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A167510
The number of bidirectional ballot sequences of length n, i.e., the number of 0-1 sequences of length n such that every prefix and every suffix has more 1's than 0's.
3
1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 15, 28, 49, 91, 166, 307, 574, 1065, 2016, 3769, 7176, 13532, 25842, 49113, 93995, 179775, 344796, 662676, 1273880, 2457275, 4735080, 9158972, 17691713, 34293541, 66396112, 128922830, 250145886, 486420441, 945623604
OFFSET
1,5
COMMENTS
Equivalently, the number of "culminating paths", that is, 0-1 sequences of length n-2 such that every prefix has at least as many 1's as 0's, and the difference between the number of 1's and 0's in a prefix is maximal when the prefix is the entire word. - Mireille Bousquet-Mélou, Apr 07 2015
Also, coefficients of the power series for the capacitance of a sphere-plane system, expanded in terms of R/2d where R is the radius of the sphere and d is the distance between the sphere center and the infinite plane. - Scott Crittenden, Dec 15 2017
REFERENCES
L. Page and N. I. Adams, Principles of Electricity, D. Van Nostrand Co., 1931, p. 105.
LINKS
M. Bousquet-Mélou and Y. Ponty, Culminating paths, Discrete Math and Theoretical Computer Science, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2008) 125-152.
B. Hackl, C. Heuberger, H. Prodinger, and S. Wagner, Analysis of Bidirectional Ballot Sequences and Random Walks Ending in their Maximum, arXiv preprint arXiv:1503.08790 [math.CO], 2015.
Y. Zhao, Constructing MSTD sets using bidirectional ballot sequences, arXiv:0908.4442 [math.CO], 2009.
Y. Zhao, Constructing MSTD sets using bidirectional ballot sequences, Journal of Number Theory, Volume 130, Issue 5, May 2010, Pages 1212-1220.
FORMULA
G.f.: Sum_k t^{k+2}/F_{k-1} where F_k is the sequence of Fibonacci polynomials, given by F_0=F_1=1 and F_k=F_{k-1}-t^2 F_{k-2}. - Mireille Bousquet-Mélou, Apr 07 2015
G.f.: Sum_{k>0} (2*x)^k*p/((1+p)^k-(1-p)^k), with p=sqrt(1-4*x^2). - Benedict W. J. Irwin, Sep 15 2016
EXAMPLE
For n=6, the three sequences are 111111, 110111, 111011.
The corresponding culminating paths are 1111, 1011, 1101.
MATHEMATICA
Num=30; p=Sqrt[1-4x^2]; Rest[CoefficientList[Series[Sum[(2^n p x^n)/ ((1+p)^n-(1-p)^n), {n, 1, Num}], {x, 0, Num}], x]] (* Benedict W. J. Irwin, Sep 15 2016 *)
CROSSREFS
Sequence in context: A178738 A060013 A092424 * A351359 A191701 A066726
KEYWORD
nonn
AUTHOR
Yufei Zhao (yufei.zhao(AT)gmail.com), Nov 05 2009, Nov 11 2009
STATUS
approved