Enumerating Vector Parking Functions and their Outcomes Based on Specified Lucky Cars
Abstract
In a parking function, a car is considered lucky if it is able to park in its preferred spot. Extending work of Harris and Martinez, we enumerate outcomes of parking functions with a fixed set of lucky cars. We then consider a generalization of parking functions known as vector parking functions or -parking functions, in which a nonnegative integer capacity is given to each parking spot in the street. With certain restrictions on , we enumerate outcomes of -parking functions with a fixed set of lucky cars or with a fixed number of lucky cars. We also count outcomes according to which spots contain lucky cars, and give formulas for enumerating -parking functions themselves according to their set of lucky cars.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2508.13917,
title = {Enumerating Vector Parking Functions and their Outcomes Based on Specified Lucky Cars},
author = {Melanie Ferreri and Pamela E. Harris and Lucy Martinez and Eric Swartz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2508.13917},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
2 figures, 23 pages, v2 includes a modified intro