Summation of Products of n Numbers taken m at a time with Repetitions/Corollary
Corollary to Summation of Products of n Numbers taken m at a time with Repetitions
Let $a, b \in \Z$ be integers such that $b \ge a$.
Let $U$ be a set of $n = b - a + 1$ numbers $\set {x_a, x_{a + 1}, \ldots, x_b}$.
Let $m \in \Z_{>0}$ be a (strictly) positive integer.
Consider the result Summation of Products of n Numbers taken m at a time with Repetitions:
- $\ds \sum_{a \mathop \le j_1 \mathop \le \mathop \cdots \mathop \le j_m \mathop \le b} \paren {\prod_{k \mathop = 1}^m x_{j_k} } = \sum_{\substack {k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m \mathop \ge 0 \\ k_1 \mathop + 2 k_2 \mathop + \mathop \cdots \mathop + m k_m \mathop = m} } \paren {\prod_{j \mathop = 1}^m \dfrac { {S_j}^{k_j} } {j^{k_j} k_j !} }$
where:
- $S_r = \ds \sum_{k \mathop = a}^b {x_k}^r$
for $r \in \Z_{> 0}$
The number of terms in the summation on the right hand side is equal to the number of partitions of the integer $m$.
Proof
Let $m$ be the sum of a number of instances of (strictly) positive integers between $1$ and $m$.
Let the count of instances of $r$ be $k_r$.
Then:
- $m = k_1 \times 1 + k_2 \times 2 + \cdots + k_m \times m$
Thus $k_1 + 2 k_2 \times 2 + \cdots + m k_m$ defines a partition of $m$.
By definition of summation, $\ds \sum_{\substack {k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m \mathop \ge 0 \\ k_1 \mathop + 2 k_2 \mathop + \mathop \cdots \mathop + m k_m \mathop = m} }$ should run over all instances of $k_1, k_2, \ldots, k_m$ that fulfil the conditions.
That is, there is a summand for every partition of $m$.
$\blacksquare$
Examples
Example: $m = 12$
Let $m = 12$.
Then one of the summands on the right hand side is:
- $\dfrac {S_1 {S_2}^3 S_5} {240}$
Sources
- 1997: Donald E. Knuth: The Art of Computer Programming: Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $\S 1.2.9$: Generating Functions