Tell me more ×
Mathematics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people studying math at any level and professionals in related fields. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 4 down vote favorite
1

Stirling numbers of the second kind S(n, k) count the number of ways to partition a set of n elements into k nonempty subsets.What if there were duplicate elements in the set?That is,the set is a multiset?

share|improve this question
It would be good to add the link to the definition of Stirling numbers: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_numbers_of_the_second_kind – David Jan 9 '11 at 3:37
1  
The answer is likely to be somewhat complicated to express. For example, if the set consists of a single type of element, you get the partition numbers p_{n,k} : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_(number_theory) – Qiaochu Yuan Jan 9 '11 at 15:54
2  
I think [math] is a pretty useless tag in this site; I've deleted it and added [counting] – Arturo Magidin Jan 10 '11 at 21:54

migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 9 '11 at 15:40

3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

By definition, a set only has distinct elements. If elements are duplicated, then yes, the set in question would be a multiset.

share|improve this answer
up vote 1 down vote

Here are two links to get you started:

  1. Eulerian numbers of the second kind may be helpful (for counting ascents, descents, etc., though i think)

  2. Additionally some more useful information may be found in Stanley's book

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

There is no known formulation for a general multiset. However, a paper at JIS tackles the case where the element 1 occurs multiple times.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.