A003468 Number of minimal 3-covers of a labeled n-set. (Formerly M5125)

1, 22, 305, 3410, 33621, 305382, 2619625, 21554170, 171870941, 1337764142, 10216988145, 76862115330, 571247591461, 4203844925302, 30687029023865, 222518183370890, 1604626924403181, 11518132293452862

Offset

3,2

Comments

This is also the fourth column of the Sheffer triangle A143496 (4-restricted Stirling2 numbers). See the e.g.f. given below. See also the Sheffer comments in A193685. - Wolfdieter Lang, Oct 08 2011

References

N. J. A. Sloane and Simon Plouffe, The Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, Academic Press, 1995 (includes this sequence).

Links

Vincenzo Librandi, Table of n, a(n) for n = 3..1000

T. Hearne and C. G. Wagner, Minimal covers of finite sets, Discr. Math. 5 (1973), 247-251.

Simon Plouffe, Approximations de séries génératrices et quelques conjectures, Dissertation, Université du Québec à Montréal, 1992; arXiv:0911.4975 [math.NT], 2009.

Simon Plouffe, 1031 Generating Functions, Appendix to Thesis, Montreal, 1992

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Minimal cover.

Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature (22, -179, 638, -840).

Formula

G.f.: x^3/((1 - 4*x)*(1 - 5*x)*(1 - 6*x)*(1 - 7*x)). - N. J. A. Sloane, May 12 1994, corrected by Vaclav Kotesovec, Nov 19 2012

E.g.f.: (exp(4*x)*(exp(x) - 1)^3)/6. More generally, e.g.f. for number of minimal m-covers of a labeled n-set is (exp((2^m - m - 1)*x)*(exp(x) - 1)^m)/m!. - Vladeta Jovovic, May 09 2004

If we define f(m, j, x) = sum(binomial(m, k)*stirling2(k, j)*x^(m - k),k = j .. m) then a(n) = f(n, 3, 4), (n >= 3). - Milan Janjic, Apr 26 2009

a(n) = 7^n/6 - 6^n/2 + 5^n/2 - 4^n/6. - Vaclav Kotesovec, Nov 19 2012

Maple

A003468:=1/(6*z-1)/(4*z-1)/(7*z-1)/(5*z-1); # conjectured by Simon Plouffe in his 1992 dissertation

Mathematica

Table[7^n/6 - 6^n/2 + 5^n/2 - 4^n/6, {n, 3, 20}] (* Vaclav Kotesovec, Nov 19 2012 *)
LinearRecurrence[{22, -179, 638, -840}, {1, 22, 305, 3410}, 20] (* Harvey P. Dale, Jan 09 2024 *)

Prog

(Magma) [7^n/6 - 6^n/2 + 5^n/2 - 4^n/6: n in [3..30]]; // Vincenzo Librandi, May 03 2013

Crossrefs

Cf. A000392, A003468, A016111, A046166-A046169, A057668, A005783-A005786, A055066.

Cf. A143496, A000302, A005060, A016103.

Sequence in context: A088279 A225898 A028109 * A120051 A357034 A041928

Adjacent sequences: A003465 A003466 A003467 * A003469 A003470 A003471

Keyword

nonn

Author

N. J. A. Sloane

Status

approved