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for ; hence , the quotient is a natural number, and
Statement
Let with . Then, in ,
and consequently:
- (The factorial and the falling factorial , defined by recursion in );
- integrality: in , , so the familiar quotient is the canonical natural of a natural number, namely of the count ;
- symmetry: .
Here is the canonical natural of The canonical natural of a field and the truncated difference, which for is the ordinary one.
Facts & Assumptions
Given: Naturals with ; the initial segment , which satisfies ; and for the set of bijections .
for every finite with ; is finite (The set of -element subsets and the binomial coefficient ).
when , and such a set is finite (A finite set with has exactly bijections onto itself, and bijections onto any set of the same cardinality).
The product rule (The product rule: , and ).
Factorials (The factorial and the falling factorial , defined by recursion in ): for every ; for .
Cardinality and subsets (The cardinality of a finite set, A subset of a finite set is finite, with , and equality holds if and only if ): transport along a bijection; ; a subset of a finite set is finite.
Arithmetic of : multiplication is associative and commutative, and with gives (Multiplication is associative, Multiplication is commutative, Cancellation for multiplication by a nonzero factor); determines (Order on the natural numbers, Addition is cancellative).
The embedding is multiplicative and injective, and for (clauses 0 and 7 of Laws of finite sums and products in , and , The canonical natural of a field); a nonzero element of a field has a unique inverse, so division by it is legitimate (Identities and inverses in a field are unique, Field).
Maps (Injection, surjection, bijection, Equinumerous sets, and ): a map with a two-sided inverse is a bijection; a bijection of carries a subset onto a subset and the complement onto the complement.
Proof
The set to be counted twice is , of cardinality by [L2]. For put . These sets are pairwise disjoint, since determines , and their union over is all of , because is a subset of of cardinality for every bijection of .
For any with one has : the sets and are disjoint with union , so by [L3], and [L7] identifies the second summand as .
for every . Indeed maps to : if then restricted to is a bijection onto , and, being a bijection of , it carries onto . The map is a two-sided inverse, the union of the two functions being a function on and a bijection onto . Since and by step 1.2, [L2] and [L4] give the cardinality .
Symmetry. The map sends into by step 1.2, and sends into , again by step 1.2 together with , which holds because . The two are mutually inverse, since for . Hence .
Counting by the blocks of step 1.1 and using [L3], , the summand being constant.
Clause 1. By [L5], , so by step 3.1 and associativity; since , cancellation gives .
Clause 2. Applying to step 3.1 and using multiplicativity, . Both and are nonzero by [L5] and [L8], so their product is invertible in and . The left-hand side is the canonical natural of the count , which is what the word integrality means here.
The displayed identity is step 3.1, clause 1 is step 4.1, clause 2 is step 4.2 and clause 3 is step 2.2.
Remarks
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Why the symmetry is proved by a bijection. Complementation is shorter than manipulating the closed formula, it needs no hypothesis beyond , and it is the argument that survives to the multinomial coefficient, where no single closed formula is available until the analogous count has been made.
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Where is used. In step 1.1, so that is a subset of of cardinality and is nonempty; and in step 1.2, so that is a genuine difference. For both sides of the displayed identity are still defined, but the left-hand side is while is not, so the hypothesis is not removable.
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The quotient formula is a theorem about a natural number. A reader who starts from has to prove that the division comes out exact. Starting from the count, the exactness is what step 3.1 says, and the quotient is a consequence.
Depends on
- The set $[A]^{k}$ of $k$-element subsets and the binomial coefficient $\binom{n}{k} := \lvert [n]^{k}\rvert$
- A finite set $A$ with $\lvert A\rvert = n$ has exactly $n!$ bijections onto itself, and $n!$ bijections onto any set of the same cardinality
- The factorial $n!$ and the falling factorial $n^{\underline{k}}$, defined by recursion in $\mathbb{N}$
- The sum rule: a finite disjoint union is finite with $\lvert A \cup B\rvert = \lvert A\rvert + \lvert B\rvert$ and $\lvert\bigcup_{i \in I} A_i\rvert = \sum_{i \in I}\lvert A_i\rvert$, and a sum over a finite index set splits along a partition
- The product rule: $\lvert A \times B\rvert = \lvert A\rvert\,\lvert B\rvert$, and $\big\lvert\prod_{i<m} A_i\big\rvert = \prod_{i<m}\lvert A_i\rvert$
- The sum $\sum_{i \in S} a_i$ over a finite index set, and its product form
- The cardinality $\lvert A\rvert$ of a finite set
- A subset of a finite set is finite, with $\lvert B\rvert \le \lvert A\rvert$, and equality holds if and only if $B = A$
- Cancellation for multiplication by a nonzero factor
- Multiplication is associative
- Multiplication is commutative
- Laws of finite sums and products in $\mathbb{N}$, and $\iota\big(\sum_{k<n} a_k\big) = \sum_{k<n} \iota(a_k)$
- The canonical natural $\iota(n) = n \cdot 1_F$ of a field
- Identities and inverses in a field are unique
- Field
- Order on the natural numbers
- Addition is cancellative
- Injection, surjection, bijection
- Equinumerous sets, $A \approx B$ and $A \preceq B$
Used by
- When k<n<2k, the entire kth level is intersecting and exceeds the Erdős-Ko-Rado star bound Counterexample
- Choosing a committee: binom103 = 120, and the ordered count 10^underline3 = 720 Example
- Five-card hands from a 52-card deck: binom525 = 2598960, and the count of hands with all cards of one suit Example
- Pascal's triangle computed to row 6, with Pascal's rule checked at every interior entry Example
- The 15 weak compositions of 4 into 3 parts, listed and matched against stars and bars Example
- Vandermonde's identity checked at m = 4, n = 3, k = 3, both sides equal to 35 Example
- For fixed k, binomnk/nᵏ tends to 1/k! Lemma
- The binomial coefficients are symmetric and increase to the middle level before decreasing Lemma
- The Boolean lattice on an n-element set has n! maximal chains, and exactly k!(n-k)! contain a fixed k-set Lemma
- Conventions fixed on this page, and what counting is deliberately not done here Remark
- A finite set with n elements has exactly binomn2 two-element subsets, and 2binomn2 = n(n-1) Theorem
- A power-series sum may be re-expanded about every interior point, with coefficients given by its derivatives there Theorem
- Erdős-Ko-Rado theorem: for 1≤ k and n≥ 2k, an intersecting family of k-subsets of an n-set has size at most binomn-1k-1, and a star attains the bound Theorem
- Erdős's finite counting bound R(k,k)>2^k/2 for every k≥3 Theorem
- exp(z+w)=exp z exp w, and the complex exponential extends the real exponential Theorem
- Local LYM inequality comparing a uniform family with its upper shadow Theorem
- Lubell-Yamamoto-Meshalkin inequality for antichains in a Boolean lattice Theorem
- The exponential addition formula exp(x+y)=exp(x)exp(y) Theorem
- The multinomial coefficient equals n!/∏_i<m kᵢ!, and (x₀+…+xₘ₋₁)ⁿ = ∑ ιbinomnk∏_i<m xᵢ^kᵢ in ℝ Theorem
- The number e is irrational Theorem
- ι(Dₙ) = ι(n!)∑_i<n+1(-1)ⁱ/ι(i!), with the term at i = 0 equal to 1 and D₀ = 1 Theorem
Dependency tree · next 3 levels
Direct dependencies and their dependencies through the next three levels: 76 results over 25 levels. An arrow runs from a result to what uses it, and this result sits at the bottom with a heavier outline. Click the chart to enlarge it.
Sources
- Binomial coefficient (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- Double counting (proof technique) (Wikipedia) (standard reference, not scraped)
- R. Stanley, Enumerative Combinatorics, Vol. 1, Ch. 1 (standard reference, not scraped)