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Stirling Numbers of The First Kind

The document summarizes Stirling numbers of the first kind: 1) They are integer coefficients in the falling factorial polynomial expansion. 2) They satisfy a 2-place recurrence formula: s(n+1,k)=s(n,k-1)-ns(n,k) with initial conditions s(n,0)=0, s(1,1)=1. 3) They have an interpretation as counting the number of permutations of n objects with exactly k cycles.

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Shravani Sri
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59 views3 pages

Stirling Numbers of The First Kind

The document summarizes Stirling numbers of the first kind: 1) They are integer coefficients in the falling factorial polynomial expansion. 2) They satisfy a 2-place recurrence formula: s(n+1,k)=s(n,k-1)-ns(n,k) with initial conditions s(n,0)=0, s(1,1)=1. 3) They have an interpretation as counting the number of permutations of n objects with exactly k cycles.

Uploaded by

Shravani Sri
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Stirling numbers of the first kind

rmilson
2013-03-21 13:55:54

Introduction.

The Stirling numbers of the first kind, frequently denoted as


 
n
s(n, k) =
, k, n N, 1 k n,
k

are the integer coefficients of the falling factorial polynomials. To be more


precise, the defining relation for the Stirling numbers of the first kind is:
n

x = x(x 1)(x 2) . . . (x n + 1) =

n
X

s(n, k)xk .

k=1

Here is the table of some initial values.


n\k
1
2
3
4
5

1
1
-1
2
-6
24

1
-3
11
-50

1
-6
35

1
-10

Recurrence Relation.

The evident observation that


xn+1 = xxn nxn .

leads to the following equivalent characterization of the s(n, k), in terms of a


2-place recurrence formula:
s(n + 1, k) = s(n, k 1) ns(n, k),

1 k < n,

subject to the following initial conditions:


s(n, 0) = 0,

s(1, 1) = 1.

hStirlingNumbersOfTheFirstKindi

created: h2013-03-21i by: hrmilsoni version: h32809i


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Generating Function. There is also a strong connection with the generalized


binomial formula, which furnishes us with the following generating function:
(1 + t)x =

X
n
X

s(n, k)xk

n=0 k=1

tn
.
n!

This generating function implies a number of identities. Taking the derivative


of both sides with respect to t and equating powers, leads to the recurrence
relation described above. Taking the derivative of both sides with respect to x
gives


n
X
n+1
(k + 1)s(n, k + 1) =
(1)nj (n j)!
s(j, k)
j
j=k

This is because the derivative of the left side of the generating funcion equation
with respect to x is
(1 + t)x ln(1 + t) = (1 + t)x

(1)k1

k=1

tk
.
k

The relation
(1 + t)x1 (1 + t)x2 = (1 + t)x1 +x2
yields the following family of summation identities. For any given k1 , k2 , d 1
we have


X d + k1 + k2 
k1 + k2
s(d+k1 +k2 , k1 +k2 ) =
s(d1 +k1 , k1 )s(d2 +k2 , k2 ).
k1
k1 + d1
d1 +d2 =d

Enumerative interpretation. The absolute value of the Stirling number of


the first kind, s(n, k), counts the number of permutations of n objects with
exactly k orbits (equivalently, with exactly k cycles). For example, s(4, 2) = 11,
corresponds to the fact that the symmetric group on 4 objects has 3 permutations of the form
()()

2 orbits of size 2 each,

and 8 permutations of the form


( )

1 orbit of size 3, and 1 orbit of size 1,

(see the entry on cycle notation for the meaning of the above expressions.)
Let us prove this. First, we can remark that the unsigned Stirling numbers
of the first are characterized by the following recurrence relation:
|s(n + 1, k)| = |s(n, k 1)| + n|s(n, k)|,

1 k < n.

To see why the above recurrence relation matches the count of permutations
with k cycles, consider forming a permutation of n + 1 objects from a permutation of n objects by adding a distinguished object. There are exactly two ways
2

in which this can be accomplished. We could do this by forming a singleton


cycle, i.e. leaving the extra object alone. This accounts for the s(n, k 1) term
in the recurrence formula. We could also insert the new object into one of the
existing cycles. Consider an arbitrary permutation of n object with k cycles,
and label the objects a1 , . . . , an , so that the permutation is represented by
(a1 . . . aj1 )(aj1 +1 . . . aj2 ) . . . (ajk1 +1 . . . an ) .
{z
}
|
k cycles
To form a new permutation of n+1 objects and k cycles one must insert the new
object into this array. There are, evidently n ways to perform this insertion.
This explains the n s(n, k) term of the recurrence relation. Q.E.D.

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