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COMBINATORICS
Second Edition
 DISCRETE
MATHEMATICS
AND
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R. B. J. T. Allenby and Alan Slomson, How to Count: An Introduction to Combinatorics,
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Jürgen Bierbrauer, Introduction to Coding Theory, Second Edition
Katalin Bimbó, Combinatory Logic: Pure, Applied and Typed
Katalin Bimbó, Proof Theory: Sequent Calculi and Related Formalisms
Donald Bindner and Martin Erickson, A Student’s Guide to the Study, Practice, and Tools of
Modern Mathematics
Francine Blanchet-Sadri, Algorithmic Combinatorics on Partial Words
Miklós Bóna, Combinatorics of Permutations, Second Edition
Miklós Bóna, Handbook of Enumerative Combinatorics
Miklós Bóna, Introduction to Enumerative and Analytic Combinatorics, Second Edition
Jason I. Brown, Discrete Structures and Their Interactions
Richard A. Brualdi and Dragos̆ Cvetković, A Combinatorial Approach to Matrix Theory and Its
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Kun-Mao Chao and Bang Ye Wu, Spanning Trees and Optimization Problems
Charalambos A. Charalambides, Enumerative Combinatorics
Gary Chartrand and Ping Zhang, Chromatic Graph Theory
Henri Cohen, Gerhard Frey, et al., Handbook of Elliptic and Hyperelliptic Curve Cryptography
Charles J. Colbourn and Jeffrey H. Dinitz, Handbook of Combinatorial Designs, Second Edition
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Abhijit Das, Computational Number Theory
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 DISCRETE MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS

COMBINATORICS
Second Edition

Nicholas A. Loehr
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Loehr, Nicholas A. | Loehr, Nicholas A. Combinatorics.

Title: Combinatorics / Nicholas A. Loehr.
Description: Second edition. | Boca Raton : CRC Press, 2017. | Previous
edition: Bijective combinatorics / Nicholas A. Loehr (Boca Raton, FL :
Chapman & Hall/CRC, c2011).
Identifiers: LCCN 2017011283 | ISBN 9781498780254
Subjects: LCSH: Combinatorial analysis.
Classification: LCC QA164 .L64 2017 | DDC 511/.62--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017011283

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 Dedication
This book is dedicated to
my sister Heather (1973–2015),
my aunt Nanette (1963–2011),
and my grandmother Oliva (1926–1982).
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Contents

Preface to the Second Edition xvii

Introduction xix

I Counting 1
1 Basic Counting 3
1.1 The Product Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 The Sum Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.3 Counting Words and Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 Counting Subsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Counting Anagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.6 Counting Rules for Set Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
1.8 Lotteries and Card Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.9 Conditional Probability and Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
1.10 Counting Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1.11 Cardinality and the Bijection Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1.12 Counting Multisets and Compositions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.13 Counting Balls in Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.14 Counting Lattice Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.15 Proofs of the Sum Rule and the Product Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

2 Combinatorial Identities and Recursions 51

2.1 Initial Examples of Combinatorial Proofs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
2.2 The Geometric Series Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
2.3 The Binomial Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
2.4 The Multinomial Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
2.5 More Binomial Coefficient Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
2.6 Sums of Powers of Integers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.7 Recursions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
2.8 Recursions for Multisets and Anagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
2.9 Recursions for Lattice Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
2.10 Catalan Recursions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
2.11 Integer Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
2.12 Set Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2.13 Surjections, Balls in Boxes, and Equivalence Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
2.14 Stirling Numbers and Rook Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
2.15 Stirling Numbers and Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
2.16 Solving Recursions with Constant Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

xi
xii Contents

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

3 Counting Problems in Graph Theory 103

3.1 Graphs and Digraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
3.2 Walks and Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
3.3 Directed Acyclic Graphs and Nilpotent Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
3.4 Vertex Degrees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
3.5 Functional Digraphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
3.6 Cycle Structure of Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
3.7 Counting Rooted Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
3.8 Connectedness and Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3.9 Forests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
3.10 Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
3.11 Counting Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
3.12 Pruning Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
3.13 Bipartite Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
3.14 Matchings and Vertex Covers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
3.15 Two Matching Theorems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
3.16 Graph Coloring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
3.17 Spanning Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
3.18 The Matrix-Tree Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
3.19 Eulerian Tours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

4 Inclusion-Exclusion, Involutions, and Möbius Inversion 159

4.1 The Inclusion-Exclusion Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
4.2 Examples of the Inclusion-Exclusion Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
4.3 Surjections and Stirling Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
4.4 Euler’s φ Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
4.5 Derangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
4.6 Involutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
4.7 Involutions Related to Inclusion-Exclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
4.8 Generalized Inclusion-Exclusion Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
4.9 Möbius Inversion in Number Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
4.10 Partially Ordered Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
4.11 Möbius Inversion for Posets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
4.12 Product Posets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

5 Generating Functions 191

5.1 What is a Generating Function? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
5.2 Convergence of Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
5.3 Examples of Analytic Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
5.4 Operations on Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
5.5 Solving Recursions with Generating Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
5.6 Evaluating Summations with Generating Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
5.7 Generating Function for Derangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
5.8 Counting Rules for Weighted Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Contents xiii

5.9 Examples of the Product Rule for Weighted Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

5.10 Generating Functions for Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
5.11 Tree Bijections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
5.12 Exponential Generating Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
5.13 Stirling Numbers of the First Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
5.14 Stirling Numbers of the Second Kind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
5.15 Generating Functions for Integer Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
5.16 Partition Bijections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222
5.17 Euler’s Pentagonal Number Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

6 Ranking, Unranking, and Successor Algorithms 239

6.1 Introduction to Ranking and Successor Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
6.2 The Bijective Sum Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
6.3 The Bijective Product Rule for Two Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
6.4 The Bijective Product Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
6.5 Ranking Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
6.6 Ranking Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
6.7 Ranking Subsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
6.8 Ranking Anagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
6.9 Ranking Integer Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
6.10 Ranking Set Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
6.11 Ranking Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
6.12 The Successor Sum Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
6.13 Successor Algorithms for Anagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
6.14 The Successor Product Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
6.15 Successor Algorithms for Set Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
6.16 Successor Algorithms for Dyck Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

II Algebraic Combinatorics 275

7 Groups, Permutations, and Group Actions 277
7.1 Definition and Examples of Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
7.2 Basic Properties of Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
7.3 Notation for Permutations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
7.4 Inversions and Sign of a Permutation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
7.5 Subgroups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
7.6 Automorphism Groups of Graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290
7.7 Group Homomorphisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
7.8 Group Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
7.9 Permutation Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
7.10 Stable Subsets and Orbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
7.11 Cosets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
7.12 The Size of an Orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306
7.13 Conjugacy Classes in Sn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
7.14 Applications of the Orbit Size Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
7.15 The Number of Orbits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
7.16 Pólya’s Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
xiv Contents

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

8 Permutation Statistics and q-Analogues 327

8.1 Statistics on Finite Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
8.2 Counting Rules for Finite Weighted Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
8.3 Inversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
8.4 q-Factorials and Inversions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
8.5 Descents and Major Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
8.6 q-Binomial Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
8.7 Combinatorial Interpretations of q-Binomial Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . 337
8.8 q-Binomial Coefficient Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
8.9 q-Multinomial Coefficients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
8.10 Foata’s Bijection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
8.11 q-Catalan Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
8.12 Set Partitions and q-Stirling Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

9 Tableaux and Symmetric Polynomials 359

9.1 Fillings and Tableaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
9.2 Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
9.3 Symmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
9.4 Vector Spaces of Symmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
9.5 Symmetry of Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
9.6 Orderings on Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
9.7 Schur Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
9.8 Tableau Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
9.9 Reverse Insertion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
9.10 The Bumping Comparison Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
9.11 The Pieri Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382
9.12 Schur Expansion of hα . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
9.13 Schur Expansion of eα . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386
9.14 Algebraic Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
9.15 Power-Sum Symmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
9.16 Relations between e’s and h’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390
9.17 Generating Functions for e’s and h’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392
9.18 Relations between p’s, e’s, and h’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393
9.19 Power-Sum Expansions of hn and en . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
9.20 The Involution ω . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
9.21 Permutations and Tableaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
9.22 Inversion Property of RSK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402
9.23 Words and Tableaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
9.24 Matrices and Tableaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
9.25 Cauchy’s Identities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
9.26 Dual Bases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
9.27 Skew Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
9.28 Abstract Symmetric Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Contents xv

10 Abaci and Antisymmetric Polynomials 429

10.1 Abaci and Integer Partitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429
10.2 The Jacobi Triple Product Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
10.3 Ribbons and k-Cores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
10.4 k-Quotients of a Partition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
10.5 k-Quotients and Hooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
10.6 Antisymmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
10.7 Labeled Abaci . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
10.8 The Pieri Rule for pk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446
10.9 The Pieri Rule for ek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
10.10 The Pieri Rule for hk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451
10.11 Antisymmetric Polynomials and Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
10.12 Rim-Hook Tableaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454
10.13 Abaci and Tableaux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 458
10.14 Skew Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460
10.15 The Jacobi–Trudi Formulas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
10.16 The Inverse Kostka Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
10.17 Schur Expansion of Skew Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
10.18 Products of Schur Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477

11 Algebraic Aspects of Generating Functions 481

11.1 Limit Concepts for Formal Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481
11.2 The Infinite Sum and Product Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
11.3 Multiplicative Inverses of Formal Power Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
11.4 Partial Fraction Expansions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
11.5 Generating Functions for Recursively Defined Sequences . . . . . . . . . . . 490
11.6 Formal Composition and Derivative Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
11.7 Formal Exponentials and Logarithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493
11.8 The Exponential Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495
11.9 Examples of the Exponential Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 498
11.10 Ordered Trees and Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
11.11 Ordered Forests and Lists of Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
11.12 Compositional Inversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 504
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

12 Additional Topics 515

12.1 Cyclic Shifting of Paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 515
12.2 The Chung–Feller Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
12.3 Rook-Equivalence of Ferrers Boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
12.4 Parking Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523
12.5 Parking Functions and Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 525
12.6 Möbius Inversion and Field Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529
12.7 q-Binomial Coefficients and Subspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 531
12.8 Tangent and Secant Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
12.9 Combinatorial Definition of Determinants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539
12.10 The Cauchy–Binet Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 544
12.11 Tournaments and the Vandermonde Determinant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
12.12 The Hook-Length Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 548
xvi Contents

12.13 Knuth Equivalence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553

12.14 Quasisymmetric Polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 559
12.15 Pfaffians and Perfect Matchings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
12.16 Domino Tilings of Rectangles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 578

Appendix: Definitions from Algebra 589

Rings and Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
Vector Spaces and Algebras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
Linear Algebra Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 593

Bibliography 595

Index 603
Preface to the Second Edition

This book presents a general introduction to enumerative, bijective, and algebraic combina-
torics. Enumerative combinatorics is the mathematical theory of counting. This branch of
discrete mathematics has flourished in the last few decades due to its many applications to
probability, computer science, engineering, physics, and other areas. Bijective combinatorics
produces elegant solutions to counting problems by setting up one-to-one correspondences
(bijections) between two sets of combinatorial objects. Algebraic combinatorics uses com-
binatorial methods to obtain information about algebraic structures such as permutations,
polynomials, matrices, and groups. This relatively new subfield of combinatorics has had
a profound influence on classical mathematical subjects such as representation theory and
algebraic geometry.
Part I of the text covers fundamental counting tools including the Sum and Product
Rules, binomial coefficients, recursions, bijective proofs of combinatorial identities, enumer-
ation problems in graph theory, inclusion-exclusion formulas, generating functions, ranking
algorithms, and successor algorithms. This part requires minimal mathematical prerequisites
and could be used for a one-semester combinatorics course at the advanced undergradu-
ate or beginning graduate level. This material will be interesting and useful for computer
scientists, statisticians, engineers, and physicists, as well as mathematicians.
Part II of the text contains an introduction to algebraic combinatorics, discussing groups,
group actions, permutation statistics, tableaux, symmetric polynomials, and formal power
series. My presentation of symmetric polynomials is more combinatorial (and, I hope, more
accessible) than the standard reference work [84]. In particular, a novel approach based
on antisymmetric polynomials and abaci yields elementary combinatorial proofs of some
advanced results such as the Pieri Rules and the Littlewood–Richardson Rule for multiply-
ing Schur symmetric polynomials. Part II assumes a bit more mathematical sophistication
on the reader’s part (mainly some knowledge of linear algebra) and could be used for a
one-semester course for graduate students in mathematics and related areas. Some relevant
background material from abstract algebra and linear algebra is reviewed in an appendix.
The final chapter consists of independent sections on optional topics that complement ma-
terial in the main text. In many chapters, some of the harder material in later sections can
be omitted without loss of continuity.
Compared to the first edition, this new edition has an earlier, expanded treatment of
generating functions that focuses more on the combinatorics and applications of generating
functions and less on the algebraic formalism of formal power series. In particular, we provide
greater coverage of exponential generating functions and the use of generating functions to
solve recursions, evaluate summations, and enumerate complex combinatorial structures.
We cover successor algorithms in more detail in Chapter 6, providing automatic methods to
create these algorithms directly from counting arguments based on the Sum and Product
Rules. The final chapter contains some new material on quasisymmetric polynomials. Many
chapters in Part I have been reorganized to start with elementary content most pertinent
to solving applied problems, deferring formal proofs and advanced material until later. I
hope this restructuring makes the second edition more readable and appealing than the
first edition, without sacrificing mathematical rigor.

xvii
xviii Preface to the Second Edition

Each chapter ends with a summary, a set of exercises, and bibliographic notes. The
book contains over 1200 exercises, ranging in difficulty from routine verifications to unsolved
problems. Although we provide references to the literature for some of the major theorems
and harder problems, no attempt has been made to pinpoint the original source for every
result appearing in the text and exercises.
I am grateful to the editors, reviewers, and other staff at CRC Press for their help
with the preparation of this second edition. Readers may communicate errors and other
comments to the author by sending e-mail to nloehr@vt.edu.
Nicholas A. Loehr
Introduction

The goal of enumerative combinatorics is to count the number of objects in a given finite
set. This may seem like a simple task, but the sets we want to count are often very large
and complicated. Here are some examples of enumeration problems that can be solved using
the techniques in this book. How many encryption keys are available using the 128-bit AES
encryption algorithm? How many strands of DNA can be built using five copies of each of
the nucleotides adenine, cytosine, guanine, and thymine? How many ways can we be dealt
a full house in five-card poker? How many ways can we place five rooks on a chessboard
with no two rooks in the same row or column? How many subsets of {1, 2, . . . , n} contain no
two consecutive integers? How many ways can we write 100 as a sum of positive integers?
How many connected graphs on n vertices have no cycles? How many integers between
1 and n are relatively prime to n? How many circular necklaces can be made with three
rubies, two emeralds, and one diamond if all rotations of a given necklace are considered
the same? How many ways can we tile a chessboard with dominos? The answers to such
counting questions can help us solve a wide variety of problems in probability, cryptography,
algorithm analysis, physics, abstract algebra, and other areas of mathematics.
Part I of this book develops the basic principles of counting, placing particular emphasis
on the role of bijections. To give a bijective proof that a given set S has size n, one must
construct an explicit one-to-one correspondence (bijection) from S onto the set {1, 2, . . . , n}.
More generally, one can prove that two sets A and B have the same size by exhibiting a
bijection between A and B. For example, given a fixed positive integer n, let A be the set
of all strings w1 w2 · · · w2n consisting of n left parentheses and n right parentheses that are
balanced (every left parenthesis can be matched to a right parenthesis later in the sequence).
Let B be the set of all arrays  
y1 y2 · · · yn
z1 z2 · · · zn
such that every number in {1, 2, . . . , 2n} appears once in the array, y1 < y2 < · · · < yn , z1 <
z2 < · · · < zn , and yi < zi for every i. The sets A and B seem quite different at first glance.
Yet, we can demonstrate that A and B have the same size using the following bijection.
Given w = w1 w2 · · · w2n in A, let y1 , y2 , . . . , yn be the positions of the left parentheses in w
(written in increasing order), and let z1 , z2 , . . . , zn be the positions of the right parentheses
in w (written in increasing order). For example, the string (()())((()))() in A maps to
the array  
1 2 4 7 8 9 13
.
3 5 6 10 11 12 14
One may check that the requirement yi < zi for all i is equivalent to the fact that w is
a balanced string of parentheses. The string w is uniquely determined by the array of yi ’s
and zi ’s, and every such array arises from some string w in A. Thus we have defined the
required one-to-one correspondence between A and B. We now know that the sets A and
B have the same size, although we have not yet determined what that size is!
Bijective proofs, while elegant, can be very difficult to discover. For example, let C be
the set of rearrangements of 1, 2, . . . , n that have no decreasing subsequence of length three.
It turns out that the sets B and C have the same size, so there must exist a bijection from

xix
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xx Introduction

B to C. Can you find one? (Before spending too long on this question, you might want to
read §12.13.)
Luckily, the field of enumerative combinatorics contains a whole arsenal of techniques to
help us solve complicated counting problems. Besides bijections, some of these techniques
include recursions, generating functions, group actions, inclusion-exclusion formulas, linear
algebra, probabilistic methods, and symmetric polynomials. In the rest of this introduction,
we describe several challenging enumeration problems that can be solved using these more
advanced methods. These problems, and the combinatorial technology needed to solve them,
will be discussed at greater length later in the text.

Standard Tableaux
Suppose we are given a diagram D consisting of a number of rows of boxes, left-justified,
with each row no longer than the one above it. For example, consider this diagram:

Let n be the total number of boxes in the diagram. A standard tableau of shape D is a filling
of the boxes in D with the numbers 1, 2, . . . , n (used once each) so that every row forms an
increasing sequence (reading left to right), and every column forms an increasing sequence
(reading top to bottom). For example, here are three standard tableaux of shape D, where
D is the diagram pictured above:
1 2 3 4 1 3 4 9 1 2 3 7
5 6 2 5 4 8
7 8 6 7 5 9
9 8 6
Question: Given a diagram D of n cells, how many standard tableaux of shape D are there?
There is a remarkable answer to this counting problem, known as the Hook-Length
Formula. To state it, we need to define hooks and hook lengths. The hook of a box b in a
diagram D consists of all boxes to the right of b in its row, all boxes below b in its column,
and box b itself. The hook length of b, denoted h(b), is the number of boxes in the hook of
b. For example, if b is the first box in the second row of D, then the hook of b consists of
the marked boxes in the following picture:

• •
•
•
So h(b) = 4. In the picture below, we have labeled each box in D with its hook length.
7 5 2 1
4 2
3 1
1
Hook-Length Formula: Given a diagram D of n cells, the number of standard tableaux
of shape D is n! divided by the product of the hook lengths of all the boxes in D.
Introduction xxi

For the diagram D in our example, the formula says there are exactly
9!
= 216
7·5·2·1·4·2·3·1·1
standard tableaux of shape D. Observe that the set B of 2 × n arrays (discussed above) can
also be enumerated with the aid of the Hook-Length Formula. In this case, the diagram D
consists of two rows of length n. The hook lengths for boxes in the top row are n + 1, n,
n − 1, . . ., 2, while the hook lengths in the bottom row are n, n − 1, . . . , 1. Since there are
2n boxes in D, the Hook-Length Formula asserts that

(2n)! (2n)!
|B| = = .
(n + 1) · n · (n − 1) · . . . · 2 · n · (n − 1) · . . . · 1 (n + 1)!n!

The fraction on the right side is an integer called the nth Catalan number. Since we previ-
ously displayed a bijection between B and A (the set of strings of balanced parentheses),
we conclude that the size of A is also given by a Catalan number. As we will see, many
different types of combinatorial structures are counted by the Catalan numbers.
How is the Hook-Length Formula proved? Many proofs of this formula have been found
since it was originally discovered in 1954. There are algebraic proofs, probabilistic proofs,
combinatorial proofs, and (relatively recently) bijective proofs of this formula. Here we
discuss a flawed probabilistic argument that gives a little intuition for how the mysterious
Hook-Length Formula arises. Suppose we choose a random filling F of the boxes of D with
the integers 1, 2, . . . , n. What is the probability that this filling will actually be a standard
tableau? We remark that the filling is standard if and only if for every box b in D, the
entry in b is the smallest number in the hook of b. Since any of the boxes in the hook
is equally likely to contain the smallest value, we see that theQprobability of this event is
1/h(b). Multiplying these probabilities together would give 1/ b∈D h(b) as the probability
that the random filling we chose is a standard tableau. Since the total number of possible
fillings
Q is n! (by the Product Rule, discussed in Chapter 1), this leads us to the formula
n!/ b∈D h(b) for the number of standard tableaux of shape D.
Unfortunately, the preceding argument contains a fatal error. The events “the entry
in box b is the smallest in the hook of b,” for various choices of b, are not necessarily
independent (see §1.9). Thus we cannot find the probability that all these events occur by
multiplying together the probabilities of each individual event. Nevertheless, remarkably,
the final answer obtained by making this erroneous independence assumption turns out
to be correct! The Hook-Length Formula can be justified by a more subtle probabilistic
argument due to Greene, Nijenhuis, and Wilf. We describe this argument in §12.12.

Rook Placements
A rook is a chess piece that can travel any number of squares along its current row or column
in a single move. We say that the rook attacks all the squares in its row and column. How
many ways can we place eight rooks on an ordinary 8 × 8 chessboard so that no two rooks
attack one another? The answer is 8! = 40, 320. More generally, we can show that there are
n! ways to place n non-attacking rooks on an n × n chessboard. To see this, first note that
there must be exactly one rook in each of the n rows. The rook in the top row can occupy
any of the n columns. The rook in the next row can occupy any of the n − 1 columns not
attacked by the first rook; then there are n − 2 available columns for the next rook, and
xxii Introduction

so on. By the Product Rule (discussed in Chapter 1), the total number of placements is
therefore n × (n − 1) × (n − 2) × · · · × 1 = n!.
Now consider an (n + 1) × (n + 1) chessboard with a bishop occupying the upper-left
corner square. (A bishop is a chess piece that attacks all squares that can be reached from
its current square by moving in a straight line northeast, northwest, southeast, or southwest
along a diagonal of the chessboard.) Question: How many ways can we place n rooks on
this chessboard so that no two pieces attack one another? An example of such a placement
on a standard chessboard (n + 1 = 8, so n = 7) is shown below:

8
BZ0Z0Z0Z
7
Z0s0Z0Z0
6
0Z0Z0ZrZ
5
ZrZ0Z0Z0
4
0Z0s0Z0Z
3
Z0Z0Z0Zr
2
0Z0Z0s0Z
1
Z0Z0s0Z0
a b c d e f g h

It turns out that the number of

P∞non-attacking placements is the closest integer to n!/e. Here,
e is the famous constant e = k=0 1/k! ≈ 2.718281828 that appears throughout the subject
of calculus. When n = 7, the number of placements is 1854 (note 7!/e = 1854.112 . . .).
This answer follows from the Inclusion-Exclusion Formulas to be discussed in Chapter 4.
We sketch the derivation now to indicate how the number e appears. First, there are n!
ways to place the n rooks on the board so that no two rooks attack each other, and no rook
occupies the top row or the leftmost column (lest a rook attack the bishop). However, we
have counted many configurations in which one or more rooks occupy the diagonal attacked
by the bishop. To correct for this, we will subtract a term that accounts for configurations of
this kind. We can build such a configuration by placing a rook in row i, column i, for some
i between 2 and n + 1, and then placing the remaining rooks in different rows and columns
in (n − 1)! ways. So, presumably, we should subtract n × (n − 1)! = n! from our original
count of n!. But now our answer is zero! The trouble is that our subtracted term over-counts
those configurations in which two or more rooks are attacked by the bishop. A naive count
leads to the conclusion that there are n(n−1)2 (n − 2)! = n!/2! such configurations, but this
figure over-counts configurations with three or more rooks on the main diagonal. Thus we
are led to a formula (called an Inclusion-Exclusion Formula) in which we alternately add
and subtract various terms to correct for all the over-counting. In the present situation, the
final answer turns out to be
n
X
n! − n! + n!/2! − n!/3! + n!/4! − n!/5! + · · · + (−1)n n!/n! = n! (−1)k /k!.
k=0
P∞
Next, recall from calculus that ex = k=0 xk /k! for all real x. In particular, taking x = −1,
we have
∞
1 X
e−1 = = 1 − 1 + 1/2! − 1/3! + 1/4! − 1/5! + · · · = (−1)k /k!.
e
k=0
We see that the combinatorial formula stated above consists of the first n + 1 terms in
the
P∞infinite series for n!/e. It can be shown (see §4.5) that the “tail” of this series, namely
k
k=n+1 (−1) n!/k!, is always less than 0.5 in absolute value. Thus, rounding n!/e to the
nearest integer will produce the required answer.
Introduction xxiii

Another interesting combinatorial problem arises by comparing non-attacking rook

placements on two boards of different shapes. For instance, consider the two generalized
chessboards shown here:

One can check that for every k ≥ 1, the number of ways to place k non-attacking rooks
on the first board is the same as the number of ways to place k non-attacking rooks on the
second board. We say that two boards are rook-equivalent whenever this property holds. It
turns out that an n × n board is always rook-equivalent to a board with successive row
lengths 2n − 1, 2n − 3, . . . , 5, 3, 1. More generally, there is a simple criterion for deciding
whether two boards “of partition shape” are rook-equivalent. We will present this criterion
in §12.3.

Tilings
Now we turn to yet another problem involving chessboards. A domino is a rectangular object
that can cover two horizontally or vertically adjacent squares on a chessboard. A tiling of a
board is a covering of the board with dominos such that each square is covered by exactly
one domino. For example, here is one possible tiling of a standard 8 × 8 chessboard:

Question: Given a board of dimensions m×n, how many ways can we tile it with dominos?
This question may seem unfathomably difficult, so let us first consider the special case where
m = 2. In this case, we are tiling a 2 × n region with dominos. Let fn be the number of
such tilings, for n = 0, 1, 2, . . .. One can see by drawing pictures that

f0 = f1 = 1, f2 = 2, f3 = 3, f4 = 5, f5 = 8, f6 = 13, . . . .

The reader may recognize these numbers as being the start of the famous Fibonacci sequence.
This sequence is defined recursively by letting F0 = F1 = 1 and Fn = Fn−1 + Fn−2 for all
n ≥ 2. Now, a routine counting argument can be used to prove that the tiling numbers fn
satisfy the same recursive formula fn = fn−1 + fn−2 . To see this, note that a 2 × n tiling
either ends with one vertical domino or two stacked horizontal dominos. Removing this part
of the tiling either leaves a 2 × (n − 1) tiling counted by fn−1 or a 2 × (n − 2) tiling counted
by fn−2 . Since the sequences (fn ) and (Fn ) satisfy the same recursion and initial conditions,
we must have fn = Fn for all n.
Now, what about the original tiling problem? Since the area of a tiled board must be
even, there are no tilings unless at least one of the dimensions of the board is even. For
boards satisfying this condition, Kasteleyn, Temperley, and Fisher proved the following
amazing result. The number of domino tilings of an m × n chessboard (with m even) is
xxiv Introduction

exactly equal to s
m/2 n    
mn/2
YY jπ kπ
2 cos2 + cos2 .
j=1 k=1
m+1 n+1

The formula is especially striking since the individual factors in the product are transcen-
dental numbers, yet the product of all these factors is a positive integer! When m = n = 8,
the formula reveals that the number of domino tilings of a standard chessboard is 12,988,816.
The proof of the formula involves Pfaffians, which are quantities analogous to determinants
that arise in the study of skew-symmetric matrices. For details, see §12.15 and §12.16.

Notes
Different proofs of the Hook-Length Formula may be found in [37, 40, 55, 96, 103]. Treat-
ments of various aspects of rook theory appear in [36, 48, 49, 69]. The Domino Tiling
Formula was proved by Kasteleyn in [70] and discovered independently by Fisher and Tem-
perley [31].
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the Pinta, he wisely concluded to say but little, and hasten back to
Spain.
The wind becoming favorable soon after, both vessels directed
their course eastward, stopping, however, at several islands in their
way. At one island, where they anchored, an unhappy circumstance
occurred. Some of the Spaniards landed here. They found the island
inhabited by a ferocious-looking people. They had long bows,
swords, and war-clubs. These last were made of a kind of wood so
hard and so heavy as to level the stoutest man at a single blow.
At first, these savages conducted peaceably towards the
Spaniards; nevertheless, their looks bespoke treachery and war. One
of them returned with the Spaniards on board the Nina. He was
treated very kindly, and several presents were given him. This was
done to secure the friendship of his brethren on the island.
At length, this Indian was put on shore. As the boat approached
the land, a party of warriors were seen lurking in the edge of some
woods not far distant. As the boat reached the shore, they laid aside
their arms, and approached in apparent friendship. They began to
trade with the Spaniards, and sold them two bows.
But, on a sudden, they fell back, seized their weapons, and
rushed forward to secure the Spaniards. The latter, finding
themselves in danger, attacked the Indians, and wounded several.
They would have made greater execution, but they were ordered by
the commander of the party to return.
Columbus regretted this occurrence. It was the first unpleasant
interview which he and his men had had with the inhabitants of the
new world. But, happily, before Columbus left the neighborhood, the
affray was peaceably settled. The chief of the Indians was a noble-
spirited man, and seemed much to regret the conduct of his
subjects. He made a present to Columbus, and even visited him on
board his vessel.
Columbus now prepared to take leave of these islands, and set
sail once more upon the broad ocean. Every day’s delay was felt to
be hazardous. A slight accident might prevent their ever reaching
Spain; and thus their important discovery, their toils, and their
dangers, would all be lost. Their voyage, also, with all the skill and
diligence they might exercise, was likely to be a long one. The trade
winds were against them, and the Pinta had become so weak, that
no great press of sail could be put upon her.
Nothing important occurred till the 13th of February. The day
previous, a gale had begun to blow, and the sea was greatly
disturbed. On the evening of the 13th, the indications of an
approaching tempest were still stronger; and, not long after, it burst
upon them in awful fury.
All that night their sails were lashed down tight; and yet, such
was the violence of the gale, that they were driven forward with the
speed of a race-horse. In the morning, they were still on the top of
the waves, though every moment likely to be swallowed up. Through
all that day the vessels kept in sight of each other; but each, as it
rose on the mountain wave, expected to take its last look of its
companion.
The night again set in. The spirit of the tempest was still
unbroken; nay, it seemed as if the very elements were all engaged in
war. The ocean, lashed by the storm, raged and roared, and every
succeeding billow was still more mountainous than the one which
had gone before. Each vessel continued to display a light, at
intervals, as a signal to the other. For a time, that displayed by the
Pinta was seen on board the Nina; but it grew more and more dim
and distant, and, at length, was looked for in vain.
It was a tremendous night, and it seemed that only by a miracle
the vessel could survive the fury of the gale. But, on the dawn of the
following morning, she was still riding aloft, though she seemed,
every moment, on the brink of ruin.
The courageous spirit of Columbus was the last to quail. He did
not yet despair; but he, himself, was appalled. It was probable that
the Pinta had gone down. It was more than probable that his own
vessel would that day sink to some unexplored cavern in the abyss.
His life and that of his crew were valuable. But it was of still greater
moment to the world that the knowledge of his discovery should not
be lost.
In this distressed and troubled state—in this season of awful
suspense, Columbus was not unmindful of prayers and vows. But,
alas! he prayed not to the God of the ocean; his vows were not
made to him. In those days, it was the custom of many, in times of
peril, to pray to the Virgin Mary, and to make a vow, if preserved, to
go on a pilgrimage. This Columbus and his men now did; as if the
Virgin Mary could save them; as if to go bareheaded, on their hands
and feet, for miles and leagues, would be pleasing to God!
How much more proper it would have been to have sought the
protection of Him who rideth upon the wings of the wind, and
maketh the clouds his chariots; who alone could say to the noisy
waters, “Peace, be still.” The prayers and vows of Columbus seemed
of little avail. Why should they have been heard, when the true God
of the waters was lost sight of, and creatures were worshipped
instead of himself?
The storm still went on in its fury: billow was followed by billow,
surge was piled upon surge. Columbus began to consider in what
manner he could communicate to the eastern world a knowledge of
his discovery. There was one expedient which might succeed, if he
should be lost, and he now proceeded to adopt it.
He wrote a brief account of his voyage and discoveries on a piece
of parchment, which he hastily enclosed in a cake of wax, and,
putting this latter into a barrel, he threw it into the sea, with the
hope that it might, at length, be picked up by some one who would
inform the king and queen of Spain of the important news it
contained.
Fortunately, however, the storm soon after somewhat abated,
and, to their inexpressible joy, land appeared in view, which proved
to be the island of St. Mary’s, the most southern of the Azores.
 For two days, after they discovered land, the Nina was tossed
about, it being impossible to reach a harbor. At length they cast
anchor; but, before morning, they parted their cable, and were again
exposed to the most imminent danger of being shipwrecked.
We must pass over many interesting events and trying scenes
which occurred before Columbus had the good fortune to arrive at
Palos. We must briefly mention here that, at length, when Columbus
reached St. Mary’s, the government of that island seized a part of
the crew of the Nina, who had landed, and attempted to take
Columbus himself. The island of St. Mary’s belonged to the king of
Portugal, who had given his subjects orders to seize Columbus,
should it be in their power. The reason for this was a jealousy, on
the part of that king, that Columbus might interfere with voyages of
discovery which were undertaken under his own direction.
The difficulties at St. Mary’s were, however, settled, and
Columbus at length proceeded towards Spain. Another storm now
came on, and drove him into a port of Portugal. He would have
avoided touching at any port of Portugal, could he have done so with
safety. But, having been struck by a squall of wind, he was obliged
to make the first harbor he was able.
From this place he wrote to the king of Portugal, informing him of
his situation, and requested permission to go with his vessel to
Lisbon. This request was granted. On his arrival at this place, the
inhabitants crowded on board to listen to the stories of the crew,
and to see various articles of curiosity, which they had brought from
the new world.
The king of Portugal was at this time at Valparaiso, about twenty-
seven miles from Lisbon. From the former place, he despatched a
messenger to Columbus, inviting him to the royal residence.
Columbus wished not to go, justly fearing that some evil was
designed him. But, at length, he deemed it wise to accept the
invitation.
 On reaching Valparaiso, he related his adventures to the king, and
his discoveries, and the perils of his return. The king listened with
deep attention, and, though he treated Columbus kindly, it was
evident that he felt deeply mortified that he had lost the honor of
this important discovery, when he might have employed Columbus
himself.
Some of the king’s counsellors endeavored to prejudice him
against Columbus, and, it is said, advised the king to have him
murdered. But Columbus was at length dismissed in safety, and
again set sail for Palos. A few days brought him in sight of this long
wished-for port, and, on the 15th of March, at noon, the anchor of
the Nina was cast in the spot from which it had been raised about
seven months and a half before.
The joy of Columbus and his crew, on reaching Palos, may,
perhaps, be imagined, but cannot be described. The joy of the
inhabitants was not less intense. The vessel was descried coming up
the river, and was recognised as one of those which had been
abroad on a voyage of discovery.
The news rapidly spread along the streets; business was
suspended, and the people were seen rushing to the wharves; all
was hurry, curiosity, and bustle. Yes, there was much anxiety on the
part of many. They had friends there; or, it might be, they were lost.
But one vessel had arrived. Where were the others? One person had
a husband: was he alive? a father, a brother: were they on board
this vessel? or——. The anxiety was deep, and no wonder.
The ship was anchored, the sails were furled, and Columbus and
his almost bewildered men now landed, amidst the greetings of the
assembled multitude. Inquiries, one after another, went round in
quick succession. Explanations were made as well as the hurry and
confusion would allow. A long procession was formed, and Columbus
and his men were marched to a church, where public thanks were
returned for their success and safe return.
 To heighten the joy of the people of Palos, it was so ordered that,
on the evening of this very day, the Pinta was also seen standing up
the river. She had been separated from Columbus, we have told, and
was supposed to be lost. But it was not so. She had, however, only
escaped as if by a miracle. She had been tossed up and down, and
driven before the tempest, for days, and had, at length, succeeded
in getting into a port, from whence, after the gale had subsided, she
proceeded on her return; and now she came in, to add to the joy of
the justly delighted people of Palos.
One circumstance is related, which all who read this story would
wish to have otherwise. I have spoken of the improper conduct of
Pinzon, the commander of the Pinta, while in Hispaniola, in leaving
Columbus. From the violence of the gale, which separated him from
the Nina, he had some reason to conclude that she was lost, just as
Columbus supposed the Pinta was lost. But, instead of waiting to
ascertain whether this was a fact, Pinzon, on putting into port, sent
a letter to the king and queen of Spain, informing them of the
discovery which he had made, and claiming all the honor of it.
This was ungenerous, as well as wicked. But what was his
surprise to find that Columbus had arrived before him! What was his
mortification to learn the honors which the real discoverer of the
new world was receiving, at the very time he came in with the
expectation of taking all the honor to himself!
Pinzon was afraid and ashamed to meet Columbus. He, therefore,
avoided being seen, and, not long after, died at his own house, the
victim of his own pride and folly. Still higher honors awaited
Columbus than those which he had received from the inhabitants of
Palos. The letter, which he had written to the king and queen of
Spain, had prepared the way for his gracious reception. Indeed, the
news of his discovery spread everywhere, and filled the whole
country with admiration and delight.
In a short time, Columbus proceeded to Barcelona, to inform the
king and queen more particularly concerning his voyage, and about
the new world which he had discovered. On his journey, multitudes
flocked, from the surrounding country, to see this wonderful man
and the natives of the new world, several of whom had accompanied
him to Spain.
On his arrival at Barcelona, his reception at court was truly
flattering. The king and queen did not attempt to conceal their
pleasure at the success of his voyage, and took every means to load
him with honor. He was received in great state, and, in the presence
of the whole court, the king and queen even rose to welcome him:
nay, he had the privilege of seating himself in their presence,—an
honor seldom granted to any one.
Columbus now gave an account of his voyage; told them of the
new world; exhibited the curiosities which he had brought back;
and, more than all—the indisputable evidence of the truth of what
he had told them—the natives, whom he now presented to the king
and queen.
It may be proper to dwell a moment upon the change in the
circumstances of Columbus. For many years he had been
endeavoring to effect a darling project. He had struggled with
misfortune; he had fought his way without money, without patrons—
nay, in opposition to powerful enemies. Less than a year before, he
was a humble individual, and accounted by many a visionary and a
fortune-hunter. But now he stood in the presence of the sovereigns
of Spain, welcomed and honored by them, and an acknowledged
benefactor to the world.
The news of his discovery soon spread through Europe, and it
was justly considered by far the greatest achievement of the age. Its
results have been even greater than were anticipated; for, in the
space of three centuries and a half, we see the new world occupied
by several great and independent nations, with systems of
government which are likely to revolutionize Europe itself.
We shall mention, in this place, one circumstance, which we
cannot think of but with regret. Our readers will remember that the
person who first discovered land was to have a reward of thirty
crowns a year for life. Columbus, we have said in a preceding page,
first saw a light, which had been kindled by the natives, but a
seaman first actually discovered the land. It was a question to whom
the reward belonged—to Columbus or to the seaman. It was given
to Columbus. One would think that it should have been given to the
seaman, and that Columbus himself would have wished it. The
honor, no doubt, was thought more of, by Columbus, than the
money.
 Inquisitive Jack.
chapter x.
Something worth knowing.
I have already told my readers that our little hero, whom we call
Inquisitive Jack, was of a very investigating turn of mind. I do not
mean to say that he was curious and inquisitive about improper
things. He had not that unpleasant trait of character, which belongs
to some people and some children—a constant disposition to be
curious and inquisitive about other people’s affairs. If he was a kind
of Paul Pry, his curiosity only led him to pry into the works of nature
and art, and not to be meddlesome in the affairs of other people.
I believe I have also said that, when Jack became interested in a
subject, he did not like to leave it till he knew all about it. He did
not, like some little people, proceed from one object to another,
amusing himself for a moment, and laying up no permanent stores
of knowledge. He was more like the little insect of which we have
told so long a story—the bee—which, when it alights upon a
blossom, scrapes out all the honey, and then stores it away in cells
for future use. So it was with Jack. He studied one subject at a time,
made himself master of the knowledge it afforded, packed it away in
the cells of his memory, and then was ready to set about something
else.
Well, on account of this trait of character, he would not leave the
subject of bees until he had extracted from Aunt Betsey all she knew
of the subject—all the learning she had got. I have already told you
many things which he learned, but there are many others which I
have not related. I must now tell you a few of these, and then we
will proceed to something else.
Jack had an idea, which is common to children, that all domestic
animals were naturally tame; and he was greatly surprised to learn
that dogs, cats, cows, hens, pigs, horses, and even bees, were
originally wild, and had been brought into their present state by the
arts of man. In the course of his conversations with Aunt Betsey, he
acquired these new ideas, and he was then very curious to hear
about wild bees and bee-hunters. Accordingly, his kind-hearted
relative proceeded to satisfy his inquiries upon this subject. The
substance of what she told him was as follows:
In nearly all countries there are swarms of wild bees, which have
their abode in the forest. Their hive is the hollow trunk of some aged
tree. Here they build their cells and store their honey. The native
flowers of the forest, of the valley, and the mountain, of the hill-side
and the lawn, afford them a supply of their delicious food, not only
for the daily meal, during the warm season, but for the stores of
winter.
It is a part of the plan of the benevolent Creator, that every
portion of the universe shall be filled with life, so that happiness may
everywhere abound. Even where man has not yet made his way in
the wilderness and the solitary place, there are the flowers, with
their honey, and there, amid other insects, is the busy, happy bee, to
gather it. How vast must be the field of enjoyment which the
omniscient eye surveys, if even the study of insects unfolds such a
view as is here suggested.
The habits of the wild bees are nearly the same as those of the
domestic ones. They live in large communities, build their cells in
hexagons, are subject to the government of a queen, and have their
periodical swarms, as we have related.
The hunting of wild bees is very common in the western states of
this country. In some parts they are so abundant, that some persons
become regular bee-hunters. Their mode of finding the hives is
curious and interesting.
I must tell you that, when a bee sets off from a flower, to return
to the hive, it always flies home in a straight line. It is one of the
amazing instincts of this little creature, that, wherever it may be, it
has the power of going to its home without deviation from a direct
course. It may wander in the woods, it may sport amid the mazes of
the flowery meadow, yet still the little creature never gets its head
turned, never gets lost. The moment that its honey-bags are filled, it
mounts upward on the breeze, and, without hesitation, speeds like
an arrow to its mark.
The bee-hunter takes advantage of this curious trait in the bee.
He sees in what direction the insect flies, and, by following on, is
able, at last, to discover the hive. A practised bee-hunter often
adopts this method. He notices the direction in which a bee flies
from one flower, and sets down two or three sticks to mark the
route. He then goes to a little distance, and starts another bee, and
marks the route he takes. If the two lines tend toward each other,
he concludes that the angle at which they meet is the point where
the hive is to be found. Judging of the distance by the skill acquired
by practice, the hunter proceeds to the spot, and seldom fails of
finding the honey which he seeks pretty near the place which his
calculations have indicated.
The scientific bee-hunter sometimes adopts the following method:
he places some bee-bread, in order to tempt the bees, on a flat
board or tile, and draws a circle round it with white paint. The bee
always settles upon the edge of anything flat; so she must travel
through the paint to reach the edge. When she flies away, the white
paint on her body enables the hunter to observe her flight, and her
course is marked down with a pocket compass. The same thing is
done at another spot, some distance from the first, and, by
comparing the direction of the two lines, the situation of the nest is
easily found, as it must be at the point where the lines would meet.
We are told that, in Africa, there is a curious little hunter of the
wild bee. This is a quadruped, about as large as a woodchuck, called
the honey-ratel. This cunning little fellow seems to understand
optics; for, when he wishes to get a distinct view of the bees, he
holds up one of his fore paws, as you would your hand, in order to
shade his eyes, and thus exclude from the pupil of the eye an excess
of light. He watches the bees, particularly at sunset, for he knows
that, like other working people, they are then retiring to their
homes. Following the route they take, he is able to find out the
vicinity of the hive, and, when he has come pretty near, his keen
scent directs him to the honey which he seeks.
There is, also, in the wilds of Africa, a little bird called the honey-
guide. This creature has the faculty of finding out where the honey
is stored, and it is said that, when he meets a traveller in the
wilderness, he will flutter along before him, from branch to branch,
and from tree to tree, and, at last, guide him to the hive.
I remember to have read a story, of this kind, a great many years
ago, when I was a boy. It was in the beautiful tale of Alphonso and
Dalinda, told by Madame de Genlis, in her Tales of the Castle. I have
never forgotten it; and no story, that I have since heard, has seemed
half so pleasing. Does it not seem, indeed, almost like an incident of
fairy land, that travellers, wandering in the wilds of Africa, should
find a little bird, who becomes their guide to a feast of honey?
If I were to repeat all that Aunt Betsey Piper told her nephew
about bees, I am afraid that I should fill a book. So I may as well
bring this chapter to an end, after saying a few words about other
kinds of bees.
I might talk a long time about the humble-bee, or, as some of my
little readers call him, the bumble-bee. He is very large, and goes
about with an air of importance, like some fat, bustling people that
we know of. He has one habit which it is well not to imitate, and that
is, of always humming a tune as he roams about. This bee makes
his nest of moss, in the hayfield, usually beneath a heap of stones,
or in some excavation of the earth. Two or three dozen usually
assemble together, and carry on the various operations of the little
community.
The mason bee builds her nest in the hole of an old wall, of little
pieces of clay. She makes four or five cells, of the size of a thimble,
in each of which she lays an egg. The carpenter bee makes a nest in
an old post, by boring a hole, twelve inches long, with her teeth. In
these holes she lays her eggs.
We could tell some of Aunt Betsey’s curious stories about
upholstery bees and leaf-cutter bees, and we could say a good deal
about their spiteful cousins, the wasps and hornets. But we must
close the chapter by remarking, that all these different branches of
the bee family live in communities, make and store honey, hatch
their young from eggs, adopt a kind of despotic government, and
carry a sharp sword sheathed in the tail.
 Stomach of the Horse.
When we think of the adaptations of animal structure to the
different conditions of living creatures, the camel, the ship of the
desert, immediately occurs; and no doubt it is highly interesting to
observe how this animal is adapted to the sandy wastes, in its eye,
its nostril, its foot, the cells of its stomach, and its capacity of
endurance. But it is, perhaps, more important to look to our
domestic animals, and, of all, the most deserving of attention is the
horse.
Of all creatures, the horse has the smallest stomach, relatively to
its size. Had he the quadruple, ruminating stomach of the ox, he
would not have been at all times ready for exertion; the traveller
could not have baited his steed and immediately resumed his
journey. The stomach of the horse is not so capacious, even when
distended, as to impede his wind and speed; and the food is passing
onward with a greater degree of regularity than in any other animal.
A proof of this is, that the horse has no gall bladder. Most people
understand that bile is necessary to digestion, and the gall-bladder is
a receptacle for that bile. Where the digestive process is performed
in a large stomach, and the food descends in larger quantities, and
at long intervals, the gall bladder is necessary; and there is that
sympathy between the stomach and gall bladder that they are filled
and emptied at the same time. The absence of the gall bladder in
the horse, therefore, implies the almost continual process of
digestion, which again results from the smallness of the stomach.
Another peculiarity in the horse is the supply of fluid. When the
camel drinks, the water is deposited in cells connected with the
stomach; but if a horse drinks a pail of water, in eight minutes none
of that water is in the stomach; it is rapidly passing off into the large
intestines and cœcum. We cannot resist the conviction that this
variation in the digestive organs of the horse is in correspondence
with his whole form and properties, which are for sudden and
powerful, as well as long-continued exertion.
 Patriotism.
An interesting story of Codrus, the last king of Athens, is handed
down by the historian. When the Heraclidæ made war against
Athens, one of the oracles, in which the Grecians placed great
confidence, and which they were accustomed to consult on
important occasions, declared that victory would be granted to them
provided they abstained from injuring the Athenian king.
Codrus was a man of noble soul, and preferred the happiness of
his country to everything else. Accordingly, he determined to
sacrifice his life in order to secure success to the Athenians. With
this view, he dressed himself as a common person and entered the
enemy’s camp. He provoked a quarrel with a soldier, and was
immediately slain.
The Heraclidæ soon discovered that they had killed the Athenian
king, and, knowing that they had violated the condition upon which
the oracle promised them success, became alarmed, and
discontinued the war.
 The Wooden Horse.
One of the most famous poems ever produced, is that entitled the
Iliad. This was written by a man called Homer, who composed it in
several different fragments, and went about the country reciting
them to the people. He lived about nine hundred years before Christ.
The scene of the Iliad is laid along the north-eastern shore of the
Mediterranean sea. It gives an account of a terrible war, carried on
by the Greeks against the city of Troy. This lasted for ten years, and
resulted in the overthrow of that city. The events, as related by
Homer, are, many of them, curious and remarkable. He not only
describes the deeds of military heroes, but he represents the gods
and goddesses,—such as Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Juno, Venus, and
others, as taking part in the struggle; at one time aiding and
animating their friends, and, at another, baffling or overthrowing
their enemies.
The principal leaders, on the part of the Greeks, are Ajax, Achilles
and Ulysses. Those on the part of the Trojans, were Hector, Priam
and Paris. The characters of these heroes are drawn with great
power and skill by the poet, though we cannot but shudder at the
bloody and savage acts which they perform. The manner in which
Troy was at last taken, is thus related by Homer. It seems that
Ulysses, who was a very artful and contriving man, caused an
immense wooden horse to be made, capable of holding a
considerable number of people. This was filled with soldiers, and
offered, as a present, to the Trojans. These, having no suspicion of
what was in the horse, accepted the present with great pleasure. A
part of the walls, which surrounded and defended the city, was
removed, and the immense horse was rolled in, amid the
acclamations of the crowd. The breach in the wall was then closed
up, and the Trojans were left with their admired, but dangerous
present.
In the middle of the night, when the people of Troy were wrapped
in profound sleep, the soldiers, who were locked up in the bowels of
the horse, stole out and spread themselves over the city. They then
set fire to it in various places, and opened the gates to their friends,
the Greeks, without. These were waiting for the opportunity, and
rushed into the city.
The Trojans were now suddenly awakened from their repose, and,
when they went forth, they beheld their houses in flames and the
enemy filling the streets. Most of the inhabitants were put to the
sword. Such is old Homer’s story of the Wooden Horse.
 Hannibal crossing the Alps.
One of the most wonderful events related in history, is that of
Hannibal’s crossing the Alps, with an army of many thousand men,
about two thousand years ago.
At that period, Rome, a city of Italy, and Carthage, a city of
Africa, were at war. Hannibal was the Carthaginian general, and,
being in Spain with his army, he determined to lead them into Italy.
He, accordingly, crossed the Pyrenees and entered France, in his
march. But now the Alps, the loftiest mountains in Europe, lay
between him and Italy. They were not only many thousand feet in
height, but their tops were covered with perpetual snow and ice.
There were no roads over these cold and desolate regions, and no
general had ever before thought of leading an army across them.
 But Hannibal was a bold and enterprising man. He did not follow
in the footsteps of those who had gone before, but struck out new
paths for himself. He carefully examined the mountains, and, while
he thus saw the difficulties, he felt sure that they could be
overcome.
It must have been a strange and interesting sight to have seen
the soldiers climbing up the steep, shaggy sides of the mountains,
creeping along the dizzy edges of the precipices, crossing the dark
and narrow ravines, and ascending and descending the steep and
slippery glaciers. It must have been curious to have seen the
elephants, of which there were several hundreds attached to the
army, climbing over the lofty peaks of the mountains. It must have
astonished the inhabitants of Italy to have seen the vast army, after
crossing a barrier regarded as insurmountable, now pouring down
upon their smiling plains like an overwhelming torrent, and
spreading the terrors of war on every hand.
This achievement of Hannibal has ever been regarded as one of
the wonders of history. A little more than forty years ago,
Buonaparte, also, crossed the Alps with a large army; but he
enjoyed many advantages not possessed by the Carthaginian hero.
He had better equipments, tools and implements for his purpose,
and possessed far more skilful engineers. His soldiers, also, were
better fitted to aid in such an enterprise. The achievement, however,
is esteemed one of the greatest exploits in the life of Napoleon.
 The House of our Childhood
There is no word in our language that has a sweeter sound than
home. It is the place where we began our existence—where life
opened upon us. It was here that our parents dwelt; it was here that
brothers and sisters lived; it was here that we became acquainted
with good and evil. And now, when we have parted with home, we
look back to that dear spot with an affection amounting almost to
transport.
How beautiful has the old house become by that enchantment
which distance lends to the view! How is every room consecrated in
the memory by some little incident treasured in the heart! How
many things about it are associated with a mother’s voice—a
mother’s look—a father’s hallowed tone! How is every spot, around
the dwelling, touched with the hues of childhood’s romance and
poetry, where
Not the lightest leaf but trembling teems
With golden visions and romantic dreams!
 My little readers, let me tell you a secret. There is no time in life
more happy than childhood. You will find no friends in life better
than father and mother; no attentions truer than those of brothers
and sisters; no place sweeter than home. Think of these things, and
do all you can to make home still happier, and to enjoy and deserve
the blessings which home furnishes to those who are virtuous.
 Blessing on a Child.
by caroline bowles.
And the bonnie babe! on her
All your choicest gifts confer;
Just as much of wit and sense
As may be hers without pretence—
Just as much of grace and beauty
As shall not interfere with duty—
Just as much of sprightliness
As may companion gentleness—
Just as much of firmness, too,
As with self-will has naught to do—
Just as much light-hearted cheer
As may be melted to a tear
By a word, a tone, a look,
Pity’s touch, or Love’s rebuke—
As much of frankness, sweetly free,
As may consort with modesty—
As much of feeling as will bear
Of after life the wear and tear—
As much of life—but, fairies! there
Ye vanish into thinnest air;
And with ye parts the playful vein
That loved a light and trivial strain.
Befits me better, babe! for thee
T’ invoke Almighty agency—
Almighty love—Almighty power,
To nurture up the human flower;
To cherish it with heavenly dew,
Sustain with earthly blessings too;
And, when the ripe, full time shall be,
Engraft it on eternity.
 Varieties.
A Puzzler.—Will some of my little readers learn to repeat the
following: “Mr. B, did you say, or did you not say, what I said you
said? because Mr. C. said you never did say what I said you said.
Now, if you did say that you did not say what I said you said, then
what did you say?”

Feeding the Poultry.—I know a little girl, who feeds her mother’s
poultry; and I believe she takes the entire care of them. She gives
them corn to eat, and fresh water to drink, every day. There is one
chicken, which she says is very greedy, and always tries to get more
than his share; and that, you know, is very disagreeable. So his little
mistress shuts this greedy fowl up, sometimes, in a coop, and makes
him eat his dinner by himself, as she thinks he sets a bad example to
the other chickens. Do you not think so, too?

A sharp Reply.—A countryman sowing his ground, two smart

fellows riding that way, one of them called to him, with an insolent
air, “Well, honest fellow, ’tis your business to sow, but we reap the
fruits of your labor.” “’Tis very likely you may,” replied the man, “for I
am sowing hemp.”

An imitative Horse.—A gentleman had a horse, which, after being

kept in the stable for some time, and turned out into the field, where
there was a pump well supplied with water, regularly obtained a
quantity therefrom by his own dexterity. For this purpose, the animal
was observed to take the handle in his mouth, and work it with his
head, in a way similar to that done by the hand of man, until a
sufficiency of what nature called for was produced in the trough.
 Queer.—A country editor, having no deaths in his paper, put in this
notice: “Several deaths unavoidably deferred.”