English

Regularly spaced subsums of integer partitions

Combinatorics 2015-06-26 v1

Abstract

For integer partitions λ:n=a1+...+ak\lambda :n=a_1+...+a_k, where a1a2>...ak1a_1\ge a_2\ge >...\ge a_k\ge 1, we study the sum a1+a3+...a_1+a_3+... of the parts of odd index. We show that the average of this sum, over all partitions λ\lambda of nn, is of the form n/2+(6/(8π))nlogn+c2,1n+O(logn).n/2+(\sqrt{6}/(8\pi))\sqrt{n}\log{n}+c_{2,1}\sqrt{n}+O(\log{n}). More generally, we study the sum ai+am+i+a2m+i+...a_i+a_{m+i}+a_{2m+i}+... of the parts whose indices lie in a given arithmetic progression and we show that the average of this sum, over all partitions of nn, is of the form n/m+bm,inlogn+cm,in+O(logn)n/m+b_{m,i}\sqrt{n}\log{n}+c_{m,i}\sqrt{n}+O(\log{n}), with explicitly given constants bm,i,cm,ib_{m,i},c_{m,i}. Interestingly, for mm odd and i=(m+1)/2i=(m+1)/2 we have bm,i=0b_{m,i}=0, so in this case the error term is of lower order. The methods used involve asymptotic formulas for the behavior of Lambert series and the Zeta function of Hurwitz. We also show that if f(n,j)f(n,j) is the number of partitions of nn the sum of whose parts of even index is jj, then for every nn, f(n,j)f(n,j) agrees with a certain universal sequence, Sloane's sequence \texttt{#A000712}, for jn/3j\le n/3 but not for any larger jj.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0308061,
  title  = {Regularly spaced subsums of integer partitions},
  author = {E. Rodney Canfield and Carla D. Savage and Herbert S. Wilf},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0308061},
  year   = {2015}
}