Bijective proof
[8/100%]Let the sequence be defined as follows:
Prove that the map is a bijection of the set onto the set .
Let be the system of all finite subsets of the set . Prove that
the system is countable;
there exists a bijection such that if .
The number of zig-zag paths between the street corners and is
See e.g.MD, Vol. 1, pp. 68-78.
The number of those zig-zag paths between the street corners and the area under which is equals (notation of problem 60.5).
G. Pólya: J. Combinatorial Theory, Vol. 6, p. 105 (1969).
The number of inversions generated by a zig-zag path equals the area under the path. (Thus problem 60.10 determines the number of certain paths, or letter sequences, having a given number of inversions.)
A multiset is an unordered collection of elements in which each element may occur any number of times. Two multisets are equal if each element occurs in them the same number of times. For example, the multiset equals the multiset and does not equal the multiset .
Prove that the number of ways to form a -element multiset from pairwise distinct elements, using each of them any number of times, equals .
.
Find the sum .
Pascal's rule. if .
\begin{Bmatrix} \end{Bmatrix} n+1 \\ k+1 \end{Bmatrix} = (k+1)\begin{Bmatrix} \end{Bmatrix} n \\ k+1 \end{Bmatrix} + \begin{Bmatrix} \end{Bmatrix} n \\ k \end{Bmatrix}. Here \begin{Bmatrix} \end{Bmatrix} n \\ k \end{Bmatrix} is the number of partitions of an -element set into parts (i.e. nonempty subsets); partitions are considered unordered, i.e. the partition of the set into the parts and and the partition of the same set into the parts and are considered the same. Cf. Problem 1.4.7(5).
The numbers \begin{Bmatrix} \end{Bmatrix} n \\ k \end{Bmatrix} are called Stirling numbers of the second kind; for more on them see, for example, [GKP, p.287].