix a function f from unordered pairs of distinct elements of X to {1,...,n}. Then choose positive real numbers d_1 <= ... <= d_n such that d(x,y) = d_{f(x,y)}; the set of all possible choices of the d_i's makes this an n-parameter family of distance functions on X. (The simplest example of such a family occurs when n is a triangular number: When that happens, write n = (k 2). Then the set of all distance functions on X, when |X| = k, is such a family.) The number of such distance functions, up to metric equivalence, is a(n).

It is easy to see that an equivalence class of distance functions gives rise to a well-defined weak order on {d_1, ..., d_n}. To see that any weak order is realizable, choose distances from the set of integers {n-1, ..., 2n-2} so that the triangle inequality is automatically satisfied. (End)

a(n) is the number of rooted labeled forests on n nodes that avoid the patterns 213, 312, and 321. - Kassie Archer, Aug 30 2018

From A.H.M. Smeets, Nov 17 2018: (Start)

Also the number of semantic different assignments to n variables (x_1, ..., x_n) including simultaneous assignments. From the example given by Joerg Arndt (Mar 18 2014), this is easily seen by replacing

"{i}" by "x_i := expression_i(x_1, ..., x_n)",

"{i, j}" by "x_i, x_j := expression_i(x_1, .., x_n), expression_j(x_1, ..., x_n)", i.e., simultaneous assignment to two different variables (i <> j),

similar for simultaneous assignments to more variables, and

"<" by ";", i.e., the sequential constructor. These examples are directly related to "Number of ways n competitors can rank in a competition, allowing for the possibility of ties." in the first comment.

From this also the number of different mean definitions as obtained by iteration of n different mean functions on n initial values. Examples:

the AGM(x1,x2) = AGM(x2,x1) is represented by {arithmetic mean, geometric mean}, i.e., simultaneous assignment in any iteration step;

Archimedes's scheme (for Pi) is represented by {geometric mean} < {harmonic mean}, i.e., sequential assignment in any iteration step;

the geometric mean of two values can also be observed by {arithmetic mean, harmonic mean};

the AGHM (as defined in A319215) is represented by {arithmetic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean}, i.e., simultaneous assignment, but there are 12 other semantic different ways to assign the values in an AGHM scheme.

By applying power means (also called Holder means) this can be extended to any value of n. (End)

Total number of faces of all dimensions in the permutohedron of order n. For example, the permutohedron of order 3 (a hexagon) has 6 vertices + 6 edges + 1 2-face = 13 faces, and the permutohedron of order 4 (a truncated octahedron) has 24 vertices + 36 edges + 14 2-faces + 1 3-face = 75 faces. A001003 is the analogous sequence for the associahedron. - Noam Zeilberger, Dec 08 2019

Number of odd multinomial coefficients N!/(a_1!*a_2!*...*a_k!). Here each a_i is positive, and Sum_{i} a_i = N (so 2^{N-1} multinomial coefficients in all), where N is any positive integer whose binary expansion has n 1's. - Richard Stanley, Apr 05 2022 (edited Oct 19 2022)

From Peter Bala, Jul 08 2022: (Start)

Conjecture: Let k be a positive integer. The sequence obtained by reducing a(n) modulo k is eventually periodic with the period dividing phi(k) = A000010(k). For example, modulo 16 we obtain the sequence [1, 1, 3, 13, 11, 13, 11, 13, 11, 13, ...], with an apparent period of 2 beginning at a(4). Cf. A354242.

More generally, we conjecture that the same property holds for integer sequences having an e.g.f. of the form G(exp(x) - 1), where G(x) is an integral power series. (End)

a(n) is the number of ways to form a permutation of [n] and then choose a subset of its descent set. - Geoffrey Critzer, Apr 29 2023

This is the Akiyama-Tanigawa transform of A000079, the powers of two. - Shel Kaphan, May 02 2024

Number of partitions of n in which greatest part is odd.

Number of partitions of n+1 into an even number of parts, the least being 1. Example: a(5)=4 because we have [5,1], [3,1,1,1], [2,1,1] and [1,1,1,1,1,1].

Also number of partitions of n+1 such that the largest part is even and occurs only once. Example: a(5)=4 because we have [6], [4,2], [4,1,1] and [2,1,1,1,1]. - Emeric Deutsch, Apr 05 2006

Also the number of partitions of n such that the number of odd parts and the number of even parts have opposite parities. Example: a(8)=10 is a count of these partitions: 8, 611, 521, 431, 422, 41111, 332, 32111, 22211, 2111111. - Clark Kimberling, Feb 01 2014, corrected Jan 06 2021

In Chaves 2011 see page 38 equation (3.20). - Michael Somos, Dec 28 2014

Suppose that c(0) = 1, that c(1), c(2), ... are indeterminates, that d(0) = 1, and that d(n) = -c(n) - c(n-1)*d(1) - ... - c(0)*d(n-1). When d(n) is expanded as a polynomial in c(1), c(2),..,c(n), the terms are of the form H*c(i_1)*c(i_2)*...*c(i_k). Let P(n) = [c(i_1), c(i_2), ..., c(i_k)], a partition of n. Then H is negative if P has an odd number of parts, and H is positive if P has an even number of parts. That is, d(n) has A027193(n) negative coefficients, A027187(n) positive coefficients, and A000041 terms. The maximal coefficient in d(n), in absolute value, is A102462(n). - Clark Kimberling, Dec 15 2016

Exponential self-convolution of numbers of preferential arrangements.

Number of compatible bipartitional relations on a set of cardinality n. - Ralf Stephan, Apr 27 2003

Stirling transform of A000142, shifted left one place: 1, 2, 6, 24, 120, 720, ... - Philippe Deléham, May 17 2005; corrected by Ilya Gutkovskiy, Jul 25 2018

With an extra 1 at the beginning, coefficients of the formal (divergent) series expansion at infinity of Sum_{k>=0} 1/binomial(x,k) = 1+1/x+2/x^2+8/x^3+... Also Sum_{k>=0} k!/x^k Product_{i=1..k-1} 1/(1-i/x) yields a generating function in 1/x. - Roland Bacher, Nov 21 2000

Stirling-Bernoulli transform of A001057: 1, -1, 2, -2, 3, -3, 4, ... - Philippe Deléham, May 27 2015

a(n) is the total number of open sets summed over all chain topologies that can be placed on an n-set. A chain topology is a topology whose open sets can be totally ordered by inclusion. - Geoffrey Critzer, Apr 06 2017

From Gus Wiseman, Jun 10 2020: (Start)

Also the number of length n + 1 sequences covering an initial interval of positive integers with no adjacent equal parts (anti-runs). For example, the a(0) = 1 through a(2) = 8 anti-runs are:

(1) (1,2) (1,2,1)

(2,1) (1,2,3)

(1,3,2)

(2,1,2)

(2,1,3)

(2,3,1)

(3,1,2)

(3,2,1)

Also the number of ordered set partitions of {1,...,n + 1} with no two successive vertices in the same block. For example, the a(0) = 1 through a(2) = 8 ordered set partitions are:

{{1}} {{1},{2}} {{1,3},{2}}

{{2},{1}} {{2},{1,3}}

{{1},{2},{3}}

{{1},{3},{2}}

{{2},{1},{3}}

{{2},{3},{1}}

{{3},{1},{2}}

{{3},{2},{1}}

(End)

From Manfred Boergens, Feb 24 2025: (Start)

a(n+1) is the n-th row sum in A380977.

Number of surjections f with domain [n+1] and f(n+1)!=f(j) for j

Number of (n+1)-tuples containing all elements of a set, with a unique last element.

Consider an urn with balls of pairwise different colors. a(n) is the number of (n+1)-sequences of draws with replacement completing the covering of all colors with the last draw, the number of colors running from 1 to n+1.

(End)