Discrete Mathematics

Unit-4
Advanced Counting Techniques
 Generating Functions

Definition.
Let A= n n  0 = a0 , a1 , a2 ,    , an ,     

{a }
be the sequence. Then its generating function is
defined to be

A x    a n x n  a0  a1 x  a 2 x 2       
n0
Example
n 
The generating function of the sequence {3 } is n 0

A  x  1  3 x  3 x  3 x        3 x      
2 2 3 3 n n
Problem
Find the generating function of the sequence
(1,1,1,1,1,1)
Solution
Ax  1  1x  12 x 2  13 x 3 14 x 4  15 x 5
Ax  1  x  x 2  x 3  x 4  x 5
Closed form expressions for generating functions
Problem
Find the closed form expression for the generating
function of the sequence
an  4 , n  0
Solution
The generating function of the sequence is
Ax   4  4 x  4 x 2  4 x 3        4 x n       

Ax   4(1  x  x  x        x       )
2 3 n

= 41  x 
1 4

1 x
Problem
Find the generating function of the following
sequence 0,1,2,3, -------
Solution
Generating function is
0 1 x  2 x  3 x       
2 3

 x(1  2 x  3 x      )
2

 x 1  x 
2 x

1  x 2
Problem
Find the generating function of the following
sequence
12 , 2 2 , 32 , 4 2       
Solution
we have
x
1x  2 x  3 x       
2 3

1  x 2
Differentiating both sides with respect to ‘x’

1  2 (2 x)  3(3 x 2 )       
d  x 
  
dx 
 1  x 2 



1  x  1 x 21  x   1
2

1  x 4
 
1  x 1  x  2 x 
1  x 4

1  x
1  x 3
 1  2 (2 x)  3(3 x )       
2

1 x

(1  x) 3

which is the generating function for

12 , 2 2 , 32 , 4 2       
The Extended Binomial Theorem
x 1
Let x be areal number with and let ‘n’ be a

1  x    nCr
n
xr
real number .Then r 0
Result

 n Cr   1 n  r  1Cr
r
 Result

The generating function for 1  x 

n
and
1  x  n
, where ‘n’ is a positive integer using
the extended Binomial theorem

 n  r  1C

 

1  x    n Cr x    1
n r
r
r xr
r 0 r 0

1  x n    n  r  1Cr x r


r 0
Calculating coefficient of generating function
Problem
27
Find the coefficient of x in
x 4
 x  x  
5 6

5
Solution


We have x  x  x      =
4 5 6

5

x  1  x  x  x        =
4 5 2 3 5

x 1  x  = x  1  x  

20 1 5 20 5
by using the result

 n  r  1Cr x r


1  x 
n

r 0

 


we get  x   20
r 0
5  r  1 Cr x r

x    



20 4  r Cr x r
r 0

 


 4  r Cr x 20 r
r 0
 27
x so
we have to find coefficient of
Take 20+r =27, then r=7

 the coefficient of x 27 is

4  7  C 7  11 C7 
11!
 330
7!4!
Problem
20
x
Find the coefficient of in

x  x  2 x  x  x  x  x     
2 3 4 2 3 4 5
Solution
We have

x x 2x x2 3 4
 x 2
 x  x  
3 4
5


 x 1  x  2x  x 2 3
x  1  x  x
2 5 2
    
5


 x11 1  x  2 x 2  x 3 1  x    1 5


 x11 1  x  2 x 2  x 3 1  x  5

1  x  2 x   5  r  1C

 x 11 2
x 3
r xr
r 0
 20
x
coefficient of in

x  x 2
2x x
3 4
 x 2 3 4

5
 x  x      is

4  9 C 9  4  8 C 8  2 4  7 C 7  4  6 C 6

 13 C 9  12 C 8  2 11 C 7  10 C 6

Rule of counting
Suppose we wish to determine the number of
integer solutions of equation
e1  e2  e3       en  r

where 0r n
under the constraint that
e1 can take the integer values
a11 , a12 , a13      

e2 can take the integer values

a21 , a22 , a23      
-----------------------------------------

e1 can take the integer values

a n1 , a n 2 , a n 3      
To solve this problem, first we define the
functions
f1 x , f 2 x ,        , f n x  as follows

f1 x   x a11
x a12
x a13
      

f 2 x   x a2 1  x a2 2  x a2 3        
---------------------

 
fn x  x a n1
x an 2
x an 3

and consider f  x  as
f x   f1 x  f 2 x       f n x 
r
and determine the coefficient of x in this
function.
This coefficient happens to be the number of
solutions that we desired to find.

The function f  x  is called the generating

function for the problem
Problem
Find a the generating function that determines
the number of integral solutions of the
equation
e1  e2  e3  r if ei  0 for each “ i ”
Solution

Given that each ei  0 so 1,2,3,---------

generating function is given by
f  x   f1  x  f 2  x  f 3  x 

that is

 
f ( x)  x1  x 2  x3         
x  x  x        
1 2 3

x  x  x        
1 2 3

f ( x)  x  x  x         
3

1 2 3
Problem
Using generating function find the number of

1)non negative and 2)positive integral solutions of

the equation e1  e2  e3  e4  25
1) In case of non-negative integer solutions,
ei ' s can take the values 0,1,2,3-------
accordingly we can write
f i x   x  x  x  x  x      
0 1 2 3 4

for i  1, 2, 3, 4
The generating function for the number of non
–negative integer solution is
f ( x)  f 1  x  f 2  x  f 3  x  f 4  x 
f (x)  1  x  x 2  x 3       
1  x  x  x       
2 3

1  x  x  x       
2 3

1  x  x  x      
2 3

 1  x  x  x       
2 3 4

 1  x 
1 4
 1  x  
4
by using the result

1  x     n  r  1C

n
r xr
r 0
we get

 


 1  x  4   4  r  1 Cr x r
r 0

 

  3  r Cr x r
r 0

x r  x 25 r  25
Taking we get
 x 25
The coefficient of is

3  25 C 25  28 C25 
28!
 3276
25!3!
Thus, the given equation has 3276 non negative
integer solutions
2)In the case of positive integer solutions,

ei ' s can take the values 1,2,3,4 -------

accordingly
we can write
f i  x   x1  x 2  x 3  x 4      

for i  1, 2, 3, 4
The generating function for the number of
positive integeral solutions is
f ( x)  f 1  x  f 2  x  f 3  x  f 4  x 
f (x)  x  x 2  x 3  x 4       
x  x  x  x       
2 3 4

x  x  x  x       
2 3 4

x  x  x  x     
2 3 4
 x  x  x  x     
2 3 4 4

x 1  x  x  x      
4
 4 2 3

x 4
1 x  1 4

x 4
1  x 
4
by using the result

1  x n    n  r  1Cr x r


r 0
we get

  4  r  1C



 x 4 1  x 
4
 x 4
r x r

r 0

   3  r C

4 r
r x
r 0
take 4+r=25
which gives r = 25-4 = 21
 x 25
The coefficient of is

3  21 C 21  24 C21 
24!
 2024
21!3!