Symmetric decomposition of the Hilbert function of an ideal

Let $(R, \mathcal{M})$ be a local ring over a field $k$ with $k = R/\mathcal M$ and $J$ an ideal in $R$ such that $A =R/J$ is an Artinian Gorenstein (AG) $k$-algebra. In 1989, A. Iarrobino introduced the symmetric decomposition of the Hilbert function of $A$. This became a very powerful tool for classifying the Hilbert functions of AG $k$-algebras. In this article, we introduce the symmetric decomposition of the Hilbert function of any ideal $I$ in $A.$ Our hope is that this result will be useful in classifying the possible Hilbert function of an ideal in an AG $k$-algebra. We illustrate this by giving a complete list of $2$-admissible sequences of length at most $3$ and with $h_0=2$ that are realizable by an ideal in an AG $k$-algebra.