This document discusses the stars and bars formula for distributing indistinguishable objects among parties. It defines homogeneous and symmetric polynomials and provides examples. It then poses four problems: (1) finding ways to write a number as a sum of nonnegative integers, (2) finding the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of a given degree, (3) finding the dimension of polynomials up to a given degree, and (4) showing coefficients of a polynomial with given roots are symmetric polynomials of the roots.
This document discusses the stars and bars formula for distributing indistinguishable objects among parties. It defines homogeneous and symmetric polynomials and provides examples. It then poses four problems: (1) finding ways to write a number as a sum of nonnegative integers, (2) finding the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of a given degree, (3) finding the dimension of polynomials up to a given degree, and (4) showing coefficients of a polynomial with given roots are symmetric polynomials of the roots.
This document discusses the stars and bars formula for distributing indistinguishable objects among parties. It defines homogeneous and symmetric polynomials and provides examples. It then poses four problems: (1) finding ways to write a number as a sum of nonnegative integers, (2) finding the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of a given degree, (3) finding the dimension of polynomials up to a given degree, and (4) showing coefficients of a polynomial with given roots are symmetric polynomials of the roots.
This document discusses the stars and bars formula for distributing indistinguishable objects among parties. It defines homogeneous and symmetric polynomials and provides examples. It then poses four problems: (1) finding ways to write a number as a sum of nonnegative integers, (2) finding the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of a given degree, (3) finding the dimension of polynomials up to a given degree, and (4) showing coefficients of a polynomial with given roots are symmetric polynomials of the roots.
MATH 1800: Quantum Information Theory with Applications to Cryptography
Bonus 4
Stars and bars formula
The number of ways to distribute n indistinguishable objects among k different parties is equal to
n+k−1 n+k−1 = . n k−1
Proof. Let the objects be represented by stars (⋆) and the lines of separation between groups by bars (|). Thus we need k − 1 bars. The number of different distributions is the same as the number of different arrangements of n stars and k − 1 bars, (n + k − 1)! which is equal to . n!(k − 1)!
⋆ ⋆ | ⋆| ⋆{z⋆⋆} |. . .| |{z} ⋆|{z} ⋆⋆ 1st party 2nd party th k party
Figure 1: Typical arrangement
Definition 1. A polynomial P(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) in n variables is called homogeneous, if all nonzero terms of P have the same degree. A polynomial P(x1 , x2 , . . . , xn ) in n variables is called symmetric, if for any interchange of the variables, one obtains the same polynomial. In a formal language
for any permutation σ of the indices 1, 2, . . . , n.
Example 2. The polynomials P1 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = x1 + x2 + x3 , P2 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = x1 x2 + x1 x3 + x2 x3 and P3 (x1 , x2 , x3 ) = x1 x2 x3 are homogeneous symmetric polynomials of degrees 1, 2 and 3 in 3 variables.
1 Problem (4 pts)
(a) Let k, n ∈ Z>0 be two positive integers. Find the number of ways to write n as a sum of k nonnegative integers. Example 3. Let n = 3, k = 2, then there are 4 ways to decompose 3 into 2 summands:
3 = 3 + 0 = 0 + 3 = 2 + 1 = 1 + 2.
(b) Find the dimension of the space of homogeneous polynomials of degree n in k variables.
(c) Find the dimension of the space of polynomials of degree less than or equal to n in k variables.1
1 Hint: use a dummy variable xk+1 and multiply every monomial of degree s < n by xn−s k+1 , then use (b).
2 (d) Let P(x) = (x − λ1 )(x − λ2 ) . . . (x − λn ) be a polynomial with roots λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn ∈ C. Let’s write P(x) in the form P(x) = xn + an−1 xn−1 + . . . + a0 . Show that the coefficients a1 , a2 , . . . , an−1 are symmetric polynomials in λ1 , λ2 , . . . , λn and find these polynomials.2
2 Hint: start by working out the examples with n = 2, 3.
